The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction has focused efforts on improving student achievement through teacher development. There is evidence that school systems have been using ineffective professional development which has resulted in unsatisfactory gains in student achievement. Professional Learning Communities (PLC) with administrative participation is suggested as a structure to facilitate professional development for teachers. The purpose of this study was to use quantitative research to analyze the effects of administrative participation in PLCs and teacher's perceived effectiveness on student achievement. The research questions addressed whether there was a significant difference between teacher perceptions of effectiveness among PLCs that have administrative participation and PLCs that do not, as measured by the Learning Organization Survey (LOS). Additionally, significant difference among PLCs with or without administrative participation was determined. Three high schools having five 5-person PLC groups (N=75) were studied. The control group included a school without a PLC structure. The two treatment groups were schools with PLCs, one with administrative participation and one without. Each group was given the pre- and post tested using the LOS. Independent t-tests of the post-test and dependent t-tests revealed a more significantly positive score about administrative involvement in PLCs (N=75, p=.001) than the control group. Results from this study support the need for PLCs as the primary focus in professional development for schools to accomplishing Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) goals set by North Carolina Department of Instruction (2009).