Professional learning communities and their impact on the roadblocks that inhibit collaboration among teachers and certified staff at Berkshire Elementary School

Professional learning communities and their impact on the roadblocks that inhibit collaboration among teachers and certified staff at Berkshire Elementary School Public Deposited

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21st century teaching initiatives place emphasis on the formation of collaborative professional cultures. Recent educational literature suggests that there are a number of roadblocks to the creation of such cultures. In 2005, a study conducted at Berkshire elementary identified several of these hindrances. Foremost among them were a lack of time, the isolated nature of the profession, and the presence of divergent points of view as the main roadblocks to forming a collaborative culture. This study investigated the perceptions of 37 elementary school teachers and staff members at Berkshire Elementary on the impact of the implementation of the Professional Learning Community Model, as defined by DuFour, on the roadblocks through an open-ended survey, quantitative data collected by the High Five Regional Partnership for High School Excellence limited to just the responses from the classroom teachers at Berkshire Elementary, one-on-one interviews, and observations of Professional Learning Community Meetings. Findings indicate that the model alleviates the roadblocks to collaboration identified in 2005, but that continued efforts need to be made to encourage the development of the collaborative culture.

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