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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Table of Contents
1 .......Poster Sessions
1 ....... Are You Talking To Me? What It Means To Be A Teacher
Candidate In A PDS Setting
1 ....... Experiences And Opportunities Provided Teacher
Candidates In A PDS
2 ....... Integration Of Theory And Practice: A Challenge Of A New
Graduate School System Of Teacher Education In Japan
2 ....... Learning To Teach In The Real World
3 ....... Literacy And Learning In The Inclusive Classroom - A Case
Study
3 ....... Moving Forward, Learning Together: Tutoring A Young
Reader In A Professional Development School
4 ....... Teaching Fellows At Ohio University: Invaluable Resource
To Support The Work Of PDS Partnerships
4 ....... The Impact Of Intern-Mentor Collaboration On Emerging
Readers
5 ....... Walk Around The Block
6 ....... Walk Around The Block: Reynolds Middle School
7 .......Question #1: How does professional
development successfully engage
constituent groups within the PDS?
7 ....... 21st Century Learning, PDS Style
7 ....... A Balanced Act: The Impact PDS Interns Have On Mentors
8 ....... Addressing Schools And Students With High Needs . . .
TOGETHER!
9 ....... Alabama A & M University And The Huntsville City
Schools – The English Language Learners Professional
Development Academy (ELL-PDA) Partnership
10 ..... All Participants? Seeking The Voices Of Pre-Adolescents In
The Professional Preparation And Supervision Of
Prospective Teachers In The PDS Through Participatory
Action Research
10 ..... An Environment Of Educational Excellence
11 ..... Best Practices In Action Research: A Partnership Approach
To Teacher Training And Professional Development
11 ..... Building An Action Research Team
12 ..... Building Connectivity Between Theory And Practice:
Professional Development School-Based University
Coursework
12 ..... Classroom Action Research: Using Professional
Development To Address The Achievement Gap
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
13 ..... Co-Planning: Utilizing School/University Collaboration To
Design And Present K-12 PDS Graduate Coursework On
Differentiated Instruction
13 ..... Co-Teaching Revisited: An Inside Look At The Progress
And Growing Pains Of Implementing Collaborative
Internships
14 ..... Combining Foreign Language Majors In The Multicultural
School Setting To Promote Language Development Of Pre-
Service Teachers And Extend Support To Bilingual And
ELL Learners
15 ..... Continuing With A Virtual Hand: How The PDS Project Can
Enhance The Educational Technology Experience
15 ..... Continuous Growth For Special Education Interns And
Mentors Through Focused Professional Development
Opportunities
16 ..... Cracking The Standards Code: The Role Of Action
Research In Standards-Driven Education
16 ..... Cultivating Confident Professionals In An At-Risk Setting
17 ..... Cultural Diversity Comes Home
17 ..... Developing Depth And Establishing Maintainable
Structures Through Innovative Pre-Service Teacher
Preparation Practices
18 ..... Developing Professional Development School Programs
That Engage Constituent Groups And Focus On Student
Learning.
19 ..... Developing School Leadership In The Context Of PDS
19 ..... Developing Teachers As Leaders In PDS: Both Pre-Service
And In-Service
20 ..... Dialogue Journals At A PDS: Pre-Service Teachers Write
With Elementary Students In A Professional Development
School
20 ..... Disseminating Differentiated And Cognitively Complex
Classroom Questioning Strategies Throughout A Title 1
School
21 ..... Effectively Utilizing PDS Partners: Connecting PDS Partners
For Professional Development
21 ..... Engaging All PDS Participants: Family Literacy Events
22 ..... Engaging Faculty In Transformative Professional
Development Initiatives: The Institute For University-
School Partnership And BRAVE Experience
23 ..... Engaging Teacher Candidates And Other Members Of The
PDS Community In The Mixed Method Action Research
Design To Determine The Most Appropriate Decisions To
Improve Teaching Practices And The PDS Environment
23 ..... Engaging The Participant Of The PDS School And Raising
Student Achievement Through A Voluntary Staff
Development Program
24 ..... Enhancing Field Experiences Through The PDS
Collaboration
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
25 ..... FEA + PDS = Collaborative Teacher Recruitment And
Continuous Professional Development
25 ..... Findings Of Measurable Teaching Effectiveness Impact For
A PDS Teacher Professional Development Program In
Urban But NOT Rural Partner Districts: Why And What Are
We Doing About It?
26 ..... From “Classroom” To “CLASSROOM” – An Experiment In
Collaboration
26 ..... Getting Digital Dirt On Your Hands
27 ..... Give + Gain = Change
27 ..... Grassroots Professional Development: Taking Professional
Development Back
28 ..... Growing Stronger: How One PDS Developed From A
Straightforward Clinical Placement Site Into A Full
Partnership In Which Pre-Service Teachers Play An Integral
Part In The Professional Development School’s
Comprehensive Improvement Plan
28 ..... How Do I Know They Learned From What I Taught?
Developing Pre-Service Teachers’ Assessment Literacy
Through EPIC-ST
29 ..... How Does PDS Engage Each Professional Constituent For
The Development Of Future Teachers?
30 ..... Implementing Inclusive Practice: Partnering In An Urban
PDS Learning Community
30 ..... Implementing Informal Science In The Elementary
Classroom: Addressing The Needs Of Constituent Groups
Within The PDS Through Community Collaboration
31 ..... Is Co-Teaching Effective? Teacher Candidates In PDS
Schools Find Out For Themselves
31 ..... Learning Together In A Special Education PDS
32 ..... Leveraging The Collaborative Strengths Of A School-
University PDS Teacher Education Partnership: Piloting An
Intensive Clinical Performance-Based Assessment Process
33 ..... Listening To Learn: Using Inquiry Communities To Provide
REAL On-Going Professional Development
34 ..... Making Inquiry And Collaboration Our Practice
34 ..... Making Teaching And Learning Visible Through
Documentation: A Professional Development Model
35 ..... Mentoring The Mentor: Everyone On The Same Page
35 ..... Nine Years On A Shoe String - How And Why Do We Keep
Going?
36 ..... Onsite At A PDS: The Impact Of ‘What We Believe’ On
Elementary And Undergraduate Students
37 ..... Participation In “The Kennett Experience” Leads To
“Victory Lane”
37 ..... PDS Initiatives That Benefit Candidates, Teachers,
Students, And The Community
38 ..... PDS Learning Communities: Questioning Everything,
Engaging All
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
38 ..... PDS Partners Wrestling With Inclusive Change: One
School’s Story
39 ..... PDS – S.O.S.! (Professional Development School - Site
Offered Snippets)
40 ..... PDS Summer Teaching Academy: Changing Confidence In
The Classroom
40 ..... PDS - Partnership And Sustainable School Improvement:
Alignment Of Teacher Leadership In Pre K-7, Leadership At
The School Level, Leadership At The District Level, And
Leadership At The System Level
41 ..... Personal Journeys In A PDS: From Teacher Candidate To
Intern To Full-Time Teacher
41 ..... Practicing What We Believe: A Focus On Our Collaborative
Learning Community
42 ..... Presenting A Curriculum Expo
42 ..... Pre-Service/In-Service: Who’s Teaching Whom?
43 ..... Principals And Inquiry; How They Make It Happen
44 ..... Professional Development In A Middle School RTI Pilot:
Steps In Learning By Doing
44 ..... Professional Development: Models Of Research-To-Practice
In The PDS
45 ..... Professional Developmental Schools And Early Childhood
Education: Interactive Competencies Of Students,
Beginning And Veteran Teachers
46 ..... Professional Development That Works
46 ..... Professional Development Through Shared Expertise And
Supervision
47 ..... Project REACH: Teachers And Candidates Learning
Together About Practices That Support Diverse Students
47 ..... Project SOAR: Launching A Professional Development
School
48 ..... Prospective Teachers And PDS Teachers Learn Together
The Meaning Of “Teacher Leadership” In The Benedum
Collaborative
49 ..... Put “Super” Back In Supervision: Creating Meaningful
Experiences For All Stakeholders
49 ..... Reaching Out And Moving Forward: Successfully Building
And Sustaining Meaningful Professional Development
Spanning The P-16 Continuum
50 ..... Reading Revolution: Professional Development For
Technology Integration That Supports 21st Century Skills
In K-12 Classrooms
51 ..... Redefining Continuous Professional Development: A
Model For Job-Embedded Multilayered Professional
Development
51 ..... Reflection Through Digital Stories: An Examination Of Pre-
Service Educators’ Experiences In Professional
Development Schools
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
52 ..... Response To Intervention: An Opportunity To Share
Knowledge And Build Bridges Between PDS Partners
53 ..... Rounds: An Innovative Way To Provide Pre-Service
Teachers With Meaningful Opportunities For Observation
And Mentorship
53 ..... School And University PDS Personnel: Doing The Work
Together
54 ..... Science Methods: A Catalyst Approach To Building A
Professional Development Environment
54 ..... Self-Directed Teacher Appraisal: Teachers Working To
Achieve Important PDS Goals
55 ..... Sharing Professional Development Opportunities, Enriching
Our PDS Learning Community
56 ..... Starting Off On The Right Foot: Understanding
Expectations And Effective Communication - A Mentor
Teacher/Intern Workshop
56 ..... Successful Professional Development During The Workday
57 ..... Supporting ALL Learners And Seeing Real Results . . .
Bigger And Better Than Ever!
57 ..... Supporting Mathematics Instruction Through Learner-
Centered Professional Development
58 ..... Supporting Student Teachers Through A PDS Teaching
Seminar
58 ..... Taking Action: From Classroom Research To Collaborative
Reflection
59 ..... Teacher Education Workshop Series: Sailing Ahead To
Improve Practice Through Research-Based Professional
Development
60 ..... Ten Years And Counting! - A Successful Professional
Development School Partnership
60 ..... The Critical Role Of The Building Principal In An Effective
Professional Development School
61 ..... The Discursive Nature Of Mentoring: How Participation In
A Mentoring Relationship Influences The Identities And
Practices Of Prospective And Practicing Teachers In A PDS
61 ..... The Ins And Outs Of Writing Workshop
62 ..... The Journey Back: A Case Study Examining The Impact Of
The Re-Enculturation Of A Hybrid Teacher
62 ..... The Real NIU Experience: Boot Camp For Pre-Service
Teachers
63 ..... The Three Student Project: How Two Urban PDSs Are
Raising Student Achievement And Engaging In Practical
Professional Development
63 ..... The TIPping Point (Teacher-Intern-Professor): A
Preparation And Practice Triage At Work
64 ..... Thinking Outside The Box: Using Rounds And Co-
Teaching To Promote Professional Development
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
65 ..... Together, We Can: A Holonomous Partnership Between
The Masters Of Education In Teaching Program And The
Moanalua Complex
66 ..... Transforming A University/School District Partnership Into
A Professional Development School Model
66 ..... Turning Learning Inside Out: Professional Development In
A PDS
67 ..... Unfolding Drama In The Classroom - Developing Thinking
And Learning Styles Through The Use Of Opera
68 ..... Using Action Research Video Findings To Institute Change
And Improvement In A Holistic PDS Partnership: A Room
With Three Views
68 ..... Using University-School Partnerships To Enhance Your
Professional Development: A Different Look
69 ..... We Believe . . . In The “PD” In Professional Development
Schools!
69 ..... Welcoming And Orienting Interns To PDS: A Collection Of
Ideas From A School District And University Partnership
70 ..... What It Means To Be A Professional Development School:
Moving Forward With What We Believe
70 ..... Why New Teachers Are Leaving: Novice Teachers Need
Support
71 ..... Win-Win Collaborations Between PDS School And
University Personnel
71 ..... Working Together To Make It Work
72 ..... You Learn From Me, I Learn From You: A PDS Partnership
Practices Professional Preparation And Professional
Development
73 .....Question #2: How is best practice
defined, implemented, and shared within
and beyond the PDS?
73 ..... A Cultural Experience: The Sharing Of Literature Through
Best Practices
73 ..... A New Definition Of Professional Development Schools:
Taking The University To The School
74 ..... A Study Of Student Achievement And Professional
Development Within A Professional Development School
Setting
75 ..... A Summer Authors’ Institute: Sharing Within And Beyond
75 ..... A Whole School Inquiry Into Democracy: Solving The
Lunchroom Dilemma
76 ..... Aligning NCATE, NCLB And The Nine Essentials Of A PDS
77 ..... Arts Alive: A Network-Wide Arts Collaboration
77 ..... Best Practice: Examining And Reflecting On Student
Learning
78 ..... Best Practice Strategies Across The Curriculum
78 ..... Blazing New Trails
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
79 ..... Broadening The Literacy Spectrum: Modeling Best Practice
In A PDS Cohort
79 ..... Building Bridges For English Language Learners With
Academic Vocabulary Instruction
80 ..... Building On Best Practice In An Urban PDS: Focusing On
Student Learning
80 ..... Bullying In Schools: Tips For Supporting PDS Schools And
Teachers In Minimizing Issues Related To Bullying
81 ..... Closing The Achievement Gap: The Effects Of Small Group
Instruction On The Literacy And Mathematics
Achievement Of Urban PDS Students
81 ..... Collaborating On Researched Best Practice: Sustaining A
Twenty-Year Partnership
82 ..... Collaboration And Best Practice: Looking Inside The PDS
To Enhance All Student Learning
83 ..... Creative Ways To Provide Professional Development
83 ..... Data That Delivers: School-Wide And University
Collaboration
84 ..... Data-Driven Math Interventions Through School,
University, And Family Partnerships
84 ..... Dedication And Professionalism With “Generation Me”
85 ..... Digging Deeper: Using Video Analysis To Unearth The
Intricacies Of Novice Teacher Reflection And Supervisory
Practices
86 ..... Effects Of Specialized In-Service Professional Development
Activities On Elementary School Students’ Reading
Achievement
86 ..... Elementary And Secondary PDS Experiences: Teaching
Best Practice Through Critical Pedagogy
87 ..... Encouraging Best Practices Through A Mentor Preparation
Course
88 ..... Engaging A Local High School In Partnership Work
88 ..... Engaging Various Constituency Groups In The PDS Model
89 ..... English In Engineering? Collaboration For Motivation In
The Language Arts
89 ..... Enhancing The Quality Of Action Research Conducted By
Prospective And Practicing Teachers In The PDS
90 ..... Following Our Belief: Using The Teacher Work Sample To
Impact K-12 Learning And Teacher Efficacy
91 ..... Giving Back To The Children: Best Practices In An
Elementary Education/Special Education Professional
Development School
91 ..... Global Studies In PDS Classrooms Serve As A Catalyst For
21st Century Education
92 ..... Grand Rounds: Building Capacity Within A PDS Model
92 ..... Growing As A Professional Development School:
Expanding And Enriching
93 ..... If The Pace Car Would Move . . . We Could Go Forward!
Maneuvering Our Way Around Scripted Programs
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
93 ..... Implementing Inquiry In The Middle School: Successful
Projects That Increase Student Motivation And Academic
Achievement
94 ..... Improving Effective Technology Integration Through
Simultaneous Renewal
94 ..... Inclusion And Communication Strategies: PDS Parents,
Schools, Universities, And Communities Within The
DREAMS Initiative To Increase Academic Efficacy In
Urban African-American Male Students
95 ..... Inquiry In Action
96 ..... Integrating Subject Areas As A Basis For Literacy
Development For English Language Learner (ELL) Students:
An Emphasis On Co-Teaching And Collaboration
96 ..... Involving All PDS Stakeholders In Creating A Friendship
Garden
97 ..... Kids On The Move: Intervention Groups As An Action
Research Project
97 ..... Knowing Students First
98 ..... Leading By Example: An Inquiry Into Teaching Action
Research
99 ..... Learning For All: Inquiry Into Transfer Theory At A PDS
99 ..... Leonardo – Art, Math And Science Explorations 2.0. How
The Visual Arts Can Contribute To Advancing Math And
Science In Professional Development Schools: A Workshop
Presentation
100 ... Leveling Best Practice: All Together At The PDS Site
100 ... Maintaining Professional Development School
Partnerships: Sustaining Best Practices
101 ... Moving From Theory To Practice Implementing Essential 4:
Developing The Continuum From College Student To
Professional Teacher
102 ... PDS Commitment: Time, Energy, And Effort
102 ... Portfolio Assessment In The City: Pre-Service Teachers’
Evidence Of “Social Justice”
103 ... Providing A Strong Foundation For Middle Level Education
In A PDS
104 ... RAIS Of Light: A Model For Linking Stressed-Out Interns’
Action Research Projects With School Improvement Plans
104 ... Reciprocal Relationships: Sustaining Partnerships And
Improving Preparation, Practice, And Policy
105 ... Reflections From The Trenches: First Year Teachers
Identify Best Practices From Quincy University’s PDS
105 ... Roundtable Discussion: How Do You Teach Cultural
Diversity? Let’s Talk About Best Practices!
106 ... School-University Partnership That Models Best Practice
106 ... Science Inquiry In The Elementary Classroom
107 ... “Social Justice” Teaching And City Schools: PDS vs. Non-
PDS Teachers’ Considerations Of Progressive Ideals
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
107 ... Successfully Unsuccessful Part II: Validating An
Assessment Rubric Designed To Assist PDSs With
Teacher Candidates Experiencing Dispositional Difficulties
108 ... Teacher Candidates Engaging Families In Cross-Cultural
Connections
108 ... Teaching Action Research In A PDS: Do the Lessons Last?
109 ... Teaching And Learning 21st Century Skills Within The
Context Of Urban Professional Development High Schools
109 ... The Effect Of The Study Of Action Research In A PDS On
Action Research Agenda By A PDS Candidate
110 ... The Integration Of Technology In The Collaborative
Internship Practicum: Mentor, Intern, And Technological
Best Practices
110 ... The Psychological Underpinnings Of Race And
Pedagogical Excellence: An Interactive Presentation Of
Race And Educational Outcomes
111 ... The Roles Of Student Leadership
112 ... Transforming A Reading Assessment Class Into A PDS
Reading Clinic
112 ... Trepidation To Transformation: Transforming Urban
Practicum Students’ Experiences
113 ... Triple E = Excellence: A Mental Health Prevention Model
“Saturday School”
113 ... Universal Access To Teaching In The Environment The
PDS Way
114 ... Using A Guided Literacy Practicum Within A PDS Model
114 ... Utilizing Literature Circles To Develop Future Teachers As
Readers
115 ... What Do They See And Hear? Comparing The Effects Of
Classroom Audio And Video Recording On Pre-Service
Teachers’ Self-Evaluations
116 ... What Matters In A PDS?
117 ...Question #3: What is involved in the
creation and managing of a PDS?
