A Survey of School Leaders’ Perceptions of Their Leadership Practices and Teachers’ Perceptions of Professional Learning Communities

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the leadership practices of Louisiana principals and teachers’ perceptions of schools as professional learning communities.

METHODOLOGY
The study was conducted in a small rural southwestern Louisiana school district, consisting of three high schools, eight middle schools, seven elementary schools, and one alternative school with approximately 8,300 students, 618 teachers, and 23 principals. Twelve principals completed the LPI, and 102 of their teachers completed the LPI-Observer, while 202 teachers completed The Professional Learning Community Assessment- Revised (Olivier & Hipp, 2010). Internal reliability for the overall LPI was .93 (Self) and .95 (Observers).

KEY FINDINGS
Principals’ perceptions of their own leadership practices had little or low impact on teachers’ perception of schools as professional learning communities. However, the results indicated that the higher teachers’ perceptions of their principals’ leadership practices, the stronger their perception of schools as professional learning communities, although only one of the dimensions, Supportive Conditions- Relationships, was statistically significant.