Effect of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) on Science Teachers’ Instructional and Assessment Practices

The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) on science teachers’ instructional practices and assessment practices. Based on the pragmatist’s paradigm and mixed methods approach, the study used the Convergent parallel mixed methods design. Professional Learning communities (PLC) and Instructional and Assessment Practices Questionnaire (PLCIAQ) were used to collect data. The sample consisted of 17 in-service science teachers who participated in weekly PLC sessions in their schools for two years. The sample was purposively selected to include only science teachers. It was found that most of the teachers (76.5%) stated that PLCs positively affected their instructional practices. PLCs have a moderate effect on science teachers’ instructional practices (M = 3.71, SD = 0.92). It was found that PLCs have more effect on science teachers’ instructional practices (M = 3.94, SD = 1.03) followed by their classroom management practices (M = 3.88, SD = 1.27), student grouping practices (M = 3.82, SD = 1.13), science content taught (M = 3.71, SD = 1.26), teaching materials (M = 3.65, SD = 1.37), teaching methods (M = 3.65, SD = 1.41). It was also revealed that most of the science teachers (88.2%) think that PLCs positively affected their assessment practices. PLCs have a moderate effect on science teachers’ assessment practices (M = 3.73, SD = 0.71). It was found that PLC has influenced more on summative assessment (M = 3.94, SD = 0.75), followed by formative assessment (M = 3.82, SD = 1.07), and the kinds of questions asked (M = 3.71, SD = 1.05). Also, PLCs least affected frequency of assessments (M = 3.65, SD = 0.86) and assessments by collaborative teams (M = 3.41, SD = 1.12). Paired samples t-test revealed no statistically significant difference in science teachers’ instructional practices (M = 3.71, SD = .92) and their assessment practices (M = 3.74, SD = .71), t (16) = -.629, p = .791. However, Pearson’s correlation reveals a significant high correlation between science teachers’ instructional and assessment practices (r = .851, p = 0.000).