Teacher Perspectives of Professional Learning Community Teams with Respect to Their Collective Inquiries: A Case Study

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the perspectives of secondary level teachers in East Tennessee who are involved in Professional Learning Community (PLC) teams regarding both the environment and sharing of best teaching practices. The study examined PLC teams to better understand how the team design, interaction, and the process of collaboration enabled teachers to coexist as adult learners. The basic research question lies in what are teacher perspectives of PLCs relating to the environment of the collective inquiry and the transfer of knowledge at the secondary school level. The study examined PLC teams to better understand how the team design, interaction, and the process of collaboration enabled teachers to coexist as adult learners. The study examined four PLC teams in a rural East Tennessee high school. The teachers were observed and interviewed in their PLC teams, which were classified as focus groups. The focus groups were given an online assessment to better understand their PLC environment at the school. The observations, interviews, and assessments were used to give detailed description of the case and evolved into themes highlighted from the participants. The final four themes evolved from detailed data collection and analysis into relationships, values and vision, collective learning, and structures. The study concluded with recommendations to help rural secondary schools navigate through the PLC implementation process