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Article Excerpt
1. Introduction
Teacher professional learning communities, or communities of practice, can be defined as environments in which teachers interact and collaborate regularly around issues of teaching and learning and engage in the production and consumption of knowledge about improved practices for student learning (Bullough, 2007; Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999; Henson, 2001; Vescio, Ross, & Adams, 2008; Wood, 2007). In the United States, participation in teacher professional learning communities has been shown to result in changes to teaching practices (Dunne, Nave, & Lewis, 2000; Englert & Tarrant, 1995; Hollins, McIntyre, Debose, Hollins, & Towner, 2004; Louis & Marks, 1998; Strahan, 2003). Other scholars have found that participation in professional learning communities has an impact on school professional culture and leads to increased involvement, ownership, innovation, and leadership among teachers (Andrews & Lewis, 2002; Berry, Johnson, & Montgomery, 2005; Phillips, 2003; Supovitz & Christman, 2003). Professional learning communities have strengthened the connections between professional learning and the immediate needs of teachers (Berry et al., 2005; Bolam, McMahon, Stoll, Thomas, & Wallace, 2005). Evidence also suggests that teacher professional learning communities have resulted in improved student achievement (Berry et al., 2005; Bolam et al., 2005; Hollins et al., 2004; Louis & Marks, 1998; Phillips, 2003; Strahan, 2003; Supovitz, 2002; Supovitz & Christman, 2003).
Whereas there is growing support for the fostering of teacher professional learning communities in the current policy environment (Hargreaves, 2000), the culture of teaching in the United States has long been characterized by isolation (Lortie, 1975; Meyer & Rowan, 1978; Vescio et al., 2008; Weick, 1976). Scholars studying teacher professional practices around the world have noted the variation in the degree to which educational systems support teacher collaboration and the development of teacher professional learning communities (Paine & Ma, 1993; Stigler & Hiebert, 1999; Wang & Paine, 2003). In Japan, for example, "lesson study" is an established practice that began in the early 1900s (Fernandez, 2002). Lesson study consists of teacher collaboration and systematic inquiry into teaching and learning in the context of peer observation, critique, and discussion around specific student learning objectives.
Similar norms of teacher collaboration are a part of the formal structure of the educational system in China. These activities take the form of teaching and research groups (jiaoyan zu, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) and their associated activities (jiaoyan huodong, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]). The activities of the teaching and research group are organized at the national, provincial, county, district, and school levels. These collective activities encompass a wide array of professional development and socialization opportunities, including joint lesson planning and the sharing of resources, organized discussions of articles related to subject-specific teaching, talks given by educational experts, and district-organized demonstration lessons observed and critiqued by other teachers in the district. Teaching and research group activities appear to be utilized effectively to disseminate new curriculum and pedagogy and to share teaching strategies (Sargent, 2007a; 2007b), (1) though some have argued that teaching and research group activities may play a conservative role, by socializing new teachers into existing norms and practices (Paine, 1990, 1992).
China is also interesting because these organizational features penetrate throughout the system, extending from districts serving China's wealthiest "first-world" urban communities to districts serving China's most impoverished rural communities. Several studies have examined the structure and role of teacher collaboration and professional learning communities in Chinese schools (Paine & Fang, 2006, 2007; Paine & Ma, 1993; Wang & Paine, 2003). However, there is little systematic empirical research on the nature of teacher participation in these activities, nor is there research on factors that contribute to the strength of these communities. Even less is known about the role of teacher professional learning communities in rural areas of China.
Teacher professional learning communities may be a cost-effective strategy for teacher professional development in impoverished communities. Many aspects of effective professional learning communities can be supported through institutional structures and incentives within schools themselves, without the need to pay for teachers' transportation and room and board to attend offsite training sessions. For this reason, cultivating professional learning communities may be a particularly desirable strategy for the improvement of teaching and learning in resource-constrained settings.
This article investigates the nature and varying forms of professional learning communities in rural Gansu, one of China's poorest provinces, in northwest China. We analyze survey data collected in primary schools serving 71 rural villages in June 2004, as well as transcripts from 30 in-depth interviews with rural primary school teachers collected in fall 2004. We investigate the nature of professional learning communities in rural Gansu and the institutional, school, and individual teacher attributes that support active professionalism.
2. Professional Learning Communities in Theoretical Perspective
2.1. A Working Definition
Drawing on definitions in common use in the literature, we define professional learning communities as existing when two broad categories of activities occur on a sustained basis. First, teachers must regularly interact about teaching and learning, for example, through teacher collaboration in lesson planning; through activities of joint study and discussion about teaching; or through activities of peer observation (Fernandez, 2002; Vescio et al., 2008; Wineberg & Grossman, 1998). Second, teachers must produce knowledge about teaching, through teacher research and publication (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999; Henson, 2001; Wood, 2007). For Cochran-Smith and Lytle (1999), teachers who come together as researchers in professional learning communities are able to play an important role in the integration of formal knowledge of teaching, on one hand, and practical knowledge, on the other. Cochran-Smith and Lytle argued that teacher professional learning communities allow for the joint construction of contextualized knowledge of practice through conversation and writing. This collaborative analysis and interpretation is able to "make visible" and understandable day-to-day events and the norms and practices of teaching.
