Leading and learning: an exploratory study of teachers' experiences implementing change through a professional learning community.

Permanent URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20194032
Title:
Leading and learning : an exploratory study of teachers' experiences implementing change through a professional learning community
Creator:
Langford, Lyn Janice (Author)
Contributor:
Bennett, Elisabeth E. (Advisor)
Mahler, Elizabeth B. (Committee member)
Pine, Cathy (Committee member)
Language:
English
Publisher:
Boston, Massachusetts : Northeastern University, 2015
Copyright date:
2015
Date Accepted:
March 2015
Date Awarded:
May 2015
Type of resource:
Text
Genre:
Dissertations
Format:
electronic
Digital origin:
born digital
Abstract/Description:
The purpose of this basic qualitative practice-based study was to explore teachers' experiences, as members of a PLC, tasked with the planning and implementation of a new teacher evaluation system in a small (Pre-K - 12) school district. To fulfill this purpose, three research questions were formulated as the foundation for this investigation: a/ How do PLC members' describe the purpose of a PLC tasked with implementing a new teacher evaluation system? b/ How do PLC members' describe their experience of learning through the process of collective inquiry? And c/ How do PLC members' describe their experience as leaders in this change effort? Data included twenty-six semi-structured interviews, observations, and survey data. Data were analyzed using general inductive analysis and included multiple coding strategies. The participants were drawn from the District Evaluation Advisory Committee (DEAC) who was tasked with selecting an approved teacher evaluation system from a list of state approved models.

Using systems change and distributed leadership as conceptual frameworks, results indicated that learning and leadership occurred with feedback loops that created two-way communication both within and outside the PLC. Systems change took place through a series of phases; first impacting the knowledge and practice of PLC members, later their teaching colleagues, and finally the entire school environment. This research is relevant to the type of organizational change that school districts in New Jersey are faced with given the "Teacher Effectiveness and Accountability for the Children of New Jersey Act (2012)." The findings indicate that using PLCs to lead school change is a powerful option.
Subjects and keywords:
basic qualitative study
distributed leadership
PLCs
professional learning community
system change
teacher evaluation systems
Teachers -- Rating of -- New Jersey
Teacher effectiveness -- New Jersey
Teaching -- New Jersey -- Evaluation
Professional learning communities -- New Jersey
Organizational change -- New Jersey
Educational change -- New Jersey
School of Education -- New Jersey
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17760/D20194032
Permanent Link:
http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20194032
Use and reproduction:
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