Description
School leaders struggle to cultivate authentic and meaningful collaboration among teacher teams. Despite literature affirming the positive impact of PLC’s on student achievement, deep collaboration among teachers is rare. A review of the literature points to multiple barriers to teacher collaboration, such as organizational logistics, interpersonal challenges, and educator-specific characteristics like autonomy and independence. Trust on campus has been shown to overcome these common barriers to teacher collaboration. This mixed methods case study uses interviews, surveys, and a document analysis to examine the dynamic of trust and collaboration in a comprehensive high school that has been designated a “Model PLC” school. Interviews were conducted with the principal, school leaders, and teachers to examine the nexus between trust and collaboration. Interview responses were analyzed using a descriptive analysis of two conceptual frameworks; characteristics of PLC’s and five elements of trust. The Faculty Trust Scale was used to gather survey data from teachers to measure faculty trust in the principal, colleagues, and clients. Results from this case study showed an above average level of trust among adults, yet presented a below average score for trust in parents and students. Findings also showed that intentional efforts by site leadership to engage staff in shared professional learning, directly confront challenges, and remain active and visible cultivated an environment of trust among the faculty. This study shares important strategies for school leaders to build trust and highlights the need to explore the relationship between high faculty trust and low trust in clients.
