The Relationship between Departments as Professional Communities and Student Achievement in Secondary Schools

This article was published in Teaching and Teacher Education, Vol 27 number 4,
Author(s): Catalina Lomos, Roelande H. Hofman, Roel J. Bosker, " The Relationship between Departments as Professional Communities and Student Achievement in Secondary Schools", Pages 722–731, Copyright Elsevier (May 2011).

This study explores the relationship of mathematics departments perceived as professional communities and student achievement in Dutch secondary schools.

The participants in this study were 3000 students and 130 teachers from 130 130 schools gathered from TIMSS-2003 data

Cluster analysis and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) were used.

The significant effects found show that those departments that focus on reflective dialogue, collaborative activity, shared vision and student achievement are associated with successful schools and higher student achievement.