Date of Conferral

2021

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

James Bailey

Abstract

A suburban school in the central United States failed to close the achievement gap with a neighboring school on state-mandated tests despite both schools’ implementation of a professional learning community (PLC) to improve student performance. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the implementation of a PLC with the mitigating variable of teacher collective efficacy (TCE) so that research-derived recommendations could be made to improve the PLC and student performance. The second school that implemented a PLC at the same time but with better results was included to evaluate the influence of school environment on PLC performance. Bandura’s social learning theory grounded the study and research question, which addressed the extent to which the five dimensions of PLC implementation and school environment influence TCE. A convenience sample of 103 educators who were trained in PLCs at each school took two survey instruments: (a) the Professional Learning Communities Assessment—Revised to measure the five dimensions of PLC implementation and (b) the Collective Teacher Efficacy Scale to measure perceived TCE within each school. Multiple linear regression revealed that 68.8% of the variance in TCE could be explained by four of the five PLC dimensions. Only two, however, shared vision and values (ß = .219, p = .020) and supportive conditions (ß = .317, p < .001), were significant predictors of TCE. The dummy variable, schools, had no significant influence on level of TCE. The study addressed notable gaps in PLC practice and resulted in the creation of a professional development project to advance shared vision and values, and supportive conditions within the target school. Positive social change is achieved when school improvement programs are implemented with fidelity to close achievement gaps for students.

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