A multilevel analysis of the impact of a professional learning community, faculty trust in colleagues and collective efficacy on teacher commitment to students John Chi-kin Lee a, * , Zhonghua Zhang b , Hongbiao Yin c a Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Faculty of Education Studies, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong, China b Centre for Religious and Spirituality Education (CRSE), The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong, China c Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Faculty of Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China article info Article history: Received 16 October 2009 Received in revised form 8 January 2011 Accepted 11 January 2011 Keywords: Teacher development Professional learning community Faculty trust in colleagues Collective teacher efficacy Teacher commitment to students Hierarchical linear model abstract This study investigated the relationships between a professional learning community (PLC), faculty trust in colleagues, teachers’ collective efficacy, and their commitment to students. The findings from exploratory factor analysis indicated that three clear components could be extracted from the scale of Professional Learning Communities Assessment (PLCA) in a Chinese setting. Multilevel analyses was conducted to investigate how school-level variables, including the three factors of PLC, faculty trust in colleagues, and collective teacher efficacy, affect teachers’ commitment to students. The findings from the Hong Kong teacher sample indicated that two PLC factors including collective learning and application and supportive conditions e structures, and the factors faculty trust in colleagues and collective teacher efficacy could significantly and positively account for the school-level variances of teachers’ commitment to students. Another PLC factor, shared and supportive leadership, was not identified as a significant predictor to teachers’ commitment to students in a Chinese setting. The findings of school-level regressions indicated that all three factors of PLC as well as faculty trust in colleagues could significantly and positively affect teachers’ collective efficacy on instructional strategies. However, only one PLC factor, collective learning and application, and the factor faculty trust in colleagues were significant predictors to teachers’ collective efficacy on student discipline. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Developing schools as professional learning communities (PLCs) is being strongly advocated by education reformers and researchers as a systematic and effective way to improve teacher quality. Teachers’ qualities, such as teachers’ self-efficacy and collective efficacy as well as their commitment to students, have been shown to affect students’ achievements (Bandura, 1997; Goddard, Hoy, & Hoy, 2004; Park, 2005; Thompson, Gregg, & Niska, 2004). In the restructuring of schools, the emphasis on professional community is important in teachers’ professional development (Louis, Marks, & Kruse, 1996). Louis et al. (1996) described shared values, a focus on student learning, collaboration, deprivatized practice, and reflective dialogue as five elements of professional communities which could be considered as important components in the restructuring of schools. The concept of professional learning community (PLC), a concept associated with professional development, is also being used by many researchers. Hord (1997) proposed five dimensions of PLC which included supportive and shared leadership, shared values and vision, collective learning and application, supportive conditions, and shared personal practice. Some of these dimensions are closely related to the elements of professional communities proposed by Louis, Marks, and Kruse. Shared personal practice, for example, is related to the element of deprivatized practice, while supportive and shared leadership and supportive conditions echo the analysis of structural conditions that support school-wide profes- sional community undertaken by Louis, Marks and Kruse. Although there is no universal definition of a PLC, a consensus view drawn from educational researchers and administrators is that a PLC exists in a school when a group of teachers collaboratively and critically exchange their instructional practices in an ongoing, reflective, inclusive, learning-oriented and growth-promoting way to support innovation and knowledge sharing (Mitchell & Sackney, 2000; Stoll & Louis, 2007; Toole & Louis, 2002). Within the current school-based educational reform in Hong Kong, much attention is being paid to in-service teachers’ contin- uous professional development in a PLC. Previously in Hong Kong, teachers’ professional development activities were predominantly * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ852 2948 6311. E-mail address: jcklee@ied.edu.hk (J. C.-k. Lee). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Teaching and Teacher Education journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tate 0742-051X/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2011.01.006 Teaching and Teacher Education 27 (2011) 820e830