Professional community and student achievement

PhD ceremony: Ms. C. Lomos, 11.00 uur, Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen

Dissertation: Professional community and student achievement

Promotor(s): prof. R.J. Bosker

Faculty: Behavioural and Social Sciences

In the past three decades, the concept of professional community has gained momentum in both theory and practice. The present thesis first focused on clarifying the concept of professional community and reviewing the empirical evidence regarding the hypothesis of a positive relationship between professional community and student achievement in secondary schools. Secondly, after operationalizing and measuring the concept, the relationship of department (mathematics) and school-based professional community with student achievement was tested specifically in Dutch secondary schools. Our results, based on the information provided by teachers from different domains, have added a promising new spectrum of insights into the specifics of professional community practices. In Dutch secondary schools, professional community proved to be mainly characterized by reflective dialogue and collective responsibility. With respect to its influence on student achievement, it can be concluded that the total direct effect has proved to be small, both among schools and among educational tracks.