117 ... “And They Wrote Reflectively Ever After...” Reflection As
Development Through Journals
117 ... An Evolving Story: The Role Of Continual Reflection And
Communication In Defining Successful PDS Partnerships
118 ... Building And Managing A Professional Development
School Partnership
118 ... Collaboratively Creating And Maintaining Several PDS
Sites
119 ... Communication, Community, And Commitment:
Opportunities And Challenges Of Formalizing Shared
Agreements
119 ... Creating And Managing A Successful PDS: A Study In
Participatory Democracy
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
120 ... Creating And Managing Our PDS Through
Transformational Leadership And A Change In Our School
Culture
120 ... Creating PDSs In A Unique “3x3” Urban Partnership
121 ... Creation Or Redesign: Managing A PDS Is Much The Same
121 ... Developing A PDS Mindset
122 ... Encouraging And Finding “Voice” In Forums For Ongoing
Growth Of The PDS Partnership
122 ... Expanding Professional Development Schools In Las Vegas,
Nevada: The Process And Structures For Moving Forward
123 ... Exploring 21st Century Communication Tools To Support
PDS Partnerships
123 ... Get Ready, Get Set, Go!: Establishing A Meaningful PDS
Partnership
124 ... How It All Came Together
124 ... It Takes A Village: How We Created Our Professional
Development Schools In Burlington, North Carolina.
125 ... Managing The Complexities Of A Professional
Development School As A New Principal
125 ... Moving Forward: Involving All PDS Stakeholders To Put
Beliefs Into Practice
126 ... Moving Forward With Assessment
126 ... Moving Forward With Technology: Sharing PDS Best
Practices At The Local And State Level
127 ... PDS Re-Defined: Making Our PDS Work Purposeful
127 ... Pitfalls And Positives Of Creating A PDS: What Steps Are
Necessary In Creating And Managing A PDS?
128 ... Strategies For Setting Up Mentors And Interns For A
Successful PDS Experience
129 ... Sustaining A School District-University Collaborative:
Supporting Mentors Through A Clinical Faculty Liaison
129 ... Teacher Education Is Everybody’s Business: The
Continuing Development Of A Professional Development
High School
130 ... The Dream Team: Challenges And Lessons Learned
Establishing A New PDS At The Middle Level
130 ... Third Times A Charm: The Birth Of Three PDS Partnerships
Of One Professor
131 ... Three-Way Sharing: PDS Day On Campus
131 ... Using NCATE Standards To Improve Your PDS
132 ... Working Toward A Formal Agreement
133 ...Question #4: What does it take to run a
PDS day-to-day and to sustain it over
time?
133 ... A Day In The Life Of A Professional Development Middle
School
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
133 ... A PDS Partnership – More Than A “Family Affair!”
134 ... Adding To The Plate: High School PDS Sites And Multiple
Reform Initiatives
134 ... An Effective Belief In PDS
135 ... Building Stronger PDS Relationships Through
Accreditation: Before, During, And After
135 ... Changing Roles, Changing Structure, And Keeping PDS
Work Alive
136 ... Children’s Literature As Instructional Resources: Selecting
And Interpreting Cultural Literature In The Classroom
136 ... Collaborating Across Partnerships: Benefits And
Challenges
137 ... Comparing Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions Of Their
Learning Across PDS Contexts
137 ... Daily Focus, Strong Collaboration - Moving Us Forward
138 ... Deliberately Using The PDS to Prepare Future Teacher
Educators
138 ... Effective Professional Development In Middle School
Mathematics Education: Sustainability Within And Beyond
A PDS
139 ... Experiencing PDS
140 ... Factors That Limit Success: Four Years Of Research On
Why Interns Fail
140 ... From An “F” School To An “A”: The Journey Of One
Urban Professional Development School Moving Forward
With Beliefs Intact
141 ... From Good To Great: How Georgia State Partners Moved
PDS Work To What Really Mutually Matters!
142 ... He Said/She Said: A PDS Partnership From Two Views
142 ... I Can Take Care of That!: Utilizing Teachers As The
Strength Of A PDS School
143 ... If You Build It They Will Come: Creating And Sustaining A
PDS Partnership Outside Of The University Community
143 ... It’s All About The Tools . . .
144 ... Keeping A Long Distance Relationship Thriving: How To
Make A Long Distance Partnership Work
145 ... Keeping The Spirit Alive When The Torch Is Handed Off
145 ... Keys To Success: Essential Components For Effective PDS
Partnerships At Ohio University
146 ... Leadership Roles In A PDS School: Providing Something
For Everyone
146 ... Lessons Learned: Ten Years In PDS
147 ... Meeting The Challenge: Sustaining A Secondary PDS
147 ... Mentors, Start Your Engines . . . Sustaining A PDS Through
Strong Mentoring
148 ... Multi-Tasking To The Max: Functions, Frustrations, And
Rewards Of First-Year PDS Coordinators
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
148 ... Notes On A Successful Urban High School Partnership -
What We Learned From The Students And How It Shaped
The Future
149 ... PB&J’S For P-16 Faculty
150 ... PDS Leaders: The Next Generation
150 ... Present At The Creation: Building A High School PDS Site
151 ... Realizing/Nurturing A P-16 Partnership Focused On
Simultaneous Renewal: Programs That Work
151 ... Rebuilding The Engine: We Have A Whole New Pit Crew -
How Do We Get To Victory Lane?
152 ... Resources, Roles, And Relationships For Sustainability In
The PDS
152 ... Roles And Responsibilities: An Eriksonian Perspective
153 ... Running On Empty But Trying To Stay In The Race: How
To Provide Adequate Funding And Faculty Support For
PDS Work At A Small University
153 ... Site-Based Clinical Coordination: So What?
154 ... Striving For The Checkered Flag To Sustain Successful
PDS: Cautions, Red Flags, And Open Straight-Aways
154 ... Sustaining A PDS For 18 Years Because We Believe . . .
Success For All!
155 ... Sustaining An Elementary Education/Special Education
Professional Development School When Key Personnel
Change
155 ... Sustaining An Elementary Science Methods And Student
Teaching PDS
156 ... Sustaining And Increasing PDS Partnerships In Rural
Settings
157 ... The “3 Cs” Of A Successful PDS Partnership
157 ... The “Draft”: Collaboration Of Three Teacher Prep Programs
And Their Partner Schools
158 ... The Many Interfaces Of The Ellicott City Triad’s PDS
158 ... The PDS Site Coordinator: The Link Between The Partner
School And The University
159 ... The Use Of Paraprofessionals To Support Inclusive
Education
159 ... Using Technology To Support Communication In
Professional Development Schools
160 ... What To Do When The Money Runs Out: A PDS’s
Attempt To Institutionalize And Sustain The Work Of The
Partnership After Three Years Of External Funding
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
P OSTER S ESSIONS
Are You Talking To Me? What It Means To Be
A Teacher Candidate In A PDS Setting
Richard Bettini and Casey McHugh, University of Wisconsin LaCrosse
Field Experience – the traditional route or in a PDS setting – that was
the question. Our placements in the PDS were, for one by choice and the
other random. The University of Wisconsin – La Crosse, in partnership
with the School District of La Crosse, is entering its sixth year of a
secondary PDS. This semester experience places a heavy emphasis on
active classroom involvement and the larger learning community experi-
ence, as well as offering a general methods course on site. This poster
session will be a visual presentation of the various aspects of involvement
UWL teacher candidates have in the PDS setting, from the classroom to
broader school activities such as chaperoning the homecoming dance. A
final aspect of this poster session will be the balancing of on-site coursework
with the on-site field experience.
Experiences And Opportunities Provided
Teacher Candidates In A PDS
Amy Henchey, Rachel Mooney, and Bryana Loos, Buffalo State College
Partnership, collaboration, and professional development are impor-
tant components of the Buffalo State College Professional Development
School Consortium. Teacher candidates are significant stakeholders in
this collaboration as representatives who not only support PDS initiatives
and the PDS mission, but also make daily impact on young learners,
participate in classroom research, and contribute to the professional
learning community. Two undergraduate teacher candidates and one
graduate assistant, through a process of departmental nominations and
recommendations, are selected to support and work with the PDS Director,
PDS Advisory Council, and PDS Consortium. Updating website informa-
tion, preparing materials for Consortium events, data collection and
analysis, disseminating information regarding PDS events during special-
ized orientations for teacher candidates, and other daily operations are just
some of the student representatives’ responsibilities which aid the PDS’s
growth and development. These teacher candidates have early opportu-
nities to develop leadership and collaboration skills through their experi-
ence in the Advisory Council, the guiding body of the PDS, where their
voices are highly respected and lend significant real world perspectives.
In conjunction, all teacher candidates in our PDS have extensive oppor-
tunities for professional development through volunteer experiences,
expressing suggestions for improvement and enhancement of the PDS, as
well as attending Consortium meetings and exploring possibilities for
professional presentations. This poster session will highlight the impor-
tant role played by teacher candidates in the structure, learning commu-
nity, and governance of the Buffalo State College Professional Develop-
ment School Consortium.
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Integration Of Theory And Practice: A
Challenge Of A New Graduate School System
Of Teacher Education In Japan
Masaaki Ito and Misaki Abe, Nara University of Education
In our new Graduate School of Education, the curriculum is designed
to integrate theory and practice, which is composed of coursework and
four practicums. The starting points and goals of each course and
practicum are clearly indicated and connected in the “curriculum frame-
work.”
For example, we have a course called “Characteristic Curriculum
Development According to the Educational Goals.” Here we studied the
importance of each teacher’s awareness of educational goals of the school
where he or she belongs. Then, throughout the course, we had a role play
to organize our original school curriculums and school goals as school
teachers do in their real school contexts.
In Practicum One and Two, we visited neighboring elementary and
junior high schools to observe classes with a focus on understanding
school goals. After the observations, we discussed the possibilities of
improving classes and various points of view among graduate students,
classroom teachers, and professors. On the basis of the theoretical
viewpoints and skills that we learned through the discussion, we moved
forward to Practicum Three. We were supposed to be aware of the
educational goals of schools before we start a month-long practicum.
Conducting lessons, classroom management, and pupils’ guidance were
our issues during the practicum. Furthermore, we were required to commu-
nicate with guardians and colleagues to make appropriate relationships.
In this presentation, we will show what we have acquired at this stage
of the newly developed teacher education system in Japan.
Learning To Teach In The Real World
Chris McCurry, Louisiana State University Shreveport
Heather Rose-Brian, Midway Elementary Professional Development School
This poster session will present a visual representation of on-site
coursework assigned in multiple methods courses to support pedagogical
understandings. Pictures and graphs will exemplify a model classroom,
observation experiences, mini-lessons, small-group tutorial sessions,
student achievement data, and reflections from teacher candidates partici-
pating in method courses taught on-site at Midway Elementary Profes-
sional Development School (MEPDS). The opportunity to participate in a
partnership between Louisiana State University in Shreveport and MEPDS
provides teaching and learning in a real world environment while being
supported by university faculty and PDS staff/faculty.
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Literacy And Learning In The Inclusive
Classroom - A Case Study
Amanda Badami, William Paterson University
The project I will present at the poster session will be a case study
that I completed this fall semester. My case study is a critical assessment
for the course, CIEE 229-01, Literacy and Learning in the Inclusive
Classroom. The case study will consist of a collection of all the work I have
done with a first grade student at a William Paterson University College
of Education Professional Development School.
This case study will contain student assessment artifacts, evidence
of best practices in literacy instruction, and my reflections. As a teacher
education candidate, my case study will consist of my new understanding
of the fundamentals of literacy and learning. This new knowledge about
literacy and learning will be gained through the semester from my professor’s
instruction, and it will be exercised through the tutoring sessions I am
currently doing with a first grade student.
This student is an emergent reader and writer attending William B.
Cruise Memorial School #11, a PDS in Passaic. All of the strategies I will
be practicing with this student are designed to make the tutoring sessions
with this student as effective as possible and to give me the chance to gain
the needed experience for becoming a successful future educator.
By presenting my case study, I will have the opportunity to represent
William Paterson University as one of the founding members involved in
the National Association for Professional Development Schools (NAPDS).
I look forward to presenting during the poster session for two reasons.
First, I will represent my university’s efforts and involvement in the
NAPDS. Second, this poster presentation will also give me the opportunity
to be involved in an endeavor that will enhance my knowledge and
experience as a future educator.
Moving Forward, Learning Together: Tutoring
A Young Reader In A Professional
Development School
Keri Harris, William Paterson University
In this presentation, I will share my experience of working with a
second grade student on literacy tasks over a semester. This experience
is part of an undergraduate course in the elementary teacher education
program at William Paterson University. The school in which I worked with
this young student is a Professional Development School partner located
in Passaic, New Jersey.
The case study on which this presentation is based is comprised of
the work samples done by the student during our weekly tutoring sessions,
as well as my instructional plans, anecdotes, and reflections. The case
study is the culminating project in the course and is meant to showcase
my inquiry into how a child develops in literacy learning, and how my
planning, assessment, and reflection helps foster a child’s literacy growth.
It will also be evident that my knowledge of literacy instruction and of the
ways in which assessment informs instruction has grown over the semes-
ter. Part of what I’ll present will be what I perceive as the benefits of
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
participating in a field-based course, including the support offered by the
course instructor and the classroom teacher, the opportunity to practice
my craft under their guidance, and the pleasure derived from helping a child
learn new skills.
Teaching Fellows At Ohio University:
Invaluable Resource To Support The Work Of
PDS Partnerships
Jenny Troutman, Chauncey Elementary School
Melanie VonWahlde, West Elementary School
Katelyn Outcalt, East Elementary School
Kate Faulkner, The Plains Elementary School
The purpose of this poster presentation is to share the unique role
of the graduate teaching fellow in the PDS Model at Ohio University.
Teaching fellows are licensed teachers who share a classroom and teach
half-time concurrent with enrollment in a master’s degree program in the
College of Education.
Teaching fellowships are offered by the Center for Professional
Development School Partnerships. A primary responsibility of each PDS
is to provide dedicated early field experiences for undergraduate students
preparing to become teachers, under the leadership of a site-based PDS
liaison teacher. The liaison also serves as mentor teacher for the teaching
fellow. Together, the liaison and teaching fellow share the liaison’s
classroom and teaching responsibilities. The liaison uses release time to
provide coordination and support services for the PDS teachers who are
sponsoring undergraduates in their classrooms.
The teaching fellows receive a graduate assistantship appointment
that pays their tuition and stipend, but they are interviewed and selected
by the PDS administrators and teacher liaisons. The teaching fellows are
also required to follow the PDS academic calendar while they complete their
graduate studies.
The poster session will explore the many roles and experiences of the
teaching fellow and what they do to support the work of the Professional
Development School. It will also give information regarding how each
presenter is using his/her experience in the PDS to support their graduate
studies and research interests.
Presenters are not only current teaching fellows, but also former PDS
partnership students.
The Impact Of Intern-Mentor Collaboration
On Emerging Readers
Cassandra Graves, Corinne Ponder, Jennifer Ruark, and Staci Stonnell,
Salisbury University
Many variables come into play when identifying the reasons for
student achievement, and educators acknowledge that it is misleading to
claim that any one factor is primarily responsible. It is possible, however,
to document student achievement before and after intensive interventions
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
– interventions made possible by the collaboration between interns and
mentors supporting emerging first grade readers in a PDS setting.
The investigators, three Salisbury University interns, have individu-
ally assessed and recorded the scores of all 76 students in the first grade
at Snow Hill Elementary School on the Houghton-Mifflin Emerging Reader
Survey during the first weeks of school in the fall of 2008. As part of their
internship experience and related action research project, the interns and
their mentors have developed and are implementing prescriptions for
individual and small group intervention during the fall semester and will
reassess students in weeks 8 and 16 of the term.
One of the first grade mentor teachers, Clara Outten, earned her
M.Ed. in Reading at Salisbury University. She monitors this project as both
mentor for one of the interns and as instructor for the ELED 411 internship
seminar. Keith Conners, SU professor and PDS liaison, serves as the
internship supervisor for the three interns.
In addition to sharing findings and limitations of the investigation
and detailing strategies used in the interventions, the poster presentation
will discuss the impact of the PDS-driven collaboration among stakehold-
ers – including school leaders, professional colleagues, parents, and
future teacher education candidates.
Walk Around The Block
Jeremy Fritz, Millersville University
As student teachers at an urban middle school, we participated in a
project known as Walk around the Block (WAB). This assignment serves
as a means to create an understanding of the neighborhood that we will be
teaching and learning from until the culmination of the school year.
Through this experience of researching the school district and the faculty
and students that encompass it, we begin our bond with the community.
Furthermore, studies of area schools for comparison and legal
decisions that affect schools as well as federal mandates, such as No Child
Left Behind, led us to look at our school through social, economic and
cultural lenses. C.S. Lewis said, “...to be on the inside of some door which
we have always seen from the outside is no mere neurotic fancy, but the
truest index of our real situation.” Student teachers may be filled with
anxiety and apprehensions that can hinder their ability to function in a
classroom environment. We shared our discoveries with one another and
became better acquainted and therefore better prepared to face the
challenge ahead of us.
The presentation consists of an oral presentation coupled with a
PowerPoint that provided our fellow students with a first-hand view of our
new surroundings. This and the assignment guide will be made available
to the attendees to help them gain an in-depth understanding of their
respective school.
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Walk Around The Block: Reynolds Middle
School
Lindsay Gemmill, Meghan Cross, and Abby Lavery, Millersville University
As interns at Reynolds Middle School, we began our field experience
with little knowledge about the world of urban education. The culture
within an urban school is unique, and in order to create a successful
learning environment one must be knowledgeable about their students’
way of life.
As required for our post-baccalaureate internship within the School
District of Lancaster, we conducted an in-depth assessment of external and
internal environments at Reynolds Middle School. In order to better
understand the needs of our students, we felt it essential to not only
examine the school itself but also the urban neighborhood in which the
students dwell. This project is called Walk Around The Block and it closely
examines both the physical and emotional climates of the students and
their interactions with each other and faculty.
While conducting this project, we were able to interview students,
teachers, and other administrators about topics related to the school’s
history, student academic experiences, and student life outside of school.
We were able to accurately capture both the external and internal environ-
ments through photography and artwork. The project was presented to
other post -baccalaureate interns in the School District of Lancaster.
Each of us has greatly benefited from this project and can better
relate to our students and understand their needs. We feel as though it
would be extremely beneficial for any teacher new to a school to “walk
around the block.”
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Q UESTION #1: H OW DOES
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
SUCCESSFULLY ENGAGE CONSTITUENT
GROUPS WITHIN THE PDS?
