Exploring school factors related to professional learning communities: a machine learning approach using cross-national data

Figures & data

Table 1. Sub-dimensions and items in the PLC measure.

Collaborative practice with focus on student learning
Main question text: On average, how often do you do the following in this school?	Answer categories Never Once a year or less 2–4 times a year 5–10 times a year 1–3 times a month Once a week or more
Items
Teach jointly as a team in the same class. Observe other teachers’ classes and provide feedback. Exchange teaching materials with colleagues. Engage in discussions about the learning development of specific students. Work with other teachers in this school to ensure common standards in evaluations for assessing student progress. Take part in collaborative professional learning.
Shared vision and responsibilities
Main question text: How strongly do you agree or disagree with these statements, as applied to this school?	Answer categories Strongly disagree Disagree Agree Strongly agree
Items
This school provides staff with opportunities to actively participate in school decisions. This school has a culture of shared responsibility for school issues. There is a collaborative school culture which is characterised by mutual support. The school staff share a common set of beliefs about teaching and learning.
Supportive conditions
Main question text: How strongly do you agree or disagree that the following present barriers to your participation in professional development?	Answer categories Strongly disagree Disagree Agree Strongly agree
Items
There is a lack of employer support.* Professional development conflicts with my work schedule.* There is no relevant professional development offered.* There are no incentives for participating in professional development.*

Answer categories are reverse coded.

Table 2. Comparison of performance on test data.

Algorithm	RMSE	RSQ
CART	0.109	0.112
LASSO	0.099	0.275
Random forest	0.100	0.269
Ridge	0.099	0.276
XGBoost	0.097	0.294

Figure 1. Variable importance of top 20 variables.

Variable texts are abbreviated, see Table 3 for full information.

Table 3. Description and interpretation of top 20 variables.

Rank	Variable name	Question text & response type	Interpretation based on plot	General direction
School and context factors
1	TC3G13C	Number of School administrative personnel (including receptionists, secretaries, and administration assistants). (Continuous)	The lowest values have a positive impact on predictions. For slightly higher values, the impact is negative, and this negative impact decreases for the largest values.	Complex/negative
2	TC3G13A	Number of teachers at the school (those whose main professional activity at this school is the provision of instruction to students). (Continuous)	Lowest values add to the predicted values, higher values subtract.	Negative
8	TC3G10	Which best describes this school’s location? (Ordinal)	Positive impact on predictions when schools are in rural areas, negative impact on predictions for schools in big cities.	Negative
9	TC3G45C	How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements? C: I am satisfied with the support that I receive from the staff at this school. (Ordinal)	No impact on predictions when principals respond “Strongly disagree”. Negative impact for “Disagree”, and a positive relationship with predictions from “Disagree” through “Strongly agree”.	Complex
10	TC3G13B	Number of personnel for pedagogical support (including all teacher aides or other non-teaching professionals who provide instruction or support teachers in providing instruction, professional curriculum/instructional specialists, educational media specialists, psychologists, and nurses). (Continuous)	Little/no impact among lowest values, positive relationship with predictions as values get higher.	Positive
12	TC3G13E	Number of “Other staff” employed at school. (Continuous)	Generally higher predictions for higher values.	Positive
14	TC3G27A	To what extent do the following statements apply to this school? A: Teachers understand the school’s curricular goals. (Ordinal)	Small negative impact on predictions for the first three values, and a positive impact for the highest values.	Positive
18	TC3G30E	In this school, how often do the following occur amongst students? E: Use/possession of drugs and/or alcohol. (Ordinal)	Negative relationship between the frequency and the predicted value.	Negative
School governance
3	TC3G20B1	Regarding this school, who has a significant responsibility for the following tasks? B1: Dismissing or suspending teachers from employment: Principal. (Binary)	Higher prediction when principal has “significant responsibility”, lower value when it is not the case.	Positive
4	TC3G09C	How strongly do you agree or disagree that the following present barriers to your participation in professional development? C: There is a lack of employer support. (Ordinal)	The more the principal agrees, the lower the prediction. The largest distinction is between categories 2 and 3.	Negative
5	TC3G09G	How strongly do you agree or disagree that the following present barriers to your participation in professional development? G: There are no incentives for participating in professional development. (Ordinal)	The more the principal agrees, the lower the prediction. The largest distinction is between categories 2 and 3.	Negative
Leadership
6	TC3G22C	Please indicate how frequently you engaged in the following activities in this school during the last 12 months. C: I provided feedback to teachers based on my observations. (Ordinal)	The more often the principal provides teacher feedback based on observations, the higher the prediction.	Positive
16	TC3G22K	Please indicate how frequently you engaged in the following activities in this school during the last 12 months. K: I worked on a professional development plan for this school. (Ordinal)	The more often the principal engages in planning professional development, the higher the prediction.	Positive
19	TC3G21A	On average throughout the school year, what percentage of time in your role as a principal do you spend on the following tasks in this school? A: Administrative tasks and meetings (Including regulations, reports, school budget, preparing timetables and class composition, responding to requests from district, regional, state, or national education officials. (Continuous)	Time spent on administrative tasks has a negative impact on predictions.	Negative
Principal characteristics
7	TC3G04D	How many years of work experience do you have regardless of whether you worked full time or part time? D: Year(s) working as a teacher in total (include any years of teaching). (Continuous)	No experience and many years of experience have little impact on predictions. Predictions are higher when principals have some but not many years of teaching experience.	Complex
11	TC3G42	For how many more years do you want to continue to work as a principal? (Continuous)	Positive relationship, which flattens out above a threshold. Only the lowest values have a negative impact on predictions.	Positive
13	TC3G04A	Principal experience A: Years working as a principal at this school. (Continuous)	Higher predictions for higher values. Only the lowest values have a negative impact on predictions.	Positive
15	TC3G04C	Principal experience C: Years working in other school management roles (exclusive of years working as principal). (Continuous)	Varying effect at lower values, and the largest positive impact at the higher values.	Complex
17	TC3G04B	Principal experience B: Year(s) working as a principal in total. (Continuous)	Higher values have a negative impact on predictions.	Negative
20	TC3G03	What is the highest level of formal education you have completed? (Ordinal)	Generally, higher levels of education have a negative impact on predictions.	Negative

Figure 2. Accumulated Local Effects for top 20 variables.

Variable texts are abbreviated, see Table 3 for full information.