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ERIC Number: EJ888444
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010
Pages: 43
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1467-9620
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Learning from Success as Leverage for a Professional Learning Community: Exploring an Alternative Perspective of School Improvement Process
Schechter, Chen
Teachers College Record, v112 n1 p182-224 2010
Background: Although the professional learning community as a means of improving student achievement has received growing support from researchers and practitioners alike, professionals are still exploring ways to develop interaction networks regarding teaching and learning issues. Purpose: This study explores the evolving stages of a collective learning-from-success process within the framework of a professional learning community. Research Design: A qualitative case study of a comprehensive (middle and secondary) public school community was conducted to explore practitioners' collective learning from successful practices. Data Collection and Analysis: A total of 12 detailed session transcripts from the learning-from-success sessions (circle of learners), 42 evaluation forms (21 internal and 21 external evaluations), 6 observations of the development team's sessions, and pertinent documents were collected for analysis. The analysis process involved identifying patterns in the data--recurring ideas and perspectives that depicted the social world studied. Findings: Data revealed that this collective process moved through three distinct, but closely interrelated, dynamic stages: invitation and framework building; collective inquiry into colleagues' professional successes; and experimentation and dissemination. Conclusion: Whereas collective learning has been approached from a deficit-based orientation, this study reinterprets the professional learning community to include the collective learning-from-success process, thus providing a new outlook for linking concepts with practical capabilities in light of public school reality.
Teachers College, Columbia University. P.O. Box 103, 525 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027. Tel: 212-678-3774; Fax: 212-678-6619; e-mail: tcr@tc.edu; Web site: http://www.tcrecord.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education; Middle Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A