This article challenges vague and underconceptualized notions of teacher professional community prevalent in both the theoretical and policy-oriented reform literatures. The findings from a close examination of two schools’teacher professional communities suggest that current models obscure significant differences in beliefs and practices. Whereas one school’s professional community emphasizes teachers’ individual autonomy, rights, and responsibilities to colleagues, the other’s is driven by a strong collective mission. A provisional model for examining teacher professional communities, which distinguishes between liberal and collective commitments, is presented.
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