This research is with a mixed approach. The study population quantitatively\nconsisted of all Urmia's high school principals and assistant principals (n=452).\nCochran's formula was used to determine this quantity. 204 subjects were chosen\nas the study sample through stratified random sampling. Qualitatively, the study\npopulation who consisted of the professors of education faculty, school principals\nand experts of education departments was chosen by a purposive sampling—\nsnowball. That is

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... o say, 13 subjects were chosen by the theoretical saturation\ntechnique. To collect the quantitative data, a researcher-made questionnaire\nensuring a face and content validity of 0.88 was developed by the experts. The\nqualitative data were collected according to semi-structured interviews. The data\nanalysis was performed by two software programs—SPSS and MAXQDA. The\nresults of the quantitative findings suggested that the challenges and obstacles to\nthe leadership of professional learning communities are not in satisfactory\ncondition in schools. Furthermore, the results of Friedman's rank test indicated\nthat the highest rank mean relates to the organizational challenges and obstacles,\nwhile the lowest rank mean was depicted by the individual challenges and barriers.\nAccording to the results of the qualitative findings, four strategies were suggested\nto address the challenges and obstacles to the leadership of professional learning\ncommunities as follows; organizational strategies, educational and selection\nstrategies, cultural strategies, and leadership strategies