2.2. Supporting Professional Learning Communities
Various factors may determine the success and sustainability of teacher professional learning communities, including institutional features of the educational system (Chubb & Moe, 1990; Paine & Ma, 1993; Stigler & Hiebert, 1999), principal leadership characteristics (DuFour, 1999; DuFour & Berkey, 1995; Huffman, Hipp, Pankake, & Moller, 2001; Printy, 2008), school socioeconomic factors, and individual teacher characteristics (Dooner, Mandzuk, & Clifton, 2008; Westheimer, 1999).
First, institutional characteristics can facilitate or hinder professional learning communities in the degree to which they provide time and space for teachers to engage in collaboration. Institutional characteristics include the norms of the national and professional culture and, consequently, the time that is built into the system for teachers to engage in professional community building activities (Chubb & Moe, 1990; Lortie, 1975; Paine & Ma, 1993; Stevenson & Stigler, 1994; Stigler & Hiebert, 1999; Wang & Paine, 2003). Darling-Hammond's (2008) recent editorial comparing teacher professional learning communities in Singapore and in the United States highlights the lack of support for stable, consistent, coherent, sustainable professional learning communities in the United States:
[In Singapore,] expert teachers are given time to serve as mentors to help beginners learn their craft. The government pays for 100 hours of professional development each year for all teachers. In addition, they have 20 hours a week to work with other teachers and visit one another's classrooms.... Most U.S. teachers, on the other hand, have no time to work with colleagues during the school day. They plan by themselves and get a few hit-and-run workshops after school, with little opportunity to share knowledge or improve their practice. (p. 34)
Logistical constraints--lack of time and space--are important challenges for teacher collaboration in the United States and likely reflect the lack of a broader commitment to enabling professional learning communities (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999; Darling-Hammond, 2005). If teachers are to come together to engage in research and collaboration, they need to be given adequate amounts of time to do this regularly and over sustained periods.
Other variables within the school system also present incentives and disincentives for collaboration. In the current context of teacher accountability pressures in the United States, student examination scores have become increasingly important forces driving classroom teaching. In China, too, exam scores are highly consequential for student upward mobility, and teacher professional evaluations commonly include consideration of student exam results. The importance of exams in both settings raises the question of whether examination pressure makes teachers more receptive to drawing on each other's support to foster student learning or whether it generates time pressures that discourage teachers from taking the time to collaborate and interact with each other in professional learning communities.
The policy environment in which schools operate also has implications for institutional support for teacher collaboration. In China, the policy environment for teacher collaboration is undergoing change. A recent reform known as the New Curriculum Reforms (Xin kecheng gaige, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) has sought to bring about a transformation of many dimensions of teaching practice, and the teaching and research groups at the county, township, and school level have been mobilized to assist in the dissemination of the new norms and practices called for by the reforms. The reforms have aimed for an overhaul of the structure and content of basic education (Grades 1 to 12) and a transformation in curriculum, pedagogy, and beliefs about teaching and learning (Sargent, 2007a; in press; Shi & Liu, 2004). During the period covered by this project, the New Curriculum Reforms were still being phased in. The reforms began experimentally in 2001, starting first with national pilot counties, and then following with provincial pilot counties. Finally, all counties were to begin implementation by 2005. In each county, implementation of the new reforms also began gradually, in some cases with a few schools starting ahead of other schools. Implementation within each school was phased, beginning first with Grade 1 of primary school and Grade 1 of junior middle school. Throughout the implementation phase, a posture of learning has been promoted in which teachers are encouraged to experiment boldly and engage in discussion and investigation of the best approaches. Open classroom activities and demonstration lessons are also a common technique for the investigation and spread of New Curriculum practices. Challenges faced by the implementation of the New Curriculum Reforms may also spark greater interest and investment in teacher research. If the policy shift is achieving its stated goals, we would anticipate that teachers working in schools operating under the New Curriculum framework are more likely to be participating in professional learning communities.
Scholars have also found principal leadership to be an important factor that can support or impede teacher professional learning communities (DuFour, 1999; DuFour & Berkey, 1995; Huffman et al., 2001; Printy, 2008). Researchers have suggested that principals can nurture and develop teachers' professional growth as part of the school culture by creating consensus, promoting shared values, ensuring systematic collaboration, encouraging experimentation, and promoting the self-efficacy of teachers (Deal & Peterson, 1990; DuFour & Berkey, 1995; Wineberg & Grossman, 1998). Principal leadership can support the culture and the organizational mechanisms by which teachers talk about teaching and learning; observe each other teach, plan, design, research, and evaluate curricula; and teach each other what they have learned about their craft (Barth, 1990; Deal & Peterson, 1990; DuFour & Berkey, 1995; Wineberg & Grossman, 1998).
It is also possible that the ability to establish and maintain professional learning communities for teachers may be dependent on the availability of financial resources in the school, although, to our knowledge, no empirical research has investigated this relationship. For example, schools with fewer resources may have a harder time attracting a sufficient number of qualified teachers, a circumstance leading to heavier teaching loads for the teachers. This situation may mean less time for collaborative activities such as lesson planning and group study. Underresourced schools may not be able to support teachers to attend professional learning community activities outside the school, and teacher research may also be hindered if teachers lack easy access to computers and reference materials.
Finally, the individual initiative and attitudes of teachers may matter (Dooner et al., 2008; Westheimer, 1999). Individual teachers may have particular characteristics that predispose them to becoming more active in participating and initiating activities of professional communities. These characteristics might include teachers' family commitments outside of school and their ability to devote extra time to engagement in professional community activities.
3. Data and Method
We investigate professional learning communities and the institutional, leadership, school, and individual characteristics...
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