Teacher Voice in Curriculum Development: A Study of Professional Learning Communities in a School District in Coastal South Carolina

• Main Author: Dixon, Anthony S
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-2018
• Subjects: Curriculum development; Educational leadership
• ISBN: 9781392731284; 1392731283

Federal mandates forced educational structures and concepts into play that directly impacted the voice of the teacher in the classroom. High stakes testing, as a part of those mandates, increased teacher accountability for student achievement with educational leaders using a laser-like focus on test scores and how schools are judged on state and federal report card ratings; therefore, the trend to provide teachers with top-down curriculum has become a more direct approach to meeting federal mandates. This type of leadership removed the teacher from curriculum development along with their creativity, content knowledge, and knowledge of their students and communities. . Thus, teachers lost their voice.This research study sought to examine teacher voice in professional learning communities. A professional learning community was one of the most recent school reform models that respected the voice of the teacher and intentionally built its structure which ensured that teachers were engaged in curriculum development and design. This study addressed the perceptions of teachers when asked about how the use of teacher voice could be an integral factor in increasing student achievement. The voice of the teacher was validated as direct relationships was made between professional learning communities, teacher voice, student achievement, and curriculum development.The purpose of the study was to examine the degree that teacher voice impacted student achievement as defined by performance on standards-based pre/post summative assessment at three schools in a coastal, South Carolina school district that employed Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). The study determined how teachers perceived their voice within their schools and within their professions.This research study focused on the following:1. How do teachers perceive their voice within the school? Within the profession?2. To what degree does teacher voice in PLCs impact instructional decisions?3. To what degree has student achievement been impacted through teacher voice in PLCs?4. Is there a difference in student mastery of content standards based on results of pre/post test data on curriculum units in which teacher voice was evident in the planning?The population of this study involved two groups: one group was all teachers within the school district who were surveyed, and the second group consisted of eleven teachers of fifth grade students at three schools: one rural, one suburban, and one a mixture of rural and suburban. The pre and post summative unit assessment data of one hundred and ninety-five students who attended schools in this district were analyzed.In the study, the variables were summarized using descriptive statistic. The data was used to consider to what degree teacher voice positively impacted student achievement and curriculum development within PLCs.Based on the research, it was found that through PLCs, the voice of the teacher had an impact on student achievement as well as curriculum design in the studied schools. There was a positive change in student achievement based on the pre/post summative assessment data results. Teachers surveyed and interviewed perceived that PLCs made positive impacts.