Impact of Professional Learning Community Practices on Morale of Urban High School Teachers
Author: Almanzar, Angel
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Subjects: Secondary School Teachers,Urban Schools,High Schools,Morale,Communities of Practice,Intervention,Teacher Improvement,Teacher Collaboration,Public Schools,Teacher Surveys,Questionnaires,Pretests Posttests,Program Effectiveness

This applied dissertation was designed to determine the impact a planned intervention, or participants' engagement in lesson study practices, had on teacher morale and professional learning communities within a public high school located in the Southeastern part of the United States. A review of a yearly teacher survey conducted by the district's school board to determine teacher, parent, and student perceptions about their school demonstrated that teachers at the research site felt that morale was low. A literature review indicated that, in effective schools, teachers have a sense of belonging by having ownership of their institutional goals. The researcher invited 93 teachers to complete the Staff Morale Questionnaire (Smith, 1971), and the Hipp and Huffman (2010) Professional Learning Communities Assessment-Revised to identify their work-site morale and Professional Learning Communities perceptions. Forty-two teachers volunteered to complete both instruments. Over the course of 4 months, teachers met once every 2 weeks for 30 minutes to develop lessons, teach lessons, observe each other, offer each other feedback, reteach the lessons, and identify the best practices as described by Stepanek, Appel, Leong, Mangan, &amp; Mitchell (2007). At the end of the intervention, the researcher readministered the Staff Morale Questionnaire (Smith, 1971), and the Hipp and Huffman (2010) Professional Learning Communities Assessment-Revised to all participating teachers. The completed instruments were then collected and the data analyzed to determine the impact of the intervention designed to improve the morale and professional community practices of these urban high school teachers. This results of this study show that when teachers are given the opportunity and time to work together to develop their professional learning activities and share best practices, their morale increases. The &quot;t&quot; test results for the six subscales of the Teachers' Professional Learning Community Assessment showed that participants scored significantly higher at post than at pretest on shared and supportive leadership, shared values and vision, collective learning and application, shared personal practice, supportive conditions--relationships, and supportive conditions--structure. Similarly, the t test results for the three subscales of the Teachers' Morale Questionnaire subscales mean showed that participants scored significantly higher at posttest than at pretest on leadership synergy, cohesive pride, and personal challenge. These results indicated that the intervention increased participants' professional learning practices and teachers' morale. The following are appended: (1) Staff Morale Questionnaire; (2) Hipp and Huffman's (2010) PLCA-Revised; (3) Permission to Use Hipp and Huffman's (2010) PLCA-Revised; (4) Consent Letter to Participants; (5) Letter to Teachers to Complete the Instruments; (6) Guided Goal Setting for Groups Presentation; (7) Lesson Study Guiding Questions; (8) Lesson Study Action Plan: Team Responsibilities; (9) Lesson Study Action Plan: Schedule; (10) Reading Leading Lesson Study: A Practical Guide for Teachers and Facilitator; (11) Log of Faculty Job Satisfaction Activities; (12) Group Goal Setting Worksheet; (13) Lesson Study Action Plan; (14) Lesson Study Lesson Plan Format; (15) Team Member Log-Post-Debriefing; (16) Student Learning Outcome; (17) Process for Revising the Lesson Teams Guiding Question; and (18) Lesson Study Report Guidelines.