The Ecology of Democratic Learning Communities: Faculty Trust and Continuous Learning in Public Middle Schools

Abstract

This cross-sectional explanatory study integrated three complex social processes—democratic community, faculty trust, and organizational learning—into a single testable model. The review of literature demonstrated substantial evidence for the proposed model. The data sources for the study included approximately 3,000 teachers from 79 public middle schools in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Teachers from each school completed one of three surveys measuring democratic community, faculty trust, or continuous and team learning. Structural equation modeling was the primary method of analysis, with teacher responses aggregated to the school level. The data adequately fit the proposed model. Faculty trust was found to mediate the relationship between democratic community and continuous and team learning. Further research, including data collection over time, is necessary to fully understand the pattern of causal relationships among democratic community, faculty trust, and continuous and team learning.