21st Century Learning, PDS Style
Nasia P. Butcher and Jennifer Morris, Gilmer County High School
This presentation illustrates how an original Professional Develop-
ment School partnership can be used as the basis for professional
development activities. This is just what happened between Glenville State
College and Gilmer County High School in central West Virginia. Two years
ago the Dean of Teacher Education was asked to serve on the Gilmer
County Technology Committee. This request seemed natural since all of
our partner schools rely on the expertise of individuals throughout our
partnership service area. However, these two educational institutions
could not imagine what would grow out of this extended association. This
past summer, Glenville State College and Gilmer County High School were
each able to obtain grant funding for teacher training. These two organi-
zations worked together to provide four intensive days of training which
involved both current and pre-service classroom teachers. All of the 21st
Century conference participants received training in electronic
whiteboards, E-Beam technology, GPS devices, electronic portfolios,
digital tablets, and specific electronic resources available over the internet.
Participants are still being monitored to measure the effectiveness of this
training in public school classrooms. We have found so many ways to
cultivate our PDS partnership to include more opportunities for all those
involved. This extended partnership will serve as a model that we can try
to emulate with our other PDS partner schools.
A Balanced Act: The Impact PDS Interns Have
On Mentors
Jodi Kamin, Grays Woods Elementary School
Deana Washell and Cindy Cowan, Park Forest Elementary School
Brian Peters, Easterly Parkway Elementary School
In a Professional Development School community, much attention
is focused on the learning experience of interns in preparing them for the
teaching profession. Is the scale balanced? We believe the internship
experience greatly impacts classroom practices and teaching philosophies
of the veteran teachers who mentor these interns. Join us as we present
our findings regarding the professional and personal growth of mentors
in our PDS community. In this session, we will share research that supports
these beliefs after eleven years of building a professional community of
life-long learners through The Pennsylvania State University’s collabora-
tive with the State College Area School District.
Impacts to be presented at this session include:
• advancing skills with leading edge technology;
• co-teaching advantages;
• infusing new teaching strategies;
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
• brainstorming powers on a daily basis;
• viewing children through multiple lenses;
• self reflection;
• “raising the bar for the mentor” – teaching and modeling;
• power of collaborative assessment; and
• best practices for meeting the needs of all children.
Addressing Schools And Students With High
Needs . . . TOGETHER!
Mary Goebel, Black Hills State University
Project SELECT is an innovative, accelerated program dedicated to
excellence in teacher preparation at the secondary level, with certification
as its final outcome. Project SELECT meets the needs of individuals who
have been in the workforce in other professions and now desire to teach.
From its inception, this program was designed to contribute to school
improvement initiatives in high-needs schools.
Project SELECT’s partner, the Rapid City Area Schools, includes
four Professional Development School sites. North Middle School and
Rapid City Central High School were the original PDS sites, selected
primarily for their Native American diversity and high-needs populations.
North Middle School will be the school highlighted here to describe the
partnership addressing the high needs of this school community.
North Middle School (NMS) was selected as the first Project SELECT
partner because of its commitment to the training of teachers, its large
Native American student population, and its placement in school improve-
ment as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act. Project SELECT supports
and contributes to the NMS school improvement plan to address the needs
of students at risk.
This presentation will address innovative teacher training practices,
strategies, and interventions to address the needs of students with high
needs, as well as realistic dialogue regarding addressing student achieve-
ment, dealing with the economic and cultural challenges in a high needs
school, and the development of a learning community in a school-
university partnership. The panel will also share representative data
illustrating achievement gains, new teacher placement, and retention in
schools with high needs.
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Alabama A & M University And The Huntsville
City Schools – The English Language Learners
Professional Development Academy (ELL-
PDA) Partnership
Karen Foster, Alabama A & M University
Alan Malone, McDonnell Elementary School
Ruben Flores, Southwest Boys & Girls Club
The English Language Learners Professional Development Acad-
emy (ELL-PDA) Partnership was formed by Alabama A & M University and
the Huntsville City Schools for the 2008-2009 school year to facilitate the
following Professional Development School goals:
• increase the achievement and language acquisition of English
Language Learners (ELL) attending McDonnell Elementary
School;
• increase professional development in topics related to the areas
of English Language Learners (e.g., second language acquisi-
tion, differentiated instruction, and literacy development) re-
ceived by teachers working at McDonnell Elementary School;
and
• increase the field experience placements and professional devel-
opment, in areas related to ELL instruction, received by pre-
service candidates enrolled in education programs at Alabama A
& M University.
McDonnell Elementary School was selected as the ELL-PDA part-
nership school because of the following unique characteristics:
• over 34%, or 140 of the 415 students, were identified as ELL
students;
• it was the only elementary school in Huntsville selected to
participate in the 2008-2009 English Language Learner-Profes-
sional Development Academy (ELL-PDA), a federally- funded
program;
• the Southwest Boys & Girl Club, directed by a Hispanic who
speaks fluent Spanish, is housed on the campus and supports the
after-school homework program; and
• the leadership at the school (the principal is a graduate of
Alabama A & M University) is receptive to collaborating with
Alabama A & M University in the training of pre-service candi-
dates completing programs in education.
The presentation will demonstrate how the teachers received profes-
sional development training through the English Language Learners
Professional Development Academy; how they, in turn, presented training
for pre-service candidates; and how the collaboration and training was
enhanced through the unique partnership with the Boys and Girls Club,
housed on the campus at McDonnell Elementary School.
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
All Participants? Seeking The Voices Of Pre-
Adolescents In The Professional Preparation
And Supervision Of Prospective Teachers In
The PDS Through Participatory Action
Research
Darby Delane, University of Florida
Yayle Barton and Christine Anne Ellis, Newberry Elementary School
A university partner and two prospective teachers from a PDS will
ask us to consider who we mean by “all participants” when we conceptu-
alize the Nine Essentials that define a PDS. We are particularly interested
in considering this question when applied to “innovative practice” and
“ongoing collaboration” in school-university partnerships. Who are the
“constituent groups” that we are seeking to successfully engage in the
business of professional development? This university supervisor (PDS
site coordinator) and two prospective teachers conducted a participant
action research study to promote the voices of 4th grade students in the
central mission of preparing prospective teachers in their PDS. PDS
stakeholders wanted to know if inviting pre-adolescents to collaborate in
the supervision process of prospective teachers would impact their 4th
grade academic performances and how they negotiated their school
identities. In particular, these pre-adolescents worked closely with the
supervision team in a “community of practice” which met during formal and
informal observations of the prospective teachers in the classroom. Their
perspectives were included as key data for prospective teachers to
consider in their own professional growth. Some of their insights and ideas
were put directly into action in the classroom. Participant observation by
the site coordinator, interviews of 4th grade students and PDS educators,
and document collection occurred over a four-month period. Results will
be shared and the implications for how we position students as stakehold-
ers in the PDS will be discussed. Finally, implications of this experience for
the learning of these two prospective teachers will be explored.
An Environment Of Educational Excellence
Kaye Pepper, Kim Hartman, Rosemary Oliphant-Ingham, and Sarah
Blackwell, University of Mississippi
Partnerships are essential in order to prepare the most effective
teachers for the 21st century. The North Mississippi-University of Missis-
sippi Partnership is training teachers for the classrooms of the future.
Together we prepare individuals who empower others to take responsibil-
ity for their own learning and professionals who choose to continue to
develop by becoming master teachers.
This session’s presenters will describe the collaborative practices
of the Professional Development Schools and the university as they work
together to train preservice teachers in elementary, secondary, and special
education programs. The discussion will include the experiences provided
preservice teachers during their program, as well as requirements of the
program. In addition, the presenters will discuss the impact of the partner-
ships on clinical instructors’ teaching methodologies and classroom
practices. Finally, participants in this session will be provided with
concrete examples of how to elicit and maintain the interests of constituent
groups.
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Best Practices In Action Research: A
Partnership Approach To Teacher Training
And Professional Development
Robert P. Pelton, Stevenson University
John Dewey focused extensively on the power of experience in
learning. He was right. Experience leads to learning, and learning informs
the way we go about constructing new experiences. That is what action
research is all about. Action research is a powerful experiential strategy
that guides pre-service and in-service teachers to develop the skills and
dispositions of reflective practitioners. This session will address the role
of the IHE and PDS in the professional preparation of future educators, in
the continuing professional development of educators already in the field,
and describe how PDS partners work together to make action research
happen.
Action research can take many forms and provide many functions
for a classroom teacher. Participants will be provided an overview of the
workable forms and functions of action research and describe how schools
of education support teachers and teacher candidates to apply these
approaches in their own classrooms. The perspectives of nearly thirty
action research experts from around the country, who work closely with
and support action research, will be provided.
Topics discussed will include: getting started with action research,
exploring contextual issues, communicating and negotiating with stake-
holders, exploring the role of school specialists, and understanding and
using data. Strategies such as teacher work sample methodology,
videography, and lesson study will be addressed. A question-and-answer
session and follow-up opportunities will be provided.
Building An Action Research Team
Elizabeth Brandjes, Julie Henry, Ian Lewis, and Kara Schwabel, Canisius
College
Michael Muscarella and Michele Sprada, Lindbergh Elementary School
Action research is the process of studying a real school problem or
situation with a focus on improving one’s own teaching practice or to
enhance the functioning of a school. In this project, a cohort of student
teachers worked at two schools collaboratively with cooperating teachers,
the building principals, the School Planning Teams, and faculty from the
college to complete a joint action research project answering research
questions identified by the School Planning Teams. Full-time faculty
members from the college served as supervisors for the student teachers
and were co-instructors for their required action research class. Teachers
met with college faculty and student teachers after school to design the
research. Student teachers helped to gather data, and the teams worked
together to analyze data and to prepare presentations at the schools and
at the college. Student teachers met with college faculty to discuss the
structure and progress of the data gathering during their action research
class.
At the same time, we studied the process of establishing Action
Research Teams and solicited feedback from the cooperating teachers,
student teachers, building principals, and School Planning Teams about
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
how this model worked. We found benefits for the school, teachers,
students, teacher candidates, and college faculty. This session will share
the processes used to establish this model and feedback from various
participants about how the project enhanced their own professional
development.
Building Connectivity Between Theory And
Practice: Professional Development School-
Based University Coursework
Susan L. Swars, Georgia State University
Cassandra Matthews and Janita Richardson, Nesbit Elementary School
University coursework held on-site and integrated at Professional
Development Schools allows for systematic and intentional connectivity
between teacher preparation programs and K-12 schools so pre-service
teachers can build connectivity between theory and practice. This presen-
tation describes the collaborative planning and implementation between
university and PDS partners involved in holding undergraduate courses
in elementary education at an elementary PDS site. These courses included
six hours of literacy methods, three hours of science methods, three hours
of mathematics methods, and two hours of classroom management.
University faculty taught the methods courses and a PDS faculty member
taught the classroom management course. Collaborative activities embed-
ded in the courses, such as a Science Fair and Family Math Night, facilitated
both pre-service and in-service teacher development in a meaningful way
and were beneficial to elementary students. In addition to a description of
the courses, findings will be presented related to a research project that
investigated the effectiveness of the courses through the perspectives of
the pre-service teachers. Certain affordances and constraints were asso-
ciated with holding the courses in a PDS setting.
Classroom Action Research: Using
Professional Development To Address The
Achievement Gap
Ron Beebe, University of Houston - Downtown
Diane Corrigan and R.D. Nordgren, Cleveland State University
Edward Weber, Paul Finucan, Jim Heffernan, Karen Mortensen, and Sarah
Sells, Cleveland School of Science and Medicine
This presentation describes the classroom action research con-
ducted by pairs of pre-service teachers and mentors collaborating during
the student teaching experience in the Master of Urban Secondary
Teaching (MUST) Program at Cleveland State University. Action research
was implemented by the faculty of a “small school” at one of CSU’s
Professional Development School sites, John Hay High School in the
Cleveland Metropolitan School District, to determine strategies to in-
crease the achievement of their African-American male students.
The presentation will address the action research projects com-
pleted by MUST pre-service teachers and the four research questions
developed by the John Hay Campus faculty members:
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
1. How does introducing positive male role models in the curriculum
improve student achievement?
2. Does an increase in positive attitudes toward reading increase
student achievement?
3. Does the use of podcasting in the classroom increase student
comprehension of subject area content?
4. Does single gender grouping increase student achievement?
The methodology, data collection, survey results and achievement
test scores from the individual classroom studies and the small school
project will be shared.
This presentation addresses Question #1 by focusing on the profes-
sional development of pre-service and in-service teachers via classroom
action research conducted cooperatively by university faculty, in-service
teachers, the school administrator, and pre-service teachers at a PDS site.
Co-Planning: Utilizing School/University
Collaboration To Design And Present K-12
PDS Graduate Coursework On Differentiated
Instruction
Elizabeth Neville and Beverly German, Towson University
Differentiated instruction is a non-negotiable “assumption” in every
classroom, yet the reality in many classrooms is that teachers feel ill-
equipped to embed differentiated strategies into their daily lessons. As
classrooms become more diverse and assessment stakes elevate, this
critical component of instruction must be addressed for teachers and
administrators. This session will focus on a university and school system
partnership which plans professional development that is meaningful and
applicable to K-12 teaching and learning. A model for designing a skeletal
graduate course syllabus and an initial course presentation involving
selected master K-12 teachers and administrators to complete the final
content, presentation, and project guidelines will be presented. Also
included is a plan for presenting multiple sections of the course throughout
the school system to teachers and administrators each semester in order
to maximize immediate implementation of differentiated instruction and
responsive teaching. Suggestions for logistical supports, such as MOUs,
billing options, and strategic locations for course presentations will be
shared.
Co-Teaching Revisited: An Inside Look At The
Progress And Growing Pains Of Implementing
Collaborative Internships
Keith J. Conners, Stacie Siers, Ron Siers, Cassandra Graves, Corinne Ponder,
Jennifer Ruark, and Staci Stonnell, Salisbury University
Clara Outten, Snow Hill Elementary School
A common concern among school officials in the age of NCLB is what
happens when novice teacher candidates assume major instructional roles
in classrooms facing high-stakes testing expectations. Among the re-
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
sponses by leading universities is the adoption of a co-teaching relation-
ship between intern and mentor, with the expectation that the mentor
teacher will remain engaged in instruction while hosting an intern. While
promising in theory, implementing a paradigm shift from “mentor disen-
gagement” in traditional student teaching arrangements to “sharing the
lead voice” in truly collaborative internships is easier said than done.
At the 2007 PDS National Conference in Las Vegas, presenters from
Salisbury University’s PDS partnerships filled their session room to
overflowing by demonstrating “21 Strategies in 21 Minutes” for mentors
co-teaching with interns. Since then, the SU model has been refined, over
500 mentor teachers have been formally trained in co-teaching, and action
research investigations have begun to document the benefits of collabo-
ration for P-12 student achievement.
This session will demonstrate some new and re-tooled co-teaching
strategies for interns and mentors working together. It will also present
examples of action research investigations that have helped to document
the benefits of co-teaching in PDS settings on P-12 student achievement.
Those in attendance will be given an opportunity to submit questions and
problem scenarios from their respective settings that will be addressed by
interns, mentors, and university supervisors with extensive co-teaching
experience.
Combining Foreign Language Majors In The
Multicultural School Setting To Promote
Language Development Of Pre-Service
Teachers And Extend Support To Bilingual And
ELL Learners
Idalia Marin, Stephanie Spooner, and Shawn LaPlante, Chesebro Elementary
School
Michael Morris, Annette Vilarreal, and Rachel Lynn, Northern Illinois
University
With the onset of Bilingual/ELL and LEP learners in Illinois taking
the LSAT in English and the increased standards of the NCLB movement,
schools with significant populations of these learners are seeking innova-
tive ways to support students toward increased learning. Bilingual and
ELL teachers are often difficult to find and certainly at a premium, and
bilingual volunteers are a scarce commodity. The Chesebro-Northern
Illinois University Professional Development School began its first year
by incorporating teacher candidates in Spanish as a foreign language
(College of Liberal Arts and Sciences) to complete field experiences in
bilingual classrooms to increase achievement in literacy and reading.
These pre-service teachers also helped to develop and implement an after-
school Spanish class. The partnership activities promoted language
development for Spanish pre-service teachers in an authentic setting while
lowering the teacher-student ratio and increasing student interaction. The
after-school program bridged multicultural connections by using Spanish-
speaking children as a model for speaking while their English peers enjoyed
learning a new language.
As part of their pre-service coursework, the elementary teacher
candidates (College of Education) participated in professional develop-
ment workshops related to Bilingual/ELL student achievement issues. The
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Chesebro teachers and principal conducted the workshops, thus connect-
ing classroom practice into teacher education. The elementary pre-service
students are encouraged to participate in the after-school language
programs.
In this presentation, both in-service and pre-service teachers will
share their experiences and share a variety of strategies on how they
organized and implemented this successful PDS model.
Continuing With A Virtual Hand: How The
PDS Project Can Enhance The Educational
Technology Experience
Christopher M. Irovando, Conackamack Middle School
This presentation will address the achievements and/or successes
of the NJCMS PDS program at the middle school level. The participants in
this presentation will discuss the value of the three-year old PDS project
for Conackamack Middle School and our emphasis on professional devel-
opment opportunities in Smart Board technology. Working with Kean
University’s Center for Innovative Education and the New Jersey Consor-
tium of Middle Schools, Conackamack Middle School sought to identify
specific technology needs that were not being addressed within the school
district. The NJCMS PDS program identified technology training as a focus
for 2008-2009. Several needs arose as a result: 1) securing professional
development based on current trends in educational technology, 2)
funding initiatives to purchase technology based on the professional
development, 3) offering guidance in constructing classroom lessons
utilizing the technology, and 4) ensuring that student teachers are exposed
to current trends in educational technology.
Our NJCMS PDS program noted that while it is important to develop
quality teachers, it is as important to provide opportunities for veteran
teachers to expand their knowledge base through professional develop-
ment. This presentation will inform participants on how to identify a
technology, encourage turn-key training, and provide both support and
resources to implement new technologies to enhance student achieve-
ment. Demonstrations/discussions of acquired technology, as well as
discussions of future initiatives, will be provided.
Continuous Growth For Special Education
Interns And Mentors Through Focused
Professional Development Opportunities
Ken Evans and Debi Gartland, Towson University
Continuous growth should be a major objective for all parties
working within a PDS structure. One key element for the continued growth
of our interns, mentors, and university supervisors is the implementation
of focused professional development activities. This presentation will
provide participants with detailed information related to how the Towson
University Elementary Education/Special Education dual certification
program works with our partners to develop and implement appropriate
staff development activities for our interns and mentors. Professional
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
development primarily supports the key outcome of student achievement
through increasing participants’ knowledge and skills. Professional devel-
opment activities are presented at school sites, university classrooms, and
during system-wide training opportunities and may be focused on indi-
vidual school goals, system priorities, or program initiatives.
