Developing increased leader capacity to support effective professional learning community teams

Abstract

ABSTRACT Increasingly, research suggests that successful professional learning communities (PLCs) worldwide need effective principals to strengthen pedagogy and develop skills that facilitate team planning to increase student achievement. Using immersive simulations to help teachers build skills and increase self-efficacy is also supported in research. Few studies, however, address using immersive simulations as a pedagogical tool to build skills and increase self-efficacy for educational leaders at the state, national, or international levels. This study examined the application of immersive simulations to increase leader capacity and self-efficacy for 46 K-12 school and district leaders in Georgia, USA. Leaders identified improvement in three critical skill areas all leaders need to build and support highly engaged PLC teams: conscious communications, active listening, and authentic engagement.