This paper investigates how teachers' professional agency afforded and constrained their decisions to participate in or withdraw from professional learning communities (PLCs). While PLCs are often thought to position teachers as agents, explicit links between teacher agency and key features of PLCs have not been explored. Data from interviews with…

The proposed qualitative year-long descriptive study explored how high school teachers who participated in a Professional Learning Community had their school leadership aspirations impacted while serving in the New York City Public School System. Currently, the system has a dire need to fill school and district instructional, supervisory, and…

This paper explores how a professional learning community (PLC) redesigns high school mathematics lessons towards a shared commitment. We describe the nature of a PLC's collective curricular vision to illuminate how teachers can come to new understandings as a group in order to shift the ways students experience mathematics. Using the curricular…

Professional learning communities can be important sites for teacher learning depending on the quality of the conversations in these communities. This paper investigates how different activities in teacher communities support different content and depth in teacher conversations, through examining the conversations of four professional learning…

Professional learning communities (PLCs) involve a process of collaboration, focus on student data and best instructional practices, and serve as a way for all students can receive an equitable education. Many schools implementing PLCs considered the term a noun, not a verb, leading to an inequitable education for high school students across…

This study tested a moderated-mediation model of the processes linking principal ethical leadership and professional learning communities in China, in which teacher obligation is included as a mediator, and teacher participation in school decision making is considered as a moderator. The results from 3374 teachers revealed significant direct and…

Previous scholarship finds that effective Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) have increased student achievement and advanced teacher pedagogy. As a result, PLCs have become increasingly prevalent in school reform efforts to remediate professional development. Dialogue is considered an essential component of effective PLC practice needed to…

Although much literature highlights the importance of teacher expectations for students' academic success, a very small number of studies used large-scale data to examine school-level factors associated with group-level teacher expectations -- defined as expectations that teachers have for many students in their class or school, rather than for a…

The importance of teacher collaboration and professional growth are highlighted by their inclusion in the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). In ESSA, it is recommended that teachers are provided with opportunities to collaborate and participate in learning communities. The purpose of this action research study was to address the problem of…

This study piloted a survey to determine possible use in a future study that would assess teacher efficacy, the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and the implementation of professional learning communities, and how perceived leadership support impacts that relationship in an urban school district. The data collection process included…

Classrooms today are much more diverse than they once were. Teachers must be prepared to acknowledge various academic differences within their classrooms. Embracing those differences and teaching for equity is essential for moving our society forward. Co-teaching can assist schools in meeting the needs of all students in inclusive classrooms. This…

This quantitative study explored teacher perceptions of professional learning community dimensions, teacher self-efficacy, and collective efficacy. Professional learning communities (PLCs) have been shown to positively impact teacher self-efficacy and collective efficacy, all supporting student achievement. The overarching question guiding this…

For decades, mandates have driven the way we educate our students. Seemingly ever since the inception of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), schools across the nation have struggled to meet federal standards for student success. However, when many schools still failed to show a significant amount of achievement, they became labeled "Priority"…

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…