School principals are agents of change in the implementation of education policies as they oversee accountability actions that serve to monitor and evaluate student achievement and identify the measures required. In Québec, where "results-based management" (RBM) is encouraged, the "professional learning community" (PLC)…

Professional learning communities as a form of teacher development have been in existence internationally for some time now and more recently in South Africa. Although strong claims have been made for their influence on teacher practices, very few research studies have investigated these claims. This paper presents a case study that connects…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand how teachers experience a stance toward inquiry through participation in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). In order to meet this objective, the following questions framed this research: (1) How do individual teachers make meaning of the epistemological and dialogic aspects of…

One of the major challenges in educational reform is supporting teachers and the profession in the continual improvement of instruction. Research-practice partnerships and particularly networked improvement communities are well-suited for such knowledge-building work. This article examines how a networked improvement community with eight…

Historically, there have been different types of instructional practice in education. Before the mid-1980s, administrators pushed content. In the mid-1980s, it was Effective Teaching with the Six-Point Lesson Plan. There were many observations with the Career Ladder of which the researcher was a participant in the pilot program. There came…

The development of critical scientific literacy in primary and secondary school classrooms requires authentic inquiry with a basis in the real world. Pairing scientists with educators and employing informatics and visualization tools are two successful ways to achieve this. This article is based on rich data collected over eight years from middle…

In this article we describe current educational research underlying a comprehensive model for building a scientific classroom discourse community. We offer a professional development activity for a school-based professional learning community, providing specific science instructional strategies within this interactive teaching model. This design…

The Whole School Success Partnership (TWSSP) worked to develop practices and cultures that emphasized student success in five middle and high schools. Because this project took place in secondary schools where teachers have disciplinary specializations, the whole school approach came with unique opportunities and challenges. Here we describe how…

As the professional learning community (PLC) as a desired cultural norm gains popularity within K-12 state schools, greater knowledge of the PLC implementation process is warranted. This study reports findings from semi-structured focus group interviews with teachers in an urban/suburban high school after one year of schoolwide professional…

This article discusses a new approach to teaching--professional learning community (PLC). Teachers have long collaborated with colleagues and participated in continuing education, but becoming a PLC is a new experience. A PLC is perhaps best defined as a fundamental shift in a school's culture. It is distinguished by three key elements: (1) a…

The potential for social studies to embrace instructional technology and Web 2.0 applications has become a growing trend in recent social studies research. As part of an ongoing process of collaborative enquiry between an instructional specialist and social studies teachers in a Professional Learning Community, a table of Web 2.0 applications was…

This study examined differences in perception of teachers in high schools that had implemented PLCs and high schools that had not implemented PLCs. The purpose of the study was to determine whether there were statistically significant differences in the perception of teachers in the two separate groups in terms of how they incorporated…

Full membership is acceptance and belonging in a school community where all stakeholders have a voice and the culture is reflective of these values and beliefs. This qualitative study compared the perceptions of general and special education teachers from two southern high schools. The author explored how scripts of disability inform teacher…

This mixed-methods study examines how engaging science teachers in a summer Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) followed by an academic-year Professional Learning Community (PLC) focused on translating teacher research experiences to inquiry-based classroom lessons might facilitate changes in their beliefs and classroom practices regarding…

This non-experimental, correlational study looked at the relationship between bureaucratic structures in middle and high schools in bringing about change in individual teacher classroom instructional practices through the centralized directive of membership in a professional learning community. Using a continuum of bureaucratic structure, from…