Professional Learning Communities in an Elementary School: Teacher Perceptions, Implementation, and Impacts

The Every Student Succeeds Act (2015), signed into law by President Obama, reauthorized the elementary and secondary education act for K-12 students across the nation. A main component of ESSA resides with the professional development of teachers and administrators. The definition of teacher professional development by Learning Forward (2017) involves a sustained professional learning community (PLC) which is collaborative, intensive, job-embedded, and data driven. The idea of PLCs as a means of teacher professional development is the current popular trend amongst K-12 education (DuFour, 2004). PLCs are creating opportunities for teachers to collaborate regarding many aspects of the education profession. In this report, I provide a critical analysis of PLCs (DuFour, 2004) and teachers’ perceptions of PLCs. Implementation and impacts of PLCs are analyzed from teacher survey responses and semi-structured interview responses. An overview of results will articulate findings within the six dimensions of PLCs, identified in PLCA-R survey and through semi-structured interviews. Findings from the PLCA-R survey, survey comments and semi structured interviews reveal dimensions that had a low mean score, Shared Personal Practice vs areas of strength within Supportive Conditions – Relationships dimension. Keywords: Professional Learning Communities, Andragogy, Transformative Leadership, Constructivism, Distributive Leadership, Teacher Capacit