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HOW PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES USE STUDENT DATA
FOR IMPROVING ACHIEVEMENT
by
David Reynolds
____________________________________________________________________
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
August 2008
Copyright 2008 David Reynolds
Object Description
| Title | How professional learning communities use student data to increase achievement |
| Author | Reynolds, David |
| Author email | dlreynol@usc.edu |
| Degree | Doctor of Education |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Education (Leadership) |
| School | Rossier School of Education |
| Date defended/completed | 2008-04-01 |
| Date submitted | 2008 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2008-06-06 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Datnow, Amanda |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Mafi, Gabriela Marsh, David D. |
| Abstract | No Child Left Behind has brought an increased expectation of accountability for all students. Professional Learning Communities is a strategy in which teachers can analyze data, reflect on instructional practices, and plan interventions for the purpose of increasing student achievement. This model embraces collective decision making, reflective thinking under the umbrella of a culture of collaboration for the sole purpose of monitoring student progress, ensuring that all students will learn.; The purpose of this research was to examine a school site in Southern California, Robinson Middle, which has successfully implemented professional learning communities, made evident by increasing API scores. Robinson Middle showed evidence of having a strong culture of collaboration that had developed over the past four years. The following overarching question was the basis of the literature review and interviews in the case study: How do Professional Learning Communities use student assessment data to increase student achievement? The study also included three supporting research questions: (1) What are the characteristics of effective professional learning communities that collaborate for the purpose of student achievement? (2) What do teachers perceive to be the benefits of working in professional learning communities compared to working in isolation? (3) How do teachers in professional learning communities use data to change classroom practices?; Based on my findings, Robinson Middle is supported by a strong leader that embraces the idea of building a strong culture of collaboration that shares a common vision for increased student achievement. The school principal, Mr. Thomas, has supported his staff by creating a time for teams to collaborate in order to share data, reflect on instructional practices, and plan interventions for struggling students. The staff embraces collaboration and discourages working in isolation. Creating staff development workshops for new staff members has helped new teachers to become active, contributing members of a PLC. Team norms also help team membersunderstand expectations for collective decision making. Robinson teams also spend a great deal of time setting academic goals for students, selecting essential standards for each content area, analyzing and sharing effective instructional practices, and planning interventions for students not mastering the tested standards.; Other findings also appeared from the research that was not frequently discussed in existing PLC research. There was evidence from the case study that frequent reflection of current practices needed to be analyzed for its effectiveness and solutions needed to be found for issues not always discovered in the research (i.e., implementing tutorial programs in a current bell schedule, or altering a schedule to support collaboration time). It was also noted that PLC implementation had an impact on students who saw that similar practices were used throughout content areas, allowing for transferability. Finally, it was discovered that often, due to the fast pacing of a curriculum and testing schedule, that there is not enough time for a new teacher to assimilate into an already existing PLC team, therefore, requiring additional support for these teachers to be successful, such as beginning of the year PLC workshops.; Based on my research from one school site, it seemed as though further case studies might include examining the implementation of PLCs at typically low performing schools, including the examination of the effect of PLCs on typically low performing subgroups, such as the Hispanic / Latino population within a school site. Further research could also be conducted on the effects of current tutorial programs and the data outcome of some PLC teams at a school site compared to another for their effectiveness in looking at data. |
| Keyword | Professional Learning Community |
| Geographic subject | educational facilities: Robinson Middle School |
| Geographic subject (state) | California |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m1255 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Reynolds, David |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@dots.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Reynolds-20080606 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume26/etd-Reynolds-20080606.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@dots.usc.edu |
| Full text | HOW PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES USE STUDENT DATA FOR IMPROVING ACHIEVEMENT by David Reynolds ____________________________________________________________________ A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF EDUCATION August 2008 Copyright 2008 David Reynolds |