Time will be allotted for questions and discussion by the partici-
pants. As a result of attending this session, participants will be able to
describe effective strategies for developing and implementing appropriate
professional development experiences for PDS partners.
Cracking The Standards Code: The Role Of
Action Research In Standards-Driven
Education
Robert P. Pelton, Stevenson University
Susan Pillets, The Chatsworth School
Cheryl Wittmann and Maggie Madden, Maryland State Department of
Education
This presentation will clarify the role of standards in education and
describe how to effectively put them to use through action research.
Standards-driven education is here to stay. Most Americans are
convinced that clear academic standards will lead to improved student
achievement. Governmental agencies, accrediting bodies, institutions of
higher education, local education agencies, specialized professional asso-
ciations, and the like have fallen in line with the notion that high standards
equate to effective teaching. Each has identified standards that they
believe are critical to successful educational programs.
Today’s teachers in training are constantly being asked to “use the
standards” as they develop their teaching practice; however, this is a
daunting task. Many new teachers are confused about how to effectively
implement the various standards, which leads to a discrepancy between
what standards-based proponents expect and what teachers actually do
in the classroom. This is in part due to how pre-service teacher preparation
programs go about training new teachers in how to effectively use
standards (Burns and Swanson, 2000).
Participants in this presentation will discover how the mystery
between standards-driven education and classroom practice can be solved
by using action research as a bridge between standards, teaching prac-
tices, and student achievement.
Cultivating Confident Professionals In An At-
Risk Setting
Angela Angers, April Hoffman, Tiffany Nay, and Shannon Puglisi, Dean
Petersen Professional Development School
Dean Petersen Professional Development School is an At-Risk
school located in inner-city Las Vegas, one mile from the Las Vegas Strip.
Finding and retaining quality teachers in an At-Risk school is often
difficult. This presentation focuses on the multi-faceted approach of an
elementary education cohort program, in conjunction with the university,
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
to develop confident professionals. Our partner university, UNLV, is
located within one mile of our school, thus creating an environment for
collaboration.
In this presentation, we will look at the roles of the primary constitu-
ent groups of the cohort program, the interns and the mentor teachers. As
former interns, and now 2nd year teachers at Petersen, we have a unique
perspective on the program. We will take a close look at what this PDS
program does well on both sides to create confident professionals who
want to STAY in this At-Risk school.
Cultural Diversity Comes Home
Terry W. Mullins and Anita Reynolds, Concord University
Schools in a PDS partnership are often engaged in examining new
avenues to address diversity issues in their schools and communities. The
desire to build respect and appreciation for people of different and varied
ethnicities often overlooks, however, the cultural diversity in one’s own
communities and classrooms. Even in communities that may appear to be
ethnically homogenous, diversity may be a part of the story of the
community and its people.
In fact, for centuries observers have contemplated the origins of the
people in the Southern Appalachian Mountains known as Melungeons.
In an earlier epoch of American history, any group that did not fit into easy
identification as white, African, or American Indian was called mulatto,
mestizo, or mustee and often forced to deal with the discrimination and
baggage that went with not being a part of the ethnic majority. These
descriptive terms and the French-derived “melungeon,” share their root in
the Latin verb miscere, “to mix.” This presentation examines these unique
people.
The focus of this session will, therefore, challenge educators to
examine the cultural experiences of people in their own communities. As
they better understand those differences, educators will recognize how
such differences have shaped their own values and the values of the
students that they teach. They will also be reminded that cultural diversity
is not just a 21st century phenomenon but a part of the strands that have
woven American history for centuries.
Developing Depth And Establishing
Maintainable Structures Through Innovative
Pre-Service Teacher Preparation Practices
Julie McGough and Marcie Brown, Hodge Elementary School
Leansa Bryan, Ivy Yee-Sakamoto, Sally Alonzo Bell, Greg Kaiser, and Aaron
Bud Weatherby, Azusa Pacific University
Question #1 (“How does professional development successfully
engage constituent groups within the PDS?”) guides the development of
this session to (1) explore the continuing journey from establishing a new
PDS program to setting policy and developing structures for a maintain-
able, growing program; and (2) link this journey with the development of
two innovations introduced into the PDS pre-service teacher program
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
aimed at increasing achievement among all students, but especially among
the English language learners.
First, in an effort to maximize the teacher candidates’ fieldwork
experience of observation and participation prior to their clinical practicum,
they were charged with key responsibilities in the English Learner Inter-
vention Project (ELIP). ELIP is an intervention program designed to raise
academic achievement among the school’s fourth and fifth grade English
language learners by providing them with additional support. Specifically,
PDS teacher candidates were taught to conduct running records and
fluency checks to collect data on all fourth and fifth graders’ reading levels
and fluency throughout the school year. Under the guidance of master
teachers, the reading methods instructor, and the clinical practicum
seminar instructor, the candidates used this data to design and deliver an
intervention program for 30 fourth graders and 30 fifth graders to receive
intensive language support focused on reading fluency, comprehension,
and vocabulary development as well as developmental spelling.
Second, the PDS candidates designed, implemented, and evaluated
a series of parent/family activities, such as Family Reading Night, to
support parental involvement in their children’s academic activities.
Data assessing the effectiveness of these innovations for increasing
learning among PDS candidates and elementary school students will be
presented.
Developing Professional Development School
Programs That Engage Constituent Groups
And Focus On Student Learning.
Tracy Rock, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Jennifer Baucom and Jody Neil-Shaughnessy, Shady Brook Elementary
School
Shady Brook PDS is committed to developing programs that incor-
porate all members (school faculty, university faculty, teacher education
candidates, community members, and parents) and focus on improving
student learning. In this session two programs will be presented to discuss
the roles and contributions of PDS members and lessons learned. The
following highlighted programs are the means by which relationships of
PDS members are developed, PDS goals are achieved, teachers are en-
gaged in on-going professional development, and students’ learning is
enhanced:
The Literacy for Democracy (LFD) program works in economically
disadvantaged communities to improve children’s literacy and academic
achievement through service learning engagement with university teacher
education students. Teacher education students take a reading and social
studies methods course on the Shady Brook campus and work with
university and school faculty to develop and implement an after-school
program. The after-school program is centered on service learning projects
identified by community stakeholders. As these groups of students
collaborate, the teacher education students support students’ reading and
writing with explicit tutoring and literacy strategies.
The English Language Learner program is a 12-week program that
involves 3 hours of instructional time each week for ELL parents and
students and is conducted on site at Shady Brook. The classes for adults
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
are taught by Shady Brook’s ELL staff, and tutoring for students is
conducted by UNC Charlotte teacher education students enrolled in a
reading methods course. Several community agencies work together to
provide transportation for participants, snacks, and babysitting services
during the class time.
Developing School Leadership In The Context
Of PDS
Craig S. McClellan, Fairmont State University
James Phares, Marion County Schools
Providing meaningful professional development is often a challenge
for district and school building leadership. At the same time, colleges and
universities are often criticized for leadership preparation programs that do
not adequately prepare leaders for today’s schools. By utilizing Profes-
sional Development School networks, the goals of both these processes
can be successfully combined to result in stronger professional develop-
ment and leadership preparation programs. This session will describe the
planning and development processes that were used to build a principal
preparation program by Fairmont State University and its PDS partners.
The session will explore the progress of the planning group that began by
identifying local school district leadership needs and desired program
outcomes and then worked backwards resulting in something different
than expected. The joint work not only facilitated a new university
specialization program, but also helped team members envision how the
same work could be responsive to the professional development needs of
partnering school districts. Session discussion will include how joint goals
were accomplished by abandoning traditional 3-credit hour courses of
face-to-face isolated instruction in favor of 1-credit hour modules aligned
with leadership preparation standards and focused on relevant Profes-
sional Development School leadership topics. In this model, the solo
university instructor was also abandoned in favor of teaching teams that
also include practicing school administrators.
Developing Teachers As Leaders In PDS: Both
Pre-Service And In-Service
Louis L. Warren, East Carolina University
Leadership in professional development among teachers and with
administrators should be shared in order to bring committed ownership to
the visions and purposes of Professional Development Schools. Leader-
ship among teachers does not just happen. Teachers need professional
development in what true leadership is, why leadership is important in the
classroom, how to develop teacher leadership, and how to successfully
use leadership skills. At East Carolina University, a Teacher Leadership
Academy has been implemented to help pre- and in-service teachers
develop their leadership skills. In-service teachers from the PDS work
closely with a group of pre-service teachers through various avenues of
instruction and experiences, both on the university’s campus and at the
PDS. Hear the techniques used and the success of this important profes-
sional development.
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Dialogue Journals At A PDS: Pre-Service
Teachers Write With Elementary Students In A
Professional Development School
Cecile M. Arquette, Erin Nichols, and Jamie Taylor, Bradley University
A PDS coordinator and education professor and two of her under-
graduate co-researchers will discuss how a PDS dialogue journaling
project provided on-going training for teachers and a place for pre-service
teachers to become involved at a PDS site. Over the past 3 years, 33
different classes of K-4 children, nearly 175 pre-service teachers, and 18
classroom teachers have participated in the project.
The dialogue journal project began in the fall of 2006, when univer-
sity students in two of Dr. Arquette’s language arts methods classes
began writing to primary students at Whittier Primary School. A dialogue
journal is writing done between a student and another person. In this case,
K- 4 students wrote to pre-service teachers on a weekly basis. In 2007, Dr.
Arquette collected interview data from both participant teachers and
university students. In this, the third year of the project, Dr. Arquette
decided to solicit help from her pre-service teachers to interview primary
school participants. Two of these students, Jamie Taylor and Erin Nichols,
became her research partners.
The presentation will include results of the interview data, which
shows how the PDS provided a real-world venue for the pre-service
teachers to practice a writing improvement strategy with young students.
In addition, pre-service teachers had access to student writing samples to
use when leaning about writing assessment in their university classes.
How the PDS teachers were supported in professional development will
also be discussed.
Disseminating Differentiated And Cognitively
Complex Classroom Questioning Strategies
Throughout A Title 1 School
Corrie Orthober, Bellarmine University
The success of an educational institution relies heavily on the
organic creativity of its faculty. However, creating new and innovating
instructional strategies can be a waste of time unless the strategies are
disseminated throughout the institution in a meaningful way. Over the past
three years, a professional relationship has been forged between Bellarmine
University and Iroquois High School Magnet Career Academy that has
enabled faculty to create innovating questioning strategies and spread
them through the school using professional developments.
This session will illustrate teacher-developed group assessment
reports for the students and to guide class discussions. These methods
ensure that each student participates in class discussions. The methods
also structure teacher questioning so that teachers ask differentiated
questions during class discussions.
Teacher analysis of the content learned or not learned within a unit
of study, based on formative assessments, can provide data for class
discussions and create a solid framework for analysis of student knowl-
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
edge. In recognition of this, we have endeavored to create a template to
guide class discussions so that students can have a historical conversa-
tion among themselves that is crafted to reflect students’ abilities to recall,
comprehend, apply, synthesize, and evaluate knowledge.
Our methods have proved extremely effective in engaging students.
Therefore, we disseminated the methods across Iroquois High School. The
high school is a Title I school with about 70% of the student body having
access to Title I programs. The school is ethnically diverse and educates
a large immigrant population from Latin America, West Africa, and the
Middle East.
Effectively Utilizing PDS Partners: Connecting
PDS Partners For Professional Development
Tonga Balch, Indiana State University
Highly effective professional development is critical for schools
today, particularly given financial and time constraints. University liaisons
are in a position to provide on-going professional development support
for the school they work with. This may include their personal expertise or
that of university faculty members whom the liaison engages to facilitate
professional development at the school. The network of professional
development support has been expanded to include other PDS sites. This
presentation will showcase how one PDS school provided professional
development for another school within the PDS Partnership.
Arlington High School shared a desire for professional development
that would enhance the recent incorporation of projects-based learning in
a block schedule format. Administrators were seeking additional profes-
sional development relative to time utilization and maximization. Dialogue
at the university level centered on who would provide the best information
to Arlington faculty, a professor or a practitioner in the field who was
successfully utilizing block scheduling. The consensus was that fellow
PDS K-12 faculty members would be the most effective as they have had
positive and negative experiences that would be beneficial to Arlington
High School. The university liaison served as the conduit for connecting
PDS partners and facilitating the professional development experience.
This presentation will discuss the details of this partnership in a discus-
sion/dialogue format.
Engaging All PDS Participants: Family
Literacy Events
Sherry DuPont, Christine Walsh, Marilyn Lees-Yensick, Megan Newmeyer, and
Ashley Zaboroski, Slippery Rock University
Patti Messett, West Hill Elementary School
Family literacy events offer all PDS constituents – teacher candi-
dates, university faculty, in-service teachers, and families – the opportu-
nity for professional development. Each semester Slippery Rock Univer-
sity teacher candidates enrolled in field experience and student teaching
plan and implement an interactive event where families join their children
to participate in learning activities.
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
This collaborative endeavor requires reflective planning for all
constituents. Reading coaches in the schools meet with the teacher
candidates to discuss the areas of academic need and topics relevant to
the parents. With these topics in mind, university faculty and teacher
candidates study the neighborhoods where the children and their families
live through a cultural tour and reflective assignment. Then university
faculty model activities and materials designed to address the areas of
need. They also show the integration of the curriculum by modeling the use
of social studies content to engage in family literacy experiences.
Teacher candidates work in partnerships to develop activities
centered around a theme to foster learning interactions among K-6 learners
and family members. To extend this learning, the candidates also design,
explain, and distribute materials that families can use with their children at
home. They model how the materials can be adapted to address other
curricular areas. Student teachers mentor the teacher candidates enrolled
in field experiences. In-service teachers witness the integration of curricu-
lum and they receive copies of materials that are distributed to the parents.
Constituents engage in sharing feedback through a survey that is distrib-
uted to parents, teacher candidates, and K-6 learners.
Engaging Faculty In Transformative
Professional Development Initiatives: The
Institute For University-School Partnership
And BRAVE Experience
Rona Milch Novick and Scott J. Goldberg, Yeshiva University
This presentation will discuss the development and mission of the
Institute for University-School Partnership and highlight how one of its
programs, BRAVE, successfully engages constituent groups at both the
pre- and post-service levels. The Institute was created based on the
expressed need of Jewish schools throughout North America for high
quality culturally and religiously sensitive professional development and
consultation. Fusing the intellectual capital and research expertise of
Yeshiva University with the wisdom, creativity, and experience of teachers
and leaders in the field, the Institute advances the professionalism and skill
sets of current and future educators through collaborative professional
development that offers schools the opportunity for transformative growth.
BRAVE, a program developed to promote responsible social leader-
ship and decrease bullying in schools, invites established teachers from
participating schools from across North America for an intensive training
program to become turn-key trainers at their sites. Pre-service teachers are
invited to attend the training, as well, building awareness of student social
issues and creating a cohort of interested professionals. Training content
focuses on the specifics of bully prevention as well as salient professional
development and implementation challenges such as developing buy-in.
BRAVE is now planning programs for these “turn-key trainers” to support
the teachers and projects in other schools in their region. This iterative
training process is bolstered by the ongoing analysis and reporting of
student, family, and teacher data in the aggregate, at the same time as each
school is trained and benefits from school-specific data analysis and
reporting.
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Engaging Teacher Candidates And Other
Members Of The PDS Community In The
Mixed Method Action Research Design To
Determine The Most Appropriate Decisions To
Improve Teaching Practices And The PDS
Environment
Diane Davis, College of Notre Dame of Maryland
Marjorie Leppo, Howard University
A renewed and increased interest in action research continues to
emerge in Professional Development Schools and universities across the
country. This impetus is largely due to teachers who now view their
classrooms as rich venues for improving and affirming the curriculum and
its impact on students. The purpose of this presentation is to introduce the
importance of using the mixed methods research design to gather quanti-
tative and qualitative data within the Professional Development School
environment. The mixed method design capitalizes on the uniqueness of
quantitative and qualitative differences but also emphasizes the synergy
between the two approaches.
The presentation will include the following topics:
1. Define and discuss the characteristics of quantitative and quali-
tative research methods and how each supports the other.
2. Identify several differences in the philosophical framework for
qualitative and quantitative research.
3. Discuss the values of using the mixed method approach when
conducting action research.
4. Describe and give examples of the data-gathering techniques that
can be employed using qualitative and quantitative data.
5. Discuss examples of the use of the mixed method approach by
teacher candidates and Professional Development Schools.
In many instances the teacher candidates are the “catalyst” for
change within the Professional Development School. Their action re-
search many times is the leverage needed to modify instruction. The
presentation will highlight several mixed method action research projects
conducted by teacher candidates during their internship experiences.
Another example within the presentation highlights the role of members of
the PDS community in determining program modifications and/or candi-
date preparation.
Engaging The Participant Of The PDS School
And Raising Student Achievement Through A
Voluntary Staff Development Program
Suzanne Horn, Patrice Petroff, Amy Thornburg, Darilyn Butler, Chris Law,
and Mark Birkholz, Queens University of Charlotte
Paul Bonner, Myers Park Traditional School
We have created a professional development program at our PDS
site that is completely voluntary for pre-service teachers and faculty of the
K-6 school. We developed the program by surveying Queen’s faculty
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
about talents they could provide and surveying Myers Park faculty asking
what they would like to participate in through staff development. Through
the surveys and the creation of a steering committee the program was
developed. We would like to talk about the creation process and the staff
development offered. There are no school-wide staff development meet-
ings. Teachers pick and choose what they would like to participate in from
the modules offered. We have over two-thirds of the faculty participating
from the K-12 school and 100% participating from the university. Many
teachers have signed up for more than one activity. (Activities include
active math strategies, active teaching, parent night for study skills, first
grade parent night focused on reading, kindergarten parent workshops on
reading with the use of student created books, diversity training for
teachers to help close the achievement gap, and active academic tasks.)
Each offering has been designed to give one credit toward licensure
renewal and all of the topics are pertinent to issues that the school and all
educators struggle with in today’s teaching. We would love to share how
we have created a positive staff development program that teachers don’t
dread attending and pre-service teachers learn about the realities and
struggles of teaching.
Enhancing Field Experiences Through The
PDS Collaboration
Frank Carrano, Southern Connecticut State University
Question #1 seems to be directed toward some of the activities that
we have been involved in over the past three or four years. The Profes-
sional Development Schools collaboration at Southern Connecticut State
University is evolving. The initial efforts were directed at identifying
schools that would agree to become affiliated with the university as sites
for student field experiences. The program still has a major focus on the
improvement and enhancement of field experiences for our teacher candi-
dates. The PDS collaboration has provided opportunities for university
instructors to better define their goals and objectives for field experiences
as well as working collaboratively with school administrators and teachers
to implement those objectives.
