Explicit instruction in the academic language of disciplines is considered a major component of effective literacy development for adolescents (National Governors Association, 2010) and has become one of the standards in all disciplines. States have mandated that schools adopt teacher evaluation models and professional learning community (PLCs) models to facilitate meeting these literacy standards (Battersby & Verdi, 2015). This study sought to analyze four high school teachers' perceptions of a PLC model as an effective conduit for academic vocabulary acquisition. The site of this study is a southern New Jersey high school that has adopted the Marzano Teacher Evaluation Model (Battersby & Verdi, 2015) which supports DuFour's principles of a PLC (Fisher et al., 2013). This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews, student artifacts, PLC meeting notes, PLC artifacts and classroom observations for the purpose of answering the following: (1) What are high school content area teachers' perceptions of the efficacy of a PLC model in facilitating academic vocabulary acquisition for their students? Findings suggest that participants' perceptions of PLCs changed as a result of this study, reporting that the PLC model kept them focused on learner outcomes and fostered a spirit of collegiality. Also, as a result of collective inquiry and their participation in action and experimentation, they better understood students' need for multiple exposures to the words in a variety of contexts for true acquisition to occur. Participants also reported a change in their practice, i.e., limiting the number of words taught, and favoring depth of word knowledge over breadth. [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.]