he pu
rpose of this study was to describe
the
transformation of one small, rural
school district’s professional development program.
The study focused on the actions
that school leaders took to replace a traditional, workshop
-
based program that wa
s
deemed ineffective with a new professional development model. The new model was
designed to create professional learning communities by taking advantage of and further
developing teacher leadership.
Within this mixed
-
methods case study, both survey dat
a and interview data were
collected. The study describes (a) internal and external factors that influenced the
change, (b) selection and implementation of the model, (c) the cycle of transformation
that occurred, including interactions among school admini
strators, teacher leaders and
other professional staff as the program became institutionalized, and (d) outcomes that
resulted after three years of implementation.
Findings indicate there were positive outcomes from the change. The initial
effectiveness of
the new model may have been enhanced if teacher leaders had been more
involved in decision
-
making processes relative to its adoption and launch. Findings also
indicate that schools within the district are above average on a developmental continuum
that m
easures the maturity of professional learning communities. The effectiveness of
professional learning communities is dependent in part on democratic leadership with
teachers sharing power, authority and decision making. For schools within this district t
o
continue maturing as professional learning communities, strengthening democratic
leadership will be essential.
These findings have implications for the pre
-
service and in
-
service training of
both school administrators and teacher leaders. They also sugge
st the potential for more
inter
-
district sharing of successful change initiatives in the interest of improved learning
for all students