Field experiences have been the primary focus for the PDS collabo-
ration because we recognize that field-based learning is critical for our
aspiring teachers. Teachers and students are interacting more effectively
because of this initiative. School principals and superintendents also see
the value to this collaboration.
We are beginning to identify sites for focused field experiences that
will provide opportunities for candidates to concentrate in a specialized
area. Our instructors are learning from students how classroom teachers
are meeting, in particular, the challenges of diversity and assessment. We
are also beginning to pay more attention to the actual issues that our
partner schools are involved in with respect to student performance and
engagement. We hope to be able to provide opportunities for our candi-
dates to participate in school-based professional development together
with the classroom teachers. We are developing further goals to expand
these opportunities, recognizing that the schools themselves are the most
authentic organizations for introducing our candidates to the realities of
the classroom. We expect our PDS collaboration to yield benefits that will
provide a framework for course content.
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
FEA + PDS = Collaborative Teacher
Recruitment And Continuous Professional
Development
Jennifer Mascott, Patty Otero, and Donna Culan, Howard County Public
School System
As PDS partnerships strive to provide professional development
that engages all of our constituent groups, we often overlook an important
audience and our opportunity to influence this audience. This eager
audience would be our high school students who are themselves consid-
ering teaching as a profession. Within our secondary PDS partnerships,
we have looked to connect the interns and university representatives with
existing Future Educators Association clubs. As a part of this session we
will talk about the various ways we have encouraged this collaboration and
the benefits to students, the universities, and the school system.
Findings Of Measurable Teaching
Effectiveness Impact For A PDS Teacher
Professional Development Program In Urban
But NOT Rural Partner Districts: Why And
What Are We Doing About It?
Dale Scott Ridley, Arizona State University
The ASU CTEL enjoys highly formalized PDS partnerships with ten
high-poverty urban and rural school districts across the state of Arizona.
Partner district programming consists of district-based, initial teacher
certification programs (delivered face-to-face) and graduate-level profes-
sional development for in-service teachers in reading, mathematics, and
science – all via live, interactive videoconferencing. Annual program
evaluation research, utilizing blind, rubric-scored ratings of teaching
performance videotapes with inter-rater reliability data, indicates that
urban, but NOT rural, teachers participating in the “Content Academies”
out-perform non-participating urban teachers matched for years of teach-
ing experience on general teaching effectiveness, student engagement,
and use of inquiry-based pedagogy.
Dialogue with urban and rural partner district leadership suggests
that the significant impact of the Content Academies for the urban teachers
is the result of both rigorous programming and strong district administra-
tive links to and expectations of Content Academy participants. In short,
professional development had a greater impact on observed teaching
effectiveness when principals noted which teachers were engaging in the
professional development, regularly observed their teaching, and commu-
nicated high expectations.
Leveraging the close professional relationships within the PDS
partnership, a plan was created to require principals of Content Academy
participants to conduct semester “walk throughs” and participate in the
scoring of Clinical Performance-based Assessments (required of Content
Academy participants). At the heart of this presentation is the concept of
leveraging a school-university PDS partnership to change and improve the
teacher professional development paradigm.
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
From “Classroom” To “CLASSROOM” – An
Experiment In Collaboration
Alan Sturrock, St. Mary’s College of Maryland
Using Bolman and Deal’s conceptual framework for understanding
organizations, including the creation of new systems, this presentation
attempts to chronicle, from multiple points of view, the journey of an idea
that bubbled up from the school system: How does a teacher/instructional
resource teacher/vice principal/principal become an adjunct faculty mem-
ber at the collaborating Institute of Higher Education?
Conversations involving all PDS constituents – classroom teachers,
instructional resource teachers, interns, and university faculty – began to
focus on and design a series of four modules around the following themes:
the two cultures; INTASC principles as a bridge; the something of
curriculum, instruction and assessment; emerging/continuing research on
adult learners; and content area SPAS.
Mentoring quickly became the lynchpin to connect the aforemen-
tioned frameworks, and a series of three sessions were designed to be
delivered by a staff development specialist who has extensive experience
in her field and who is also an active member of the FCPS/Hood College/
Mount St. Mary’s College PDS. Our intent is to place interested school
system interns with willing IHE faculty members to assist not only with the
above themes, but also to model what thoughtful, reflective pre-service
might look like.
The plan will be implemented in December and January of this school
year, and we will share the results (from the points of view of an intern, a
classroom teacher, an instructional resource teacher, and the director of
intern placements) at the March Conference.
Getting Digital Dirt On Your Hands
Patrick A. Hannigan, Armstrong Atlantic State University
Ossabaw Island off Georgia’s coast was the setting for a unique
educational experience for teachers and students of several Savannah
Chatham Public Schools this past summer. This project was designed to
encourage minority students from Savannah Chatham Public Schools to
pursue careers in science, math, engineering and technology. Students
and their teachers worked with “nationally recognized” professors from
AASU in an exciting and intellectually stimulating environment for ten
days. The students lived in a unique 19th century facility, in an 18th century
environment, using 21st century technology to create an electronic field
guide and place sensors to collect data in a pristine, natural habitat. This
data is streamed into the classrooms for teachers to use in their daily
lessons
OssaBest is an ongoing, NSF-funded, cooperative venture between
Armstrong Atlantic State University, Savannah Chatham County Public
Schools, and the Ossabaw Foundation.
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Give + Gain = Change
Karen A. Sealander and April Brady, Northern Arizona University
Mary Lou Duffy, Florida Atlantic University - Jupiter
One goal of the PDS relationship is the focus on preparation of future
educators and the continuing professional development of in-field educa-
tors. This presentation showcases a pilot project between a university and
a public elementary school designed to build on knowledge as it relates to
Response to Intervention (RTI) and inclusion.
PRAXIS is a decade-old cooperative PDS partnership between Killip
Elementary School and the College of Education at Northern Arizona
University. PRAXIS teacher candidates are undergraduate dual majors
who spend three semesters on-site at Killip School.Our pilot group was
comprised of nine general education cooperating teachers hosting nine of
our undergraduate PRAXIS teacher candidates in their classrooms. The
purpose of the pilot was three-fold: 1) to provide PRAXIS teacher candi-
dates with an opportunity to implement RTI and effective teaching
practices for students with special needs in a general education environ-
ment, 2) to provide an opportunity for the general education cooperating
teacher to keep the special needs student in the general setting while still
providing effective instruction and using RTI, and 3) to allow the PRAXIS
teacher candidate and the host teacher to collaborate in planning, teach-
ing, and managing the special needs learners in the general education
environment, thus building the skill base of each.
In this presentation the pilot project will be described. The percep-
tions and satisfaction data of the PRAXIS teacher candidate and host
teacher as it relates to the initial preparation and the continuing profes-
sional development of the host teachers will be discussed.
Grassroots Professional Development: Taking
Professional Development Back
Carol Muniz, Morgantown High School
One benefit of being a Professional Development School is the
empowerment it provides to its faculty. It makes sense that teachers plan
and present their own professional development. Follow the story of how
a high school in Morgantown, West Virginia, took on professional
development for their faculty and built a successful program now in its
second year. The session discusses the development of the after-school
staff developments, the funding sources for the program, the support the
university provides, how the pre-service teachers are involved, and how
we developed a professional learning community. You too can do this.
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Growing Stronger: How One PDS Developed
From A Straightforward Clinical Placement
Site Into A Full Partnership In Which Pre-
Service Teachers Play An Integral Part In The
Professional Development School’s
Comprehensive Improvement Plan
Bonnie Fisher, College of St. Catherine
Nancy Flynn and Beth Tierney, Randolph Heights School
In 2004, Randolph Heights Elementary School (RHS) responded
eagerly to an invitation from the College of St. Catherine (CSC) teacher
education program to join them in a project focusing on literacy training
for pre-service teachers. From the beginning, students taking the elemen-
tary licensure course, Emerging Literacy, were placed in RHS classrooms
during their literacy block where, in addition to observing and assisting
with signature literacy practices, they conducted small guided reading
groups for struggling readers. Two years later, CSC moved the college
course from the campus to RHS; immediately after class students went to
“Literacy Lab” in RHS classrooms.
By the fifth year, college instructors, pre-service teachers, the
principal, and RHS mentor teachers were working collaboratively to
prepare pre-service teachers using streamlined procedures to align all
college work at RHS with both Minnesota State Initial Teaching Licensure
Standards and Randolph Heights’ School Comprehensive Improvement
Plan. Professional development opportunities were increased for all stake-
holders. Some highlights from the collaboration’s fifth year are:
• Mentor teachers co-lead onsite class
• CSC instructor participates on RHS site council
• RHS principal participates on panel at CSC regarding student
teaching placement and experiences
• CSC faculty and RHS staff participate together in a book study
group
• Guided reading groups target students scoring below profi-
ciency on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments
• RHS Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment scores increased
significantly
How Do I Know They Learned From What I
Taught? Developing Pre-Service Teachers’
Assessment Literacy Through EPIC-ST
Cathy J. Siebert, Matthew J. Stuve, and Peggy Lewis, Ball State University
Barb Lumbis, Anderson High School
A multi-year collaboration between Ball State University, the Indi-
ana Humanities Council, Indianapolis Public Schools, and the Ball State
Professional Development Schools Network, EPIC (Evidence-based Pro-
fessional and Instructional Change) supports teachers in the following
three areas: curriculum development, assessment literacy, and collabora-
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
tion and dissemination technologies for teachers. In the spring of 2008, a
pilot version of EPIC was conducted with student teachers placed in the
Anderson Professional Development Schools. Currently in its third itera-
tion, the EPIC-ST initiative concentrates on supporting pre-service teach-
ers’ curriculum development and enhancing their understanding of using
assessment data to inform instruction. Furthermore, it introduces the
student teachers to critical reflection through video narrative.
This presentation will briefly outline the original EPIC project
involving in-service teachers, describe the history and purpose of the
EPIC-ST project involving pre-service teachers, and share preliminary
findings regarding our pre-service teachers’ progress in learning how to
use assessment data to answer the question, How do I know what my
students learned from what I taught?” In addition, participating teachers
and pre-service teachers will share what they consider the professional
development benefits of participating in these projects, as well as the
challenges and obstacles to changing their practices.
How Does PDS Engage Each Professional
Constituent For The Development Of Future
Teachers?
Gayle Jones and Cathy Woody, Crest Ridge Elementary School
Dawna Buchanan and Cassandra Molsen, University of Central Missouri
The University of Central Missouri and our local school district
created a PDS partnership in 2000. One of the goals of the partnership has
been to develop a “training ground” for PDS teacher candidates. These
students may then be hired by the local school district after completing
their internship and student teaching.
This presentation will discuss the professional preparation of future
educators, as well as the real-life hands-on practices associated with
having predominately urban and suburban university students learning in
a rural setting. The continuing professional development of educators
already teaching and the essential collaboration between the school and
the university are essential tools for a successful PDS experience for all
involved in the education of students.Some questions asked and an-
swered will be:
• What key personnel meet regularly to provide expertise in design-
ing the professional preparation?
• What are the roles of higher education faculty, classroom teach-
ers, principals and teacher candidates in professional develop-
ment?
• Does PDS....
1. impact university personnel experiences/learning?
2. impact teacher’s professional development?
3. benefit the school district?
4. impact student learning?
This presentation will elaborate on these questions as well as share
narrative accounts. We will share our thoughts on valuing expertise within
a community, which we believe is a central belief for professional devel-
opment.
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Implementing Inclusive Practice: Partnering In
An Urban PDS Learning Community
Michael Trymbiski, 13th & Union Elementary School
Bonnie Hamwi, Margaret Place, Susan Seidenstricker, and Rodney Warfield,
Albright College
Co-teacher, reflective partner, advocate, observer, sounding board,
questioner, and analyzer of data - a few of the roles assumed by college
professors partnering with teachers in an urban Professional Development
School in Pennsylvania. Challenged to bring a more relevant model of
professional development to our PDS learning community, principal
Dorothea Miller linked three fourth grade teachers with three members of
the education faculty of the neighboring college. Initiated by one of her
fourth grade teachers, Mrs. Miller embraced the partnering project with a
focus on improving instruction and enhancing student achievement.
College faculty responded favorably, expressing interest in providing
quality field experiences for pre-service teachers and in honing personal
understanding of instruction in the urban setting.
In spring 2008, we initiated three partnerships with the goals of 1)
supporting the initiation of inclusive practice and 2) improving the reading
and mathematics achievement of the fourth grade population of English
language learners and special needs students. Education students worked
with the faculty partners to collect and analyze data and to design and
implement differentiated instruction in the fourth grade inclusive class-
rooms. Preliminary data collection suggests positive achievement results
for the ELL population, with less success for the special needs population.
In the second year, we added a fourth pair of participants, providing
support for a first-year teacher in an inclusive classroom. Two new fourth
grade teachers replaced first-year participants. Renewing our focus on
inclusive practice in the fourth grade team, we encounter numerous
challenges and celebrate countless successes – learning together.
Implementing Informal Science In The
Elementary Classroom: Addressing The Needs
Of Constituent Groups Within The PDS
Through Community Collaboration
Leslie Sena and Lawana Postell-Walden, Bethune-Cookman University
Bethune-Cookman University and Volusia County Schools formed
a partnership that supports education reform and realizes shared educa-
tion goals. These goals include designing exemplary practices that in-
crease student achievement, preparing teacher candidates, and providing
quality professional development opportunities to sustain professional
learning communities to classroom teachers.
In August of 2008 Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU) and Westside
Elementary partnered with the Orlando Science Center (OSC) to implement
a Teachers of a New Era (TNE) grant- funded Summer Science Institute
project. Nine classroom teachers and four B-CU teacher candidates
participated in a three-day professional development workshop focusing
on informal science learning centers in the classroom. The program was
composed of three workshops. The Orlando Science Center facilitated a
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
two-day on-site training, and Bethune-Cookman University professors
conducted a one-day professional development workshop. B-CU teacher
candidates were full participants in the workshops, collaborating directly
with classroom teachers and faculty. B-CU faculty provided information
about planning, evaluating, and building informal science learning centers
in the classroom. Classroom teachers and B-CU candidates worked in
collaborative grade level teams to design lessons for the 2008-2009 school
year.
This session will present findings from the project addressing
classroom teachers’ and B-CU teacher candidates’ perceptions about
informal science and the impact of this project on participants’ science
content knowledge.
Is Co-Teaching Effective? Teacher Candidates
In PDS Schools Find Out For Themselves
Srimani Chakravarthi, University of St. Francis
The role of the special educator has drastically changed over the past
few years, with students with disabilities being increasingly served in
general education classrooms. The importance of collaborative co-teach-
ing has been highlighted in truly meeting the needs of all learners in the
classroom. Various models of effective co-teaching have been proposed
by special education professionals. The effectiveness of such models is
only beginning to be researched.
In the present study, an attempt was made to use school partnerships
to create opportunities for teacher candidates in special education and
general education to come together to plan and execute a co-teaching
lesson. Candidates who were student teaching in two elementary schools
were chosen for the study. One of the elementary schools had full inclusion
in place, while the other was soon adopting it. The candidates were from
the special education and elementary education programs. They were
involved in the co-teaching training provided by the university faculty
with input from the co-operating teachers from schools. Co-planning
lesson plan formats and opportunities to plan were provided. The result
was a 4-day co-taught unit, wherein the candidates demonstrated their
strengths in pedagogy, content, and specialized instruction. Data was
gathered from surveys of teacher candidates and the students from both
schools. The co-teaching model was found to be very successful by the
candidates, by their co-operating teachers, and by the students.
Learning Together In A Special Education PDS
Pete Kelly, Joseph Sencibaugh, and Bev Peters, Truman State University
Mariann Gibson, Kirksville Middle School
The Truman/Kirksville Schools PDS is a highly collaborative part-
nership in special education between a small liberal arts university and a
rural school district in Missouri. Our mentor teachers have a powerful voice
in our PDS and have taken real ownership for our program. Together, we
aim for a seamless, integrated connection between coursework and clinical
practice. No doubt, this collaboration is complex and messy, but we believe
it improves the quality of our work.
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Students complete a semester-long, half-day Monday through
Friday field experience the semester prior to internship. Faculty who teach
methods courses also supervise pre-interns’ field experiences. This con-
nection creates powerful opportunities to connect theory to practice.
Shared teaching and learning experiences facilitate critical dialogues
between mentors, pre-interns, and faculty. Methods courses have been
restructured into flexible modules and assignments are applied learning
experiences connected with field experiences. These changes more pow-
erfully connect learning and teaching. We believe this structure facilitates
authentic, applied, and relevant professional development for all members
of our PDS.
During this presentation, we will share our efforts aimed at collabo-
rative professional development within our PDS. This work occurs in
mindful ways, including Teacher Talk Seminars and joint trainings. Other
times, we learn together in unexpected ways. To substantiate the impact
of our collaborative PD efforts, we will share program evaluation results
from the past three years. This project is in its fourth and final year of
support from an OSERS Personnel Preparation Grant from the US DOE.
Leveraging The Collaborative Strengths Of A
School-University PDS Teacher Education
Partnership: Piloting An Intensive Clinical
Performance-Based Assessment Process
Adam Kay, Dale Scott Ridley, and Coleen Maldonado, Arizona State
University
Michelle Rojas, Lattie Coor School
Linda Califano, Madison Park Middle School
Angie Linder, Longview Elementary School
Cecilia Lynch, Palomino Elementary School
Paula Tseunis, Mirage Elementary School
Franklin Elliott, Mesa View Elementary School
Rebecca Grijalva, Joe Carlson Elementary School
Norma Garcia, Gadsden Elementary School District
Sonia Saenz, Indian Oasis-Baboquivari School District
Mary Tierney, Sonofan Sky Elementary School
According to numerous critics and national reports, there is a sizable
and longstanding gap between the academic coursework and clinical
experience components in many teacher education programs. A majority
of teachers and principals surveyed in Levine’s 2006 Educating School
Teachers placed the highest reform priority on striking a better balance
between professional knowledge preparation and field experience (i.e.,
stronger connection between theory and practice, longer duration for
clinical experiences, more careful placements, closer supervision).
This presentation illustrates the critical importance of genuine
school-university PDS partnerships in fostering improvements in teacher
preparation. Specifically, this is the story of the “good, bad, and ugly” of
piloting an intensive, semester-by-semester clinical performance-based
assessment (CPBA) process designed to increase programmatic rigor,
better integrate practice and theory, and prepare a stronger new teacher.
