One of the biggest problems facing American educators is the challenge to increase student achievement in the era of accountability and high stakes testing (DuFour et al., 2016). Student test scores and achievement remain stagnant across south Georgia (GADOE, 2018a; GADOE, 2019b). One reform used by schools to help increase student achievement is…

The effectiveness of professional learning communities (PLCs) in schools depends significantly on the extent of fostering teacher learning. In this explanatory case study, 16 female teachers from a girls' high school in Saudi Arabia joined a reflective practice programme where they engaged in collaborative inquiry to solve a problem in their work.…

Traditional approaches to professional development for inclusive education narrowly frame inclusive education as a special education reform. Such approaches emphasize technical practices rather than surfacing and disrupting harmful ideologies that normalize the segregation of students with disabilities. Alternatively, there is potential for a…

Schools in India typically provide teachers with professional development in the form of workshops with a one-size-fits-all approach. However, a large body of international studies show this to be ineffective in transforming classroom practice, and the draft National Education Policy of India released in 2020 lists several shortcomings of current…

Successful implementation of the current English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum invites a new approach to teacher professional learning (PL). A focus on establishing and renewing relationships must play a role in developing the collaboration necessary for curriculum implementation. This article presents a research-based argument that effective and…

In recent years, higher education enrollment has become increasingly diverse, particularly in online programs. Accordingly, institutions are increasingly aware of the importance of retaining these students and supporting them through successful degree/program completion. While there has been substantial declaration of the need for promoting…

Purpose: This paper explores education group school principal's influence on professional learning community (PLC) development in China. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative comparative case studies were conducted. Findings: The findings show that principals indicated principal-level factors were their major concerns regarding PLC cultural…

This qualitative exploratory case study uses phenomenology to conduct an investigation of teacher collaboration and teacher empowerment within a Professional Learning Community (PLC) at a Title 1 elementary school. This study examined the experiences of five elementary and three administrators to learn about their perspectives on teacher…

With the ease of using information technology tools, the explosive growth of smartphone applications (apps), and the rise of learning communities on social media, the acceptance of learning communities has become one of the most significant challenges for higher education institutions in Taiwan. In order to better understand teachers'…

Black boys often underperform in English Language assessments. Strive for Excellence Academy (SFEA, a pseudonym) was a Title I school serving more than 500 students in Grade 2 and Grade 3 in an urban/suburban city in New York State. The achievement gap for third-grade Black boys was found to originate in their second-grade classrooms. Anecdotal…

The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) calls on school counselors to take part in collaborative work experiences using data to address problems of practice. School counselors experience professional isolation leading to underperformance (Elliot et al., 2004; Stone-Johnson, 2015). School structures that lack collaborative experiences for…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how rural teachers provided a PLC by leveraging virtual technologies to connect educators of like subject disciplines from several schools, foreign and domestic. Design/methodology/approach: A phenomenological case study-based approach was leveraged to investigate established vPLCs at schools…

Maintaining a commitment to social justice teaching can be especially challenging when navigating the bureaucratic systems and ever-spiraling responsibilities of the education system. To better understand how social-justice-oriented educators navigate these tensions, this paper uses qualitative methods to investigate the social justice problems of…

The Director of Elementary Education, elementary principals, and elementary teachers offered information during a structured interview, surveys, and a focus group pertaining to collaboration. Within the context of this study, collaboration was defined as "a way of working with colleagues that is characterized by cooperation, mutual respect,…

This study aims to determine the relationships between enabling school structure, teachers' social network intentions and the professional learning community. This study used a structural equation modelling approach to investigate the relationships and implemented the appropriate sampling method. Survey data were obtained from 302 teachers working…