Professional community and student achievement.

Apart from the crucial role of collaboration in getting the organizational tasks done, the concept also opens a window of opportunities for fellow staff members to improve their work performance through processes such as learning from and with one another. In these processes it is necessary to reflect jointly and in a critical manner on the fundamental aspects of the work: its goals, the ways to achieve them, and the organization of the work processes. School organizations are no exception in this respect. But does collaboration indeed help improve a school's performance, and if so, which aspects of the collaboration process are most crucial and for which schools? These questions have been central in this study. In the specific context of school organizations, the concept of teachers working together has been labeled in many different ways, going from teacher collaboration, communities of practice, learning organizations, teacher networks to professional communities and professional learning communities. This thesis, however, focuses on the clarification of the professional community concept and its relationship with student achievement.