Teachers working in schools where the majority of the population is underserved students often feel a sense of helplessness. The purpose of the study is to uncover the lived experience of a small group of English Language Arts teachers working in such an environment. Specifically, the purpose is to determine if working within an effective Professional Learning Community (PLC) can help to build individual and collective teacher efficacy. There are eight participants in this study ranging in teaching experience from two to eight years. This research study utilized a phenomenological methodology. This research study found that the single most important factor of the PLC in terms of helping to build a sense of efficacy was the importance of belonging to a team. Based on this small study there are implications for schools that serve underserved students. Among them would be the importance of building effective PLCs in which teachers feel a sense of belonging to a team in order to offset any feelings of helplessness that serving a challenging population can create. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]