Professional Learning Communities Assessment - Revised: A Measure of Schools as Learning Organisations

Abstract

Recent years showed a much stronger appeal for transforming schools, among other organisations, into learning organisations. More than two decades into the coining of the term learning organisations, researchers are still in pursuit of proper tools for measuring the construct. The present investigation aims to evaluate the appropriateness of Professional Learning Communities Assessment – Revised (PLCA-R) for assessing schools as learning organisations. Data gathered from 224 elementary teachers were analysed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to validate the dimensionality of the selected tool in an organisational context. The results provided reasonable model fit and validity for the hypothesised six-factor model indicating that PLCA-R is a suitable tool for assessing schools as learning organisations. The findings imply that all the dimensions of PLCs have to be given equal consideration when implementing PLCs in the context of learning organisations.