In other words, students are more likely to succeed educationally when they participate in a community. These six relational factors are characteristics of that community.
Educators, like students, also require support to succeed--especially when they are trying to re-culture their campuses and implement changes to ensure student success.
Is it possible, then, that these six success factors might apply to educators just as much as they do to students? More than once I have
heard others asking this same question at conferences and professional development events. So I hope we'll soon hear and read my colleagues exploring the truth of this assertion. For now, it's my belief that the answer is yes.
Educators are teachers but they are also learners. It makes sense, then, that a relational system that supports students-as-learners would also work if applied to teachers-as-learners. If these six relational factors constitute a definition of a community for students, then it's plausible to say they also constitute a definition of professional community for educators.