Each semester, the CPBA process requires teacher candidates to
submit a portfolio that includes a description of lesson context (i.e.,
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
background on the community, school, and students), a lesson plan that
effectively addresses the key context issues, and a mini-assessment that
measures students’ mastery of the learning objectives. Teacher candi-
dates teach the lesson while videotaping themselves using a mini-camcorder.
After a careful analysis of student achievement and the videotape of
teaching, teacher candidates create a redesigned lesson to foster the
learning of previously non-mastering students. Teacher candidates also
videotape this lesson and repeat the self-analysis process. School and
university teacher educators teaching courses in the program collectively
evaluate teacher candidates’ teaching and reflectivity portfolio looking for
evidence of theory-practice integration.
Listening To Learn: Using Inquiry Communities
To Provide REAL On-Going Professional
Development
Stacey Leftwich, Susan Browne, and Valerie Lee, Rowan University
Steven Hempel, Dorothy L. Bullock Elementary School
This research documents, analyzes, and interprets the impact of
inquiry groups when used with both teachers and administrators. The
study presents data from two inquiry groups made up of teachers who are
currently participating in a PDS partnership and one inquiry group made
up of principals who are in the planning stages of becoming PDS partners.
This is also a study of three university professors who are active PDS
liaisons. The professors speak to the complexities of studying others who
concurrently are studying themselves. The professors are interested in
studying the ways inquiry communities provide on-going professional
development for members served in a PDS.
The research was conducted across three sites in three different
contexts. Johnstone Elementary teachers use inquiry groups to help
practicing teachers conduct action research in their classrooms. Bullock
Elementary teachers use an inquiry community to identify, remediate, and
provide systematic instructional techniques to aid classroom teachers’
writing instruction. The final setting is made up school principals who use
inquiry groups to help plan for the creation of a PDS partnership. The data
collection spans from September 2008 through January 2009. Data come
from multiple sources.
Preliminary findings suggest two conclusions: a) There exist un-
tapped possibilities for new understandings about teaching and planning
when teachers’ and administrators’ reflections on their teaching and
planning are examined more carefully than the practices they implement or
the behaviors they observe and b) Forming inquiry communities within
schools fosters opportunities to question and interpret innovative prac-
tice and initiatives.
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Making Inquiry And Collaboration Our
Practice
Janeen Volsey, California State Polytechnic University Pomona
Linda Freedman, Collegewood Elementary School
Recent educational reform initiatives urge teacher education pro-
grams to offer pre-service candidates exemplary field-based experiences.
Pre-service teachers participating in the PDS at Collegewood Elementary
School are challenged to emulate the best practices modeled at the
university and implemented in the classroom. Implementing, maintaining,
and sustaining a PDS is a labor-intensive process both for the university
and school faculty. This presentation will serve to outline the specific
programs that serve to incorporate pre-service teachers into the
Collegewood community.
Currently the PDS is in its fifth year of implementation. University
courses are presently offered on the elementary campus. A research
project is being implemented that involves university faculty from three
colleges, school site faculty, and student teachers. Two graduates of the
PDS program have been hired as full-time teachers and have subsequently
served as cooperating teachers. Pre-service teachers who take the math
methods course at the PDS collaborate with their instructor and classroom
teachers to conduct a Family Math Night for the school.
Cohen and Ball (1999) suggest pre-service teachers should not
simply be immersed into the daily life of a teacher by a sustained compre-
hensive student teaching program, but that they learn “in and from
practice.” University faculty have structured anchor assignments, asso-
ciated with methods courses, to allow for implementation in classrooms,
reflection, revising, and re-teaching. The student teaching component of
the program is structured to allow for on-going inquiry and reflective
practice for the student teachers.
Making Teaching And Learning Visible
Through Documentation: A Professional
Development Model
Jennifer Asman, Stephanie Bolen, Lindsay Paradis, and Patricia Pinciotti,
East Stroudsburg University
Authentic assessment of student learning is a challenge in the
current testing culture, particularly with our youngest learners. Clearview
Elementary PDS, inspired by work done in the Reggio early childhood
centers in Italy, has been exploring the Documentation process to make
both student learning and their teaching visible within the school culture
(Project Zero & Reggio Children, 2001). Teachers in this K-2 building
visited Reggio influenced schools, took graduate early childhood courses,
and engaged in conversations with teacher candidates and faculty from
East Stroudsburg University to explore the Documentation process as an
authentic assessment method. Harvard’s Making Learning Visible Project
(2005) defines a Learning Group as a “collection of persons who are
emotionally, intellectually, and aesthetically engaged in solving problems,
creating products, and making meaning.” This inquiry process engaged
various stakeholders in conversations and creative products about stu-
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
dent learning and the impact the work itself had on their teaching. Teachers
at Clearview, teacher candidates, and faculty from ESU formed flexible
learning groups to record, interpret, and share student learning in a variety
of exciting visual formats. Through this group learning process, teachers
found new languages to share the range of student learning while also
examining its influence on prospective teaching. The resulting shared
aesthetic accounts explored ways to make student learning more public to
the entire school community and deepen learning by influencing future
teaching. Documentation became a viable professional development
process to shape learning and craft teaching for Clearview students,
teachers, ESU teacher candidates, and faculty.
Mentoring The Mentor: Everyone On The
Same Page
James B. Tuttle, Shepherd University
Sherry Hetzel, Jefferson County Schools
Often, the mentor is the forgotten partner in a PDS partnership.
Collaboration among peers is a crucial part of a successful partnership, but
with time constraints, new trends in education, cultural impacts on instruc-
tion, and everyday demands on a classroom teacher, this collaboration
seems to be lost in the shuffle. Professional development needs to be an
integral and effective part of the partnership between the university and
the public schools. Our proposed plan of action will be mentor workshops
that bring varied perspectives together to analyze and revise our current
mentoring program. We will achieve this goal through “cross-walking” the
public school evaluation system with the university grading policy,
conducting book studies on current educational trends, and bringing our
“old school” counterparts in alignment with our “new school” members.
Our presentation will define how our partnership successfully
engages constituent groups within our PDS. We will showcase our
partnership’s successes through professional development that has been
provided, including mentor workshops, book study, surveys, evaluation
review/alignment, SAKAI web-based discussion instrument, and discus-
sions. Presenters will share our experiences on the stumbling blocks, our
“light bulb moments,” and our celebrations throughout the history of our
unique and growing partnership.
Nine Years On A Shoe String - How And Why
Do We Keep Going?
Charles A. Duncan, University of Louisiana Lafayette
Over the past nine years, J. W. Faulk Elementary School and the
University of Louisiana Lafayette have worked as Professional Develop-
ment School partners with very limited resources. The partnership has
continued through two College of Education deans, two principals, two
university liaisons and numerous cooperating teacher turnovers. This
presentation will include discussion of the trials and tribulations of the
ongoing relationship, its successes, and the benefits to all involved in this
valuable, albeit sometimes difficult, partnership.
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
J.W. Faulk is a pre-K-5th grade public school with over 97 % of its
students receiving free or reduced lunches. The ongoing nature of this
particular partnership evidences a symbiotic relationship. Candidates are
referred to as teacher interns (TI) to convey their roles as partners in the
classroom. TIs attend faculty and grade level meetings and in-service
workshops in addition to a weekly meeting with their university liaison. In
addition to feedback from their liaison and cooperating teachers, TIs are
evaluated during walk throughs by the school assistant principal and the
principal, using the same format used for full-time teachers.
Perspectives from administrators, cooperating teachers, teacher
interns, students, and the university liaison will be shared. What are the
benefits to the school, its staff, and the university when there are few, if
any, financial incentives? This and other questions will be answered
during the presentation. Audience members will be encouraged to ask their
own questions and share their insights regarding the difficulties and
benefits of similar partnerships.
Onsite At A PDS: The Impact Of ‘What We
Believe’ On Elementary And Undergraduate
Students
Denise Fitzpatrick, Christina Flynn, and Mary Lebron, William B. Cruise
Memorial School #11
Marie Donnantuono and Julie Rosenthal, William Paterson University
Holding on-site teacher education courses at a Professional Devel-
opment School provides quite a ripple effect. First and second grade
classrooms become an arena for a field-based literacy course where
children, future teachers, and course co-instructors learn with and from
each other. Our data show that students benefit from individual attention
and targeted instruction; candidates’ professional growth is fostered in an
authentic context; and course co-instructors continue to learn.
Children appear to benefit emotionally and academically. Qualitative
data reveal that consistent, ongoing attention from a caring adult increases
children’s motivation to read. Quantitative data indicate that children
involved in the program scored better on several standardized measures
than did their non-tutored peers.
Teacher candidates learn how assessment informs instruction by
planning best practices literacy lessons to address the needs of learners
with whom they work. Evidence of candidates’ progress in understanding
course content will be demonstrated through entries from their weekly
reflections and course entry and exit polls.
Three of these classroom teachers will be part of this presentation.
Since they are co-instructors of this field-based course, they will illuminate
how their students benefit from an entire year of “tutoring” in language arts
literacy instruction.
Data presented includes examples of candidates’ assessment-driven
instructional plans and weekly reflections, samples of children’s work and
results of standardized assessments, and co-instructors’ observations of
candidate-student interactions. The classroom teachers and university
faculty will also share how teaching this course has impacted their
professional development.
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Participation In “The Kennett Experience”
Leads To “Victory Lane”
Sally Winterton, West Chester University of Pennsylvania
“The Kennett Experience” is in its third year as a professional school
program. Discussion for the professional school concept was initiated by
the Director of Personnel who contacted the local regional comprehensive
university intending to capitalize on the existing long-term relationship for
early field and student teaching experiences. This program became a
collaborative effort among four entities: university faculty in three differ-
ent departments (Elementary Education, Literacy, Professional and Sec-
ondary Education) and, of course, the school district. The district was
seeking to “grow their own” teachers, hoping that pre-service teacher
candidates who spent an academic year in the schools would consider
employment in the district. The district is in a rural area and has 4100
students, of which 35% are Hispanic and 5% are Afro-American.
This presentation will address Question #1 (“How does professional
development successfully engage constituent groups within the PDS?”)
by:
• describing the components of the program;
• sharing how technology is embedded in the reading practicum
and student teaching semesters through teacher candidates’ 24/
7 access to university-provided laptop computers for the aca-
demic year;
• describing technology usage by pre-service teacher candidates;
• conveying the pre-service teacher candidates’ opinions of their
participation in “The Kennett Experience;”
• relating the teacher candidates’ community participation activi-
ties, accomplishments, and professional development opportu-
nities; and
• sharing the school and university faculties’ professional devel-
opment activities.
In addition, the participants’ “Victory Lane” accomplishments will
be reported. Time will be permitted for question and answers.
PDS Initiatives That Benefit Candidates,
Teachers, Students, And The Community
Donna Metlicka, University of St. Francis
This presentation will highlight several initiatives involving the
University of St. Francis and the Joliet Public Schools that make up the
Joliet Professional Development Schools Partnership. These initiatives
involve on-site, university-based, and after-school activities that encour-
age continued development, student achievement, and differentiated
instruction. Highlighted activities will include an after-school reading
clinic, science lessons, math boxes, and physical education programs.
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
PDS Learning Communities: Questioning
Everything, Engaging All
Mary M. Witte, Baylor University
Lindsey Stevens, Tammy Johnston, Lorraine Randazzo, and Meghan
Robinson, Hillcrest Professional Development School
Hillcrest PDS was the first Professional Development School be-
tween the Waco Independent School District and Baylor University which
began in 1993. After fifteen years of continuous collaboration, Hillcrest
PDS and Baylor faculty found themselves needing a way to rejuvenate and
strengthen the partnership. With leadership from the university dean and
the superintendent of the school district, the constituents now have a
framework by which common goals have been identified and can be
achieved. With the realization that true professional development that is
meaningful and self-directed leads to the excitement of educators and
ultimately student success, Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)
were implemented. As a result, a kindergarten/first grade learning commu-
nity decided to conduct action research projects within the K-1 environ-
ments as our learning communities’ strategy. This session will describe
how veteran teachers, teacher candidates, university faculty, and campus
and district administrators worked together to question everything and
engage all.
PDS Partners Wrestling With Inclusive
Change: One School’s Story
Angela Gregory, University of Florida
David Hoppey, West Virginia University
Lacy Redd, Newberry Elementary School
School-university partnerships emerged in response to the need for
additional collaborative arrangements to support educational change,
thus providing vehicles to jointly support teacher education and school
improvement (Fullan, 2001; Richert, Stoddard, & Kass, 2001). The Newberry
Elementary PDS has embraced an inquiry-oriented stance for school
improvement and teacher education by integrating professional develop-
ment for in-service educators while simultaneously providing prospective
teachers with active learning opportunities aligned with university teacher
preparation goals. This session will share data from a broader longitudinal
ethnographic study in one beginning elementary PDS and focus on how
on-going professional and teacher candidate preparation became inter-
connected. Findings from this study describe how one elementary PDS
wrestled with inclusive education reform and improved student perfor-
mance by shifting participant roles, relationships, and praxis through an
inquiry-oriented approach to school improvement. Additionally, findings
from this study highlight the importance of theoretical and organizational
alignment between school, university, and district participants. Data from
this study will be presented using the NAPDS’s “9 Essentials” framework
in order to generate discussion and implications for future work in other
PDS contexts. This session is suitable for in-service teachers, university
supervisors, university faculty, school administrators, and district level
personnel. The overarching goal of this session is to illustrate how one
elementary school collaboratively engaged in-service teachers, prospec-
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
tive teachers, university supervisors, school administrators, and univer-
sity/district level personnel as full co-teaching participants to achieve a
common mission for inclusive education.
PDS – S.O.S.! (Professional Development
School - Site Offered Snippets)
Patrick Smith, Pleasant Valley Elementary School
Dora Tartar, Pleasant Valley School District
Professional Development Schools are fortunate to have the oppor-
tunity to host pre-service teachers. This workshop offers the PDS students
an inside view of how the specific building they are in works. A series of
weekly “snippets” are offered to better acclimate the students to the school
climate. Employees from various departments of the school will act as guest
speakers and help present a snippet. This workshop is very flexible and is
able to lend itself to any Professional Development School.
Each snippet offered is accompanied by a “fact sheet” containing the
information presented for that particular snippet. Important contacts,
procedures, and school policies will be covered. The end result is a binder
full of useful information that will come in handy for the students when they
return to student teach and better prepare them for their future.
Snippet suggestions may include but are not limited to the following
helpful topics:
1. Building Policies and Procedures (Professional Dress, Transpor-
tation Forms, Field Trip Documents, Docushare etc)
2. Technology Department (email, white board usage, internet
policies, equipment trainings and usage).
3. Special Areas (Art, Music, Library, Physical Education)
4. Classroom Maintenance and Management (lesson plans, state
standards and behavior management suggestions).
5. Confidentiality - Health and Guidance Departments
6. Building Programs - Reading and Math
7. Actions and Expectations - Do’s and Don’ts as a future educator.
8. Midway Q and A- Snippet reserved for questions and answers
from the PDS students. Administration invited.
9. Mandated Reporters - Role and responsibilities for children in our
charge, procedures and policies. The Law.
10. Safety Awareness - Building crisis procedures and policies.
11. Tutoring/ Remediation Programs - Extended offerings for stu-
dents
12. “Pick Your Snippet” - What do PDS students want to know? A
great opportunity to personalize experience.
“Site Offered Snippets” will give the students a better picture of what
to expect before, during, and even after student teaching.
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
PDS Summer Teaching Academy: Changing
Confidence In The Classroom
Michael Shriner and Rebecca Libler, Indiana State University
Concurrent session attendees will glean information garnered as a
result of a series of several different professional development workshops
held during a summer teaching academy in 2008. All participants attending
the various workshops were currently affiliated with one of 20 different
Professional Development Schools associated with Indiana State Univer-
sity. Following a brief overview of the different workshops, special focus
of this particular session will entail: (a) a quantitative summary of the
various characteristics of workshop participants; (b) an overview of the
overall effect size change in perceived confidence in the classroom as a
result of workshop participation; and (c) specific pre/post-test statistically
significant findings related to workshop participants’ changes in confi-
dence as a result of their attendance.
PDS - Partnership And Sustainable School
Improvement: Alignment Of Teacher
Leadership In Pre K-7, Leadership At The
School Level, Leadership At The District Level,
And Leadership At The System Level
Winfried Roelofs, Domstad University Utrecht
Willy van Dijk-Roest, Catholic School Districts Amersfoort and Utrecht
The past decade Professional Development Schools were imple-
mented in the Netherlands to promote sustainable school improvement.
Collaborative action research by teachers and teacher candidates became
part of the strategic planning of school improvement processes. As part
of the teacher preparation this research became the core of the curriculum
of the bachelor and master programme of Domstad University in Utrecht.
While the bachelor programme provides a certificate to start as a teacher
in pre K-7, the master programme prepares teachers in their roles as teacher
leaders in school improvement processes.
Research on the PDS partnerships in the Netherlands shows that the
integration of initial teacher preparation, collaborative action research,
school improvement, and staff development demands a critical mass of
leadership. The school system as well as the university system have to be
focused on the same goal: improvement of student achievement through
professional development of teaching. This common goal has to be
reached by teachers, interns, teacher educators, principals, district admin-
istrators, university faculty and the dean of the university. In this session
the key players of the PDS partnership share the common structures and
culture of learning that contribute to sustainable school improvement and
professional growth.
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Personal Journeys In A PDS: From Teacher
Candidate To Intern To Full-Time Teacher
Denise Fitzpatrick and Christina Flynn, William B. Cruise Memorial School
#11
Marie Donnantuono and Julie Rosenthal, William Paterson University
In this presentation, two teachers at a Professional Development
School will share their journey from teacher candidate to full-time teacher
in the school. Of interest is how the nature and climate of the school,
encountered first during an on-site literacy course, shaped these women’s
desire to remain at the school for their part-time practicum and then full-
time student teaching. Both women, after experiencing their teacher
education in the school, were hired there as full-time teachers.
For this case study analysis, teachers were interviewed about their
experiences and their initial and ongoing perceptions of the school. How
did the university-school partnership affect their learning experience as
students? In what ways did their cooperating teachers and the university
support their growth from student teacher to teacher? What were their
experiences as novice teachers? Were there support systems in place as
they were inducted into the profession? As full-time teachers in the school,
how does the school-university partnership support their work and
professional growth? What programs in the school-university partnership
are they involved in, and how does this involvement impact them profes-
sionally?
These teachers will speak from the position of moving forward and
coming full circle with what they believe. As university students, they were
involved in the then-beginning school-university partnership as students
in the on-site literacy course. Both now co-teach the course. They were
mentored in the PDS; they now mentor aspiring teachers. They speak to
the question of what it means to be a player in a Professional Development
School.
