Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

12-2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Curriculum & Instruction

First Advisor

Dr. Jesus “Chuey” Abrego

Second Advisor

Dr. Zhidong Zhang

Third Advisor

Dr. Alma Rodriguez

Abstract

This quantitative research explored the correlational and causal analysis between professional learning community (PLC) and teacher leadership, as well as the demographic and capacity-building variables and dimensions of the PLCA-R and TLSS instruments as perceived by educators in an identified emergent district-wide PLC (Lopez, 2015) located in south Texas. The overarching question focused on examining the associations between professional learning communities (PLCs) and teacher leadership in South Central ISD (pseudonym).

The findings lend support to the notion that teacher leadership and PLCs are correlated concepts, and further establish that a healthy school culture embraces and empowers teachers by providing professional development opportunities and supporting leadership development. The major findings for the research sub-questions were the following: (a) Professional development built into the instructional schedule was a statistically significant predictor for every dimension of both the PLCA-R and TLSS instruments; (b) The association coefficients (factor loadings) for the PLCA-R dimensions ranged between .49 and .56; (c) The association coefficients (factor loadings) for the TLSS dimensions ranged between .61 and .82; (d) The PLC and teacher leadership constructs had a strong relationship with a canonical correlation of 0.85; (e) SCISD exhibited varying degrees of perceived PLC practices and sustained its emergent district-wide PLC status; (f) The explained variance for the construct validity of the PLCA-R dimensions ranged between 62.7% and 68.5%; (g) The explained variance for the construct validity of the TLSS dimensions ranged between 63.6% and 77%; (h) The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.983 for the PLCA-R instrument, and the Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the PLCA-R dimensions ranged between 0.883 and 0.946; and (i) The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.983 for the TLSS instrument, and the Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the TLSS dimensions ranged between 0.892 and 0.950.

In brief, the researcher responded to the sub-questions effectively with the data collected via the two reliable and valid instruments: PLCA-R and TLSS. Furthermore, the demographic and capacity-building variables effectively aided to reflect the participants’ perceptions of both PLC and teacher leadership practices in SCISD.

Comments

Copyright 2019 Melissa Castañeda. All Rights Reserved.

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/utrgv.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/examination-professional-learning-community/docview/2382599611/se-2?accountid=7119

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