A MIXED STUDY OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES ANDSTUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to quantify the relationship between the professionallearning community model and student achievement. The research design was a mixedstudy using both quantitative and qualitative data. An analysis of variance (ANOVA)was used to determine the differences in student achievement, as measured by stateassessment scores for the years from 2005 through 2008. The data was broken down bygrade to better analyze the data, and an ANOVA was run on each grade levelindividually. The data were entered into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences(SPSS) statistical program. Interviews with the key informant staff were conducted toplace the quantitative data in historical context and to determine if any patterns emergedto help further interpret the data. The ninety-five percent confidence level (p < .05) wasused as the criterion level for determining statistical significance. The major finding of the study was that there was no significant difference betweenthe means in the Reading or Math scores in any grade after one year of implementing thePLC model. After two years of implementing the PLC model, grades four and sixshowed a significant difference between the mean scores in Reading. However in Math,sixth grade was the only grade that showed statistical significance. The results of thisstudy showed statistical and anecdotal evidence to support the statement that whenteachers perceive they are increasing their knowledge and skill at doing the work of aprofessional learning community, the more significant the student achievement gains.Both fourth grade and sixth grade teachers reported they began researching, learning, andimplementing the new approach quickly and consistently. Both fourth grade and sixthgrade teachers felt that they are far more effective now than they were four years ago, and the data shows that those changes had statistically significant impacts on their students’achievement during those learning years. By contrast, the fifth grade teachers reportedthat they felt confused, disorganized, and inconsistent in their efforts with the modelinitially, and the data shows their efforts did not increase student achievement instatistically significant ways.