Practicing What We Believe: A Focus On Our
Collaborative Learning Community
Wendy Paterson, Leslie K. Day, and Amy B. Henchey, Buffalo State College
The Buffalo State College PDS believes that professional develop-
ment of all stakeholders is a critical component of our successful PDS work.
This year we have embarked on self-reflection using the NAPDS Nine
Essentials; during the summer months the PDS Advisory Council reviewed
our collective strengths and suggested plans of action for areas of growth
based on these Essentials. This preliminary work was then shared at the
annual fall PDS Retreat where the Consortium continued brainstorming
goals for our three-year plan. At the retreat, principals, mentoring teachers,
administrators, college faculty, and teacher candidates worked together to
review the Essentials and pinpoint areas to be included in our action plan.
In addition to these suggestions, the Consortium identified two particu-
larly strong areas: Essential Two, creating a school-university culture
committed to the preparation of future educators that embraces active
engagement in the school community, and Essential Three, ongoing and
reciprocal professional development for all participants encouraging
continuous learning. As we continue our successful engagement of our
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
constituent groups, our PDS Consortium has identified two main themes
for its regularly scheduled and well-attended meetings throughout the
school year: Response to Intervention (RTI) and the role of differentiated
instruction and monitoring our growth as a PDS using the Nine Essentials
as a yardstick. These themes will be the focus of our learning community,
providing opportunities for our stakeholders to learn from one another and
from experts in these fields as well. Our teacher candidates will play
important roles in this community by attending Consortium meetings,
collaborating with our ACEI professional teacher organization, complet-
ing a variety of school-community activities and projects at their sites, and
by participating in the governance and goal setting of the PDS. These
opportunities provide teacher candidates with a meaningful introduction
into the real world of the teaching profession and its community of
dedicated believers.
Presenting A Curriculum Expo
Cynthia L. Gissy, Greg Boso, and David Cumberledge, West Virginia
University at Parkersburg
The Partnerships Project is the Professional Development School
partnership that involves West Virginia University at Parkersburg and
twelve elementary schools in a four county area.
The Partnerships Project piloted a new event, a Spring 2008 Curricu-
lum Expo, to successfully engage all constituents.
This first Curriculum Expo had attendees that including teachers,
teacher candidates, college faculty, and community experts. All stakehold-
ers were invited to attend and present on best practices, current research,
new initiatives, 21st Century Skills, technology, cooperative learning,
favorite classroom practices, or other areas of interest. Presentations were
made on twelve different topics. New professional contacts were made,
networking opportunities were available, and lunch was provided. Partici-
pants received materials and resources to take home, review, and imple-
ment in their classrooms. Each attendee and presenter also received a copy
of the book Teaching for Tomorrow by Ted McCain. All evaluations
received were positive and suggestions were made for longer sessions in
the future! Planning, organizing, implementation, and follow-up will be
reviewed. Come see what we have planned for a bigger and better
Curriculum Expo in the future.
Pre-Service/In-Service: Who’s Teaching
Whom?
Gail Epifanio, Rowan University
Lakeside Middle School in-service teachers take their role as Rowan
University clinical adjuncts very seriously. This co-supervisory model
empowers university and school educators as they collaborate in the
supervision of pre-service educators. They also share a commitment to
provide quality educational experiences for teacher candidates as they
unite in a learning community with student achievement as its goal. Yet,
these experienced educators will be the first to tell you how much they are
learning from the Rowan teacher candidates they are co-supervising.
What are they learning? The pre-service teachers are using technology on
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
a regular basis to impact student learning and the in-service teachers are
discovering how they can do the same!
During this session the presenters will share the excitement through
the video stories of in-service teachers, pre-service teachers, and middle
school students. The stories include examples of the innovative use of
technology across the content areas as the technology coach supports
both in-service and pre-service teachers with their projects. Integration of
technology across the curriculum has been the key to establishing a
professional development partnership between university and school.
The university PDS liaison, along with the partner school’s technol-
ogy coach, will also describe the clinical adjunct co-supervisory model and
explain the role of all stakeholders in this PDS partnership. The audience
will leave with an understanding of a successful teaching/learning process
for both in-service and pre-service teachers as they utilize technology to
motivate their middle school learners.
Principals And Inquiry; How They Make It
Happen
Keith Tilford, Illinois State University
Lacy Redd, Newberry Elementary School
Jim Brandenburg, Alachua Elementary School
This presentation will be based on a series of interviews conducted
with two effective principals in a 10-school elementary PDS network in the
southeast. The purpose of the presentation is to share how these two
principals facilitated teacher inquiry in their respective schools. The
phenomenological dissertation study, using Seidman’s 1998 model for
interviewing, took place in the 2006-2007 school year.
Barth (1990) argued in his book, Improving Schools from Within, that
the principal plays a pivotal role in leading teachers to grow and learn. The
Standards for Professional Development Schools from the National Coun-
cil for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (2001) identify the important
element of teacher inquiry in Standard I, indicating the pivotal role it plays
in Professional Development School work.
Through this presentation, the researcher plans to share findings
related to Lacy’s and Jim’s efforts to foster teacher inquiry in their
individual schools. After a brief presentation of the interview data and
findings, the principals will share their perspectives on teacher inquiry and
how they have integrated it into the culture of their schools. Near the end
of the session, participants will be provided an opportunity to ask
questions of the presenters and also share their experiences with creating
a school culture that fosters teacher inquiry.
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Professional Development In A Middle School
RTI Pilot: Steps In Learning By Doing
Nina Dorsch, Northern Illinois University
Barbara Landis, Britt Mattern, Charri Trembley, and Kris Weiss, Kaneland
Middle School
Learning about and learning to are very different processes in
professional development. This session explores university-school syn-
ergy in professional development that occurred as Kaneland Middle
School (KMS) piloted Response to Intervention (RTI). The pilot experi-
ence became a journey of steps in learning by doing for both school and
university partners.
Stepping Up involved a KMS/NIU team being willing to venture into
uncharted territory. While RTI has been implemented in many elementary
schools, few middle school models could guide the team.
Stepping In included training in screening and progress monitoring
tools, cohort study, visits to RTI sites (including other NIU partner
schools), and weekly meetings as the team experienced full immersion in
the RTI process.
Stepping Back was a period of reflection and reworking as the team
searched for alternative interventions, conducted universal CBM testing,
and analyzed data.
Stepping Out entailed conducting interventions even as the need for
added and/or changed structures and resources became apparent, exem-
plifying the mantra that in trying and learning in a pilot, “you won’t go to
hell for it.”
Stepping Forward marked a summer of creating a CORE building team
and developing and adding to interventions in reading while expanding the
RTI pilot to include additional areas; this was a time when lessons learned
by doing could be applied.
Stepping Beyond: In all of the team’s learning steps, blurring of
boundaries (seeking expertise in each other and learning from each other)
was evident, suggesting implications for university collaboration across
programs in working with partner schools on RTI.
Professional Development: Models Of
Research-To-Practice In The PDS
Stephen B. Graves and Elizabeth Larkin, University of South Florida
Mary Condron, Ballard Elementary School
USF faculty in the Department of Childhood Education and Literacy
Studies (GELS) are engaged in collaborative research projects in two local
PDS sites. This presentation will describe the ways in which our pre-
service teacher candidates are actively involved in professional develop-
ment activities through research projects in these two Manatee County
Schools. The presenters will also describe ways in which the schools
participate both in the preparation of USF intern teachers and in the
research projects to build the teachers’ knowledge and skills. In still
another layer of professional development, the USF faculty members are
able to inform their instruction and supervision of pre-service teachers
based on research findings and collaboration with the school’s faculty.
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
The two research projects include a literacy and technology initiative in
an after-school program and a single gender classroom study in four 4th
grade classrooms. The USF LitTechs volunteer to work with students on
projects of their own design, using a variety of technologies such as
podcasting, creating electronic stories, or writing song lyrics, and their
insights about how these new tools shape literacy learning is the focus of
one study. The single gender classroom study is comparing the learning
environments of mixed gender groupings and single gender groupings to
explore how teaching and learning may differ. The focus of our presenta-
tion will be on how the teaching and learning relationships of interns,
teachers, and researchers thrive in a climate of continuous professional
development for all participants.
Professional Developmental Schools And Early
Childhood Education: Interactive
Competencies Of Students, Beginning And
Veteran Teachers
Ruud J. Gorter, INHolland University
This presentation gives answers to the question how professional
development successfully engages different partners in the PDS. We did
a best practice research with two Professional Development Schools in the
Netherlands attempting to improve the effects of early childhood educa-
tion programmes. The two PDSs use evidence-based programs for early
childhood learning in which incoming and veteran teachers of playgroups
(children aged 2; 6-4 years of age) and kindergarten classes (4-6 years)
collaborate.
PDS partners are the elementary school and accompanying
playgroup, both teacher’s training colleges for K-2 (and for playgroup
teachers), and educational service agencies and the research institute. Our
research focuses on the quality of adult-child Interaction during instruc-
tion. Students and new and veteran teachers learn from each other how to
support and challenge children’s language and reasoning skills by attend-
ing joint courses and observing each other In the classroom and giving
feedback to each other. Videotapes of adult-child interactions are pro-
duced three times a year for all persons involved and are used as training
materials. Rating scales of interactive competence were completed by the
participants themselves, and an observer.
We will show results of the learning process of students and
beginning and practicing teachers, as well as their evaluation of the
interventions used. In addition the question will be addressed of how best
practices are defined.
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Professional Development That Works
Paul Maloney and Carmela Colosimo, Hillside Avenue School
Deanne Opatosky, Brookside Place School
Lisa Andretta, Livingston Avenue School
Greer Burroughs, Seton Hall University
The PDS is a learning community that supports the integrated
learning and development of p-12 students, teacher candidates, and PDS
partners through inquiry-based practice (NCATE 2001). Our PDS partners
believe that people learn best in the context of learning together rather than
apart and that inquiry-based practice sits at the crossroads of education
reform and school improvement. After eight years of coming and staying
together, our PDS governance group decided it was time to work together
in the area of professional development. The group decided that partici-
pating in traditional approaches to professional development, such as
workshops, seminars and teaching clinics, often resulted in gains for some
but lacked implementation across district and university. The group
decided that a more comprehensive approach was needed.
The committee engaged a group of over 40 teachers, administrators,
candidates, parents, and university faculty in a unique professional
development experience. The partners agreed to examine a common
concern confronting all of them. In this case they identified transfer of
learning as one of the roadblocks to student learning. They spent two years
in small and large study groups to build their knowledge base, used
acquired learning to conduct action research, challenged assumptions and
beliefs, and made recommendations to the district’s curriculum council and
the university’s department of educational studies and publications.
In this presentation the group will share the experience and how they
engaged in group inquiry to address a specific challenge while reflecting
and growing together. They will share the power of the process and
discuss lessons learned and barriers to avoid.
Professional Development Through Shared
Expertise And Supervision
Jody Eberly, Arti Joshi, and Harlene Galen, The College of New Jersey
Findings will be shared from our second year in our initiative to
strengthen our PDS model. This PDS is between our 4-year teaching
college and one of the schools where we place senior year student
teachers. Our model provides multiple opportunities for professional
development for all: teacher candidates, cooperating teachers, and college
faculty. In the first year, the PDS model took the form of shared supervision
which featured co-supervision of teacher candidates by three college
supervisors and nine cooperating teachers. This year the PDS model, while
sustaining the shared supervision aspect, expanded to include shared
expertise among the constituent participants. Each of the three constitu-
ents received shared expertise through participation in three facets of this
model. The first facet involved joint post-observation conferencing by
cooperating teachers and college faculty with the teacher candidates on
their teaching. The second facet took place in the context of the on-site
senior student teachers’ capstone seminar, which is a weekly course
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
typically taught by college faculty concurrently with student teaching. In
our model, this course involved not only typical college faculty’s instruc-
tion but also cooperating teachers as guest instructors teaching specific
topics. The last facet involved the college faculty’s assistance in two areas
of professional development requested by the school’s teachers and
administrators: facilitating the school community’s understanding of
multicultural home-school relations and working with kindergarten teach-
ers on more developmentally appropriate curriculum development. Our
presentation will elaborate primarily on these three facets of shared
expertise as professional development for all three constituents.
Project REACH: Teachers And Candidates
Learning Together About Practices That
Support Diverse Students
Theresa McCormick and Charles Eick, Auburn University
Janet Womack, Auburn City Schools
Project REACH (Reclaiming Educators’ and Childrens’ Hope) was
a PDS-sponsored book study for elementary teachers and candidates
designed to support levels of confidence and classroom practices in
culturally diverse classrooms. Many teachers feel challenged in develop-
ing personal and academic relationships with diverse students and in
applying instructional strategies that encourage all students to achieve.
The intent of this study was to foster growth in participants’ awareness,
knowledge, application of teaching skills, and critical reflection in teaching
diverse students of color. In this book study, teachers and their candidates
read From Rage to Hope by Dr. Crystal Kuykendall, followed by listening
to Dr. Kuykendall in person on practices supporting diverse students.
Candidates read and reflected on each chapter together in their seminar
course face-to-face and through an electronic discussion board. This
approach paralleled what teachers did at each participating school. Data
were analyzed for both groups from surveys on awareness and knowledge,
reflective writing on book chapters, and final reflective summaries and
discussions on the impact on thinking and practice. Impact on thinking and
practice emerged in four common categories for both groups: (1) treating
all students with equality and hope, (2) embracing student diversity in
planning and teaching, (3) awareness of how teacher attitude and behavior
impacts students, and (4) fostering parent-home communication and
school relationships. Results will compare candidates’ novice thinking
with teachers’ practical thinking in these categories.
Project SOAR: Launching A Professional
Development School
Elizabeth Ann Cook, Cypress Point University Elementary School
Lynn V. Clark, University of Louisiana at Monroe
The presentation describes how the NAPDS Leadership Forum
served as a launching pad for a powerful collaboration between a site
principal and a university professor that successfully engaged constitu-
ent groups within the PDS. The shared inquiry began with two questions:
How might you impact student learning if a large number of teacher
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
candidates were made available to your site on a regular basis? and How
might regular access to a P-12 classroom enrich the learning experiences
of your teacher candidates? The result is a two-phase project which brings
over 60 teacher candidates to the PDS site to work weekly with over 300
elementary students on research-based literacy strategies. In Phase I,
teacher candidates work with small groups of primary students on indi-
vidual reading interventions (DIBELS) for 30 minutes a week. In Phase II,
teacher candidates implement writing conferences (Four Square and 6+
Trait Writing) with small groups of intermediate students. These ongoing
interventions require university faculty and teacher candidates to hold
one three-hour class a week on site.
Using words and images from the classroom, the presenters (the site
principal and the university professor) describe how the NAPDS prin-
ciples of shared decision-making, on-going partnerships, assessment-
based interventions, and reciprocity of resources helped the nascent
Professional Development School to SOAR. We will also discuss how a
collaborative website housed on the university system allowed constitu-
ent groups within the PDS to provide timely feedback into the process, as
well as coordinate the next week’s activities.
Prospective Teachers And PDS Teachers Learn
Together The Meaning Of “Teacher
Leadership” In The Benedum Collaborative
Sarah Steel and Diane Yendol-Hoppey, West Virginia University
“The term teacher leadership refers to that set of skills demonstrated
by teachers who continue to teach students but also have an influence that
extends beyond their own classrooms to others within their own school
and elsewhere.” (Danielson, 2006) This concept of teacher leadership is at
the heart of the work in the Benedum Collaborative, a school/university
partnership among West Virginia University and thirty-one public schools.
Through a complex governance structure developed over eighteen years
of collaborative work, teachers have been serving in such leadership roles
as professional development coordinators, teacher education coordina-
tors, and mentor teachers.
In concert with the development of these teacher leaders in PDSs,
prospective teachers enrolled in the Benedum Collaborative Five-Year
Teacher Education Program are also exploring this notion of teacher
leadership. Through a variety of learning experiences in the program,
prospective teachers are being mentored into a profession that focuses on
teacher leadership. In the final semester, all prospective teachers enroll in
a Teacher as Leader course where they specifically focus on concepts such
as: (1) teacher as exemplary practitioner, (2) teacher as decision-maker and
researcher, (3) teacher as advocate and change agent, and (4) teacher as
collaborator. In this presentation, we will share findings revealed through
a book study conducted by a selected group of teacher leaders from PDSs,
prospective teachers enrolled in the Teacher as Leader course, the Director
of the Collaborative, and the PDS Coordinator. Through reflection on the
readings, on the experiences, and on the journals kept by members of the
group, teacher leadership roles in the Benedum Collaborative will be
explored. Each constituent group’s reflection will contribute to the profes-
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
sional development of these participating members of the Benedum
Collaborative.
Put “Super” Back In Supervision: Creating
Meaningful Experiences For All Stakeholders
Bev Peters and Pete Kelly, Truman State University
Kathy Childers, Kirksville R-III School District
Learning to teach students with disabilities is complicated, and
effective supervision is paramount to a successful student teaching/
internship semester. This presentation will provide insight, strategies,
activities and checklists from the stakeholders in the Truman State Univer-
sity and Kirksville R-III partnership that prepares graduate students to
become effective special education teachers. It will also focus on the
process that not only assisted beginning teachers but strengthened the
skills of the mentor teachers in this Special Education PDS.
The partnership between Truman State University and Kirksville R-
III School District has identified that effective supervision and mentoring
ensures quality teaching experiences and optimal learning for students. It
also ensures that mentor teachers enter into reflective practice that
strengthens their mentoring skills and also their basic skills and knowledge
in working with special needs students. The partnership identified com-
mon areas of concern for prospective special education teachers. As an
outgrowth of these concerns, the stakeholders in the partnership have
developed a comprehensive program to address the unique supervisory
needs of prospective special education teachers while simultaneously
creating opportunities for veteran teachers to learn and grow in their field.
A panel of stakeholders will share insight, specific activities, strat-
egies, and checklists that have provided pre-interns/interns/student teach-
ers with effective supervision and support prior to their first job in the field.
The mentor teacher will also focus on the benefits she has received as a
result of her participation in this program.
This presentation addresses how veteran special education teach-
ers and university personnel serving as supervisors/mentors can truly put
the “super” back in supervision and positively impact all stakeholders.
