Collaboration among teachers is an important vehicle for teacher development, shared leadership, improving student achievement, building school culture, and attracting and retaining effective teachers. However, if professional collaborative environments are not truly diverse and inclusive or marginalize individual teachers or groups of teachers…

This dissertation evaluated the implementation of professional learning communities in a large suburban school district in North Carolina. The presence of shared and supportive leadership, shared values and vision, collective learning and application, shared personal practice, supportive conditions for relationships, and supportive conditions for…

An exploratory quantitative study of professional learning communities and student achievement in the largest school system in the State of North Carolina provides evidence to support systemic implementation of professional learning community practices and activities. A one-way ANOVA was conducted to explore the impact of teachers' perceptions of…

The dissertation was designed to describe the relationship of collective teacher efficacy to the phases of professional learning communities (PLC) in a rural school district in the southern piedmont region of North Carolina. Limited research exists in the area of collective teacher efficacy and its relationship to professional learning…

The purpose of this study was to explore the literacy instructional leadership behaviors of principals in two high poverty elementary schools in North Carolina who have experienced success with student growth in reading achievement over a three year period. This was a qualitative exploratory multiple case study. Data was gathered from 21…

Because data access may be perceived by principals as overwhelming or irrelevant rather than helpful (Wayman, Spikes, & Volonnino, 2013), data access does not guarantee effective data use. The data-based decision making literature has largely focused on teacher use of data, considering less often data-based organizational improvements for the…

The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to describe current instructional policies and practices in a one-day treatment center in North Carolina for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). The following research questions guided the study: (1) What are the curriculum policies, practices, and philosophies of day…