Reaching Out And Moving Forward:
Successfully Building And Sustaining
Meaningful Professional Development
Spanning The P-16 Continuum
Stephanie Koprowski, Ana Maria Schuhmann, and Dorothy Feola, William
Paterson University
Being a Professional Development School should go beyond a title;
it should be demonstrated in a sound process of building professional
relationships that serve and benefit all stakeholders. While meeting the
needs of the university partnership through field placements, equal
importance should be given to the designated PDS and their faculty
development as well. The PDS model at William Paterson University has
expanded to provide meaningful and engaging professional development
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
utilizing a variety of opportunities such as teacher-centered workshops on
instructional strategies, content-driven sessions to encourage pre-ser-
vice and in-service teachers to obtain additional teacher licensure in critical
areas of shortage, and assisting in the creation of professional learning
communities to support the emergence of teacher leaders. These extensive
offerings range from novice to advanced topics utilizing several IHE and
LEA agencies and provide pre-service candidates and in-service teachers
from a variety of urban and suburban PDSs a plethora of opportunities
which would not exist without this valuable relationship. Data will be
provided to support the success of this model, as we hope to encourage
our PDS colleagues to reach out and build meaningful professional
development opportunities that benefit all stakeholders in the P-16 con-
tinuum.
Reading Revolution: Professional Development
For Technology Integration That Supports 21st
Century Skills In K-12 Classrooms
Denise Lindstrom, Fairmont State University
Melissa Kent, Bruceton K-8 Public School
Rapid advancements of information and communication technolo-
gies (ICTs) are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize and
participate in civic life. Unfortunately many educators are unfamiliar with
newer ICTs like online social networks, wikies, blogs, instant messaging
and massively multi-player online role playing games (MMORPG). Conse-
quently many educators are unable to take advantage of student motiva-
tion and interest to use these technologies to improve student motivation
to engage in foundational literacy building activities. Traditional models
of professional development for technology integration are characterized
as “sit and get” or “one-time-only” workshops and have proven ineffec-
tive in supporting technology use in schools. Instead, it is recommended
that new models of professional development for technology integration
be ongoing and integral to the professional lives of teachers. Reading
Revolution is an example of how Fairmont States’ PDS Partnership is
supporting one classroom teacher in using an online social network to meet
existing literacy learning goals and develop 2150 century literacies along
side her students. Examples of how the PDS Partnership provided technical
assistance, opportunities for a variety of hands-on learning experiences,
and allowed for spontaneous and authentic connections to be made
between technology use and student learning will be provided by the
classroom teacher. A discussion will follow focused on how this type of
professional development for technology integration may be supported
more systematically throughout the partnership to take advantage of the
funding and collegiality emerging between university faculty, K-12 teach-
ers and teacher candidates as a result of the partnership.
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Redefining Continuous Professional
Development: A Model For Job-Embedded
Multilayered Professional Development
Merilyn Buchanan, California State University Channel Islands
Sima Beshid, Charmon Evans, and Linda Ngarupe, University Preparation
School
A partnership of teachers, the administrator, and the university
liaison at University Preparation School at California State University
Channel Islands (UPS) implemented a multilayered infrastructure of job-
embedded professional development. In our model teachers engage daily
in effective professional development through a variety of learning com-
munities. These range from staff-wide experiences in cross-grade councils
to grade level collaborative teams to individual professional development
activities. These multiple learning communities provide opportunities for
building leadership capacity and developing collaboration skills, as well
as increasing teachers’ content knowledge and expanding their pedagogi-
cal strategies to positively impact student learning.
Teacher candidates are included in the various activities alongside
their cooperating teachers. Candidates take into their careers experience
of team planning, models of cooperative interaction, participation in action
research, and an expanded repertoire of teaching methods. Additionally,
they have high expectations for their own professional development.
Current implementation processes and the multilayered approach
have evolved at UPS from a desire to improve student learning while
fulfilling the professional development needs of the teachers. The design
of the job-embedded professional development was research-based,
drawing from Berliner (1986), Clandenin and Connelly (1991), Darling-
Hammond and Baratz-Snowden (2007), Roberts and Pruitt, (2003), and
Samson (2002), as well as DuFour and Eaker (2002, 2005) and Reeve’s (2004)
work on learning communities.
On-going data collection reveals teachers’ high levels of satisfac-
tion with both the organizational structures and the degree to which their
personal professional development needs are being met. The successes
as well as pitfalls and lessons learned will be discussed.
Reflection Through Digital Stories: An
Examination Of Pre-Service Educators’
Experiences In Professional Development
Schools
Sharon Hayes, Jason Jude Smith, and Sarah Steel, West Virginia University
Pre-service teachers in West Virginia University’s Five Year Teacher
Education Program create digital stories during their Year Three Practicum,
a clinical experience supported by periodic seminars. This assignment
encourages our pre-service teachers to reflect on their experiences work-
ing with children and practitioners in their assigned PDS and to develop
digital stories where they visually represent their understandings of
classroom environments, teaching practices, and students. These stories
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are told in a PowerPoint presentation, which consists of photographs
taken by the pre-service teachers and a narration of the nascent under-
standings our students are developing of teaching and learning.
In this presentation we will share faculty analysis of a sample of the
digital stories completed by students in the 2010 cohort of the Teacher
Education Program. Through the grounded theory approach, a number of
themes regarding students’ understanding of teaching and learning
emerged. We will share how these themes have broadened and deepened
our understanding of how the digital story assignment facilitates the
development of our pre-service teachers as reflective practitioners, espe-
cially with respect to reflection on their experiences with students, teach-
ers, and real-world classrooms. Furthermore, we will share how we used our
findings to uncover barriers that constrained or prohibited reflective
practices, as well as how the reflection embodied in the digital stories
affected the professional practices of our pre-service teachers. Ultimately,
the findings will be used to make informed judgments about modifying the
digital story assignment to better align with our goal of developing
teachers who are reflective practitioners.
Response To Intervention: An Opportunity To
Share Knowledge And Build Bridges Between
PDS Partners
David Hoppey, Johnna Bolyard, and Aimee Morewood, West Virginia
University
The presentation highlights how West Virginia University’s
Benedum Collaborative collaborated with their PDS partner schools to
proactively address the inherent challenges of implementing the Re-
sponse to Intervention framework. The overarching goal of this session
is to illustrate how university faculty collaboratively engaged in-service
teachers, prospective teachers, and school administrators in job-embed-
ded professional development focused on improving learning outcomes
for all students. The purpose of the project was to align resources and
provide support by sharing university faculty members’ expertise for PDS
teams of practicing teachers, pre-service teachers, school administrators,
and university faculty members. Specific technical assistance and profes-
sional development topics include: (1) building professional learning
communities focused on developing common school goals; (2) embedding
universal screening and ongoing progress monitoring into a systemic
data-based decision making process; (3) developing and implementing
research-based best practices for core instruction and targeted supple-
mental instruction and interventions in the areas of in literacy and math;
(4) assisting school-based teams in clarifying teachers’ roles and respon-
sibilities; and (5) developing flexible scheduling procedures to provide the
necessary instruction and interventions to meet the needs of all students.
This session is suitable for in-service teachers, university supervi-
sors, university faculty, school administrators, and district level person-
nel. Data from this study will be presented using the NAPDS “9 Essentials”
framework in order to generate discussion and implications for future work
in other PDS contexts. Benefits, challenges, and next steps also will also
be shared from different stakeholders’ perspectives.
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Rounds: An Innovative Way To Provide Pre-
Service Teachers With Meaningful
Opportunities For Observation And
Mentorship
Elizabeth Powers-Costello and Jane Zenger, University of South Carolina
The “rounds” model of observation is an innovative method that
enables pre-service and induction year teachers to observe teachers in
multiple settings. Borrowing from medical models of interns working with
a master doctor and actual patients, educational rounds enable interns to
observe practicing teachers and then have time to engage in thoughtful
conversations with those teachers directly following the observation
session. This model is being implemented under the direction of Jane
Zenger, Director of the University of South Carolina Teacher Quality
Collaborative, in a variety of P-12 schools in Columbia, South Carolina.
Presenters include Dr. Zenger, classroom teachers, and USC faculty
members who have included rounds in their practicum and class experi-
ences. The presenters will share their experiences and insights gained from
their rounds observations, as well as helpful strategies for implementation
of the model in teacher education programs. This presentation directly
addresses Question #1 (How does professional development successfully
engage constituent groups within the PDS?) because it focuses on PDS
relationships that are aimed at the professional preparation of future
educators and on the continuing professional development of educators
already in the field. This presentation will be particularly useful for those
interested in mentoring, observation, reflection, and working with pre-
service teachers.
School And University PDS Personnel: Doing
The Work Together
Jill Miels, Ball State University
Karen Boatright, Jennifer Nichols, Mary Hendricks, and Jo Burnside,
Rhoades Elementary School
Ball State University has a long history of working successfully with
schools throughout the state of Indiana to prepare future teachers. The
practices and procedures associated with the Professional Development
Schools Network at Ball State University have been institutionalized and
recognized for a process of true collaboration with its individual partners,
as well as serving as a role model for other institutions. After eleven years
of working in the Professional Development Schools arena, there is much
to be learned from both the larger Network and from individual school
stories that guide our practice. This session will be an examination of the
responsibilities of a University PDS Liaison, two school administrators, a
school adjunct faculty member, and a teacher in one elementary PDS. The
adjunct faculty member has been involved in the PDS initiative since its
inception. The classroom teacher went through the pre-service portion of
the PDS program at the school and now supervises incoming pre-service
teachers. Professional development defines ‘doing the work of schools’
at Rhoades and will focus on the successful collaborative work at Rhoades
Elementary including:
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• Tuesday Talks for pre-service and new in-service teachers;
• use of data and research to drive instruction;
• shared supervision and co-teaching models; and
• required ‘extra’ experiences.
Depending on the size and make-up of the audience, the presenters
may break into small groups to discuss roles represented by the audience
and presentation group.
Science Methods: A Catalyst Approach To
Building A Professional Development
Environment
Leigh Ann Haefner, Karen Pletcher, Timothy Slekar, and Katherine Imler,
Penn State Altoona
Vince DiLeo and Tracy Flynn, Logan Elementary School
Penn State Altoona and the Altoona Area School District have had
by all accounts a traditional relationship in that the district hosted pre-
service teachers for field experiences and student teaching. Full-time
supervisors did school-based supervision and there was little contact
between university faculty and classroom teachers. Recently, however, a
visionary group of teachers and their principal contacted our teacher
education program director to inquire about developing a partnership
around science. The primary intent of this science partnership was to
provide support for the classroom teachers, while also providing an
environment to mentor pre-service teachers in those same classrooms.
This year, two university courses are taught off campus in the school
(science methods and a classroom learning environments course), and
university faculty spend three days a week in classrooms providing
planning, resources, and/or science instructional support to classroom
teachers. Participating teachers host a pre-service teacher (enrolled in both
courses) for their pre-student teaching (fall) and student teaching experi-
ences (spring).
We will share our experiences from this first year as we strive to
develop our emerging roles, identities, and goals for the future that support
a meaningful and sustainable relationship capable of growing into a
multidisciplinary Professional Development School partnership. Included
will be perspectives from the principal and university administration,
classroom teachers and university faculty, and pre-service teachers in-
volved in this program. Specifically, we will share our struggles and
successes as we strive to engage all stakeholders and cultivate shared
goals for professional development of teachers and pre-service teachers.
Self-Directed Teacher Appraisal: Teachers
Working To Achieve Important PDS Goals
Veronica McCauley and Annette M. Zito, Farmersville Elementary School
Judith A. Duffield, Lehigh University
In 2007, our school district adopted a teacher appraisal system that
allows tenured teachers to choose to complete a self-directed project
instead of the traditional principal observation and debriefing session.
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
These projects are proposed and approved by the principal in the fall and
carried out during the year. Teachers submit a progress report in January
and a final report in May, which they present to the staff. Sixty-seven
percent of the teachers chose to participate in this program during year one.
Teachers chose a variety of projects for their self-studies, the
majority of which focused on the school goal of increasing reading
comprehension. In four of the six grade levels, the teachers worked
together as a team on the projects. Three of these group projects and two
other individual projects focused on developing teaching skills and
expanding how they used curricular resources in teaching reading compre-
hension. Four other projects focused on involving parents and the school
community in education. For one of these, the teachers developed a CD for
parents of incoming kindergarten students to allay their fears and address
concerns. Another project resulted in an orientation packet for intern
teachers.
These projects allowed teachers to become active participants in
their own evaluation process, while helping define and implement best
practice. They developed projects that allowed them to become better
teachers and members of the community. Through the presentations to the
faculty, the participating teachers were able to share what they had learned
with the rest of the staff.
Sharing Professional Development
Opportunities, Enriching Our PDS Learning
Community
Jennifer Ford, Marie Viola, and Rita Croteau, Andrew Peabody School
The Cambridge/Lesley PDS, a 14-year partnership involving Lesley
University and two Cambridge K-8 schools, focuses on the preparation of
pre-service educators and the continuing education of veteran teachers
and university faculty. A primary goal of this collaboration is to form a
learning community in which all constituencies have opportunities to grow
professionally. Our presentation will describe these various opportunities
and engage participants in an exchange of ideas for enriching professional
development within PDS partnerships.
Learning experiences for our pre-service teachers include monthly
intern meetings focusing on reflective practice, site-based seminars led by
university liaisons and school professional staff, book discussion groups,
and participation in Cambridge Public School professional development
events. Lesley University students also engage in activities beyond their
classrooms: involvement in after-school homework centers and tutoring
programs; participation in school-sponsored family events; and atten-
dance at staff and cluster meetings.
Cambridge and Lesley faculty take part in book groups and in on-site
professional development courses and workshops based on needs iden-
tified by the school steering committees. Teachers and Lesley students
participate in classroom “rounds,” observing and analyzing the teaching
practices modeled in various classrooms; present at a bi-annual mini-
conference; and attend Lesley institutes and special events. Interns and
their mentors collaborate on classroom-based inquiry projects.
Cambridge and Lesley faculty and administrators present together
at conferences and institutes. Cambridge faculty are guest speakers,
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
adjunct faculty, and practicum supervisors at the university. All of these
activities enrich the professional lives of PDS constituencies and focus on
improving academic achievement for K-8 students.
Starting Off On The Right Foot: Understanding
Expectations And Effective Communication - A
Mentor Teacher/Intern Workshop
Laurie A. Palmer, University of Delaware
Building a strong and effective working relationship is essential for
mentor teachers and interns to have an effective and successful clinical
experience for interns, teachers, and their students. By providing profes-
sional development for mentor teachers and interns together, they can
work as a team to build strategies that will have a positive impact on their
work together during field placements.
Starting Off on the Right Foot is a workshop presented to teachers
and interns in our partnership prior to the start of each field experience.
Topics include establishing a mutual understanding of roles and expecta-
tions; building a trusting relationship; qualities of a strong mentor and
intern; expectations of the experience; verbal and nonverbal communica-
tion; giving and accepting suggestions, help, and advice; giving and
receiving feedback; and talking about the tough issues. Interns and mentor
teachers work as partners throughout this workshop, participating in
various exercises related to the topics presented. We have found that the
outcome of this workshop has been a strong and more effective relation-
ship between our interns and teachers, better coaching and feedback by
our mentor teachers, improved reflection and using feedback to improve
instruction, improved problem solving between interns and teachers, and
less problems that require supervisor intervention.
Participants in this session will receive an outline of the key compo-
nents of this workshop, descriptions of activities used, and copies of a
handout.
Successful Professional Development During
The Workday
Linda Taylor, Ball State University
For the past four years, Castleton United Methodist Nursery School
has implemented a professional development program during the course
of the workday. This session will share the story of how one early
childhood program developed this system and how it has changed over
time. During the first year, the program director, two classroom teachers,
and a university faculty member taught the four courses that each staff
member received at some point during the year. A survey at the end of the
training revealed the benefits and drawbacks perceived by the staff
members. This information was used to develop the next year’s profes-
sional development. During subsequent years, the program has changed
to involve more teachers taking leadership roles in the process. One
consistent aspect each year has been that each training includes pre- and
post-class surveys about the content of the course. Data has been
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
collected each year for each course, as well as for the overall program and
is shared with the entire staff at the beginning of the next school year.
Supporting ALL Learners And Seeing Real
Results . . . Bigger And Better Than Ever!
Reana Anderko, Michelle Bosak, and Nancy Hardter, Lincoln Elementary
School
Gina R. Scala, East Stroudsburg University
NCLB and IDEA have mandated accountability and emphasis on
assessment. All students need to show progress within the general
education curriculum. Schools are assessed on the documented AYP. How
are individual needs met successfully in urban schools when resources are
minimal and stakes are high? The PDS partnership addressed these issues
in the entire third grade within the reading, literacy, and language arts
content areas. By identifying best practices and utilizing the PDS partner-
ship model, traditional teaching was relinquished in favor of an exciting,
student-driven model of successful instruction. The results have clearly
indicated success for all students. Teachers are very invested, and
professional development has been implemented to continue to add to the
professional skills of the faculty. AYP was achieved, which seems to be
the priority of many schools. As the school realized its success, the entire
school replicated the procedures which were so effective for all students.
The three initiatives, RTI, PBIS, and full inclusion, were implemented. PDS
students returning as student teachers continue to support best practices
for ALL. The presentation will identify the steps that were developed, the
outcomes, future directions, and current data supporting the success for
the students. In addition, a district-wide initiative supporting literacy &
inclusion has been initiated.
Supporting Mathematics Instruction Through
Learner-Centered Professional Development
Drew Polly, University of North Carolina Charlotte
Torrieann Dooley, David Cox Road Elementary School
Various models of professional development have emerged in the
past few decades. Recommendations include that professional develop-
ment be ongoing, relevant to teachers’ daily work, and give teachers
ownership of the activities. Based on the American Psychological
Association’s Learner-centered Principles, learner-centered professional
development provides a framework for comprehensive opportunities for
teacher learning that are relevant and based on teachers’ typical classroom
activities.
This presentation will share the details and impact of the first two
years of classroom-based professional development related to mathemat-
ics instruction at a Professional Development School. In an effort to
support reform in mathematics instruction in an elementary school, a
university faculty member and a classroom teacher have collaborated on
a weekly basis. These collaborative activities include co-planning, co-
teaching, and examining student work.
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Findings will be shared during the presentation. Through classroom
observations, data indicate that the teacher implements more worthwhile
mathematical activities and poses more higher-level questions during
instruction. During the presentation, both the university faculty and
classroom teachers will share their perspectives, highlight implications,
and give suggestions related to this model of professional development.
Supporting Student Teachers Through A PDS
Teaching Seminar
Joyce Frazier, Cindy Hopper, and Drew Polly, University of North Carolina
Charlotte
Research indicates a need to provide adequate support for student
teachers. At UNC Charlotte, our undergraduate pre-service teachers
participate in a year-long internship where they spend a year in the
classroom where they will complete their student teaching. In the first
semester, pre-service teachers are in the schools one full day a week and
participate in a variety of activities. In the second semester, pre-service
teachers are in schools full time. Our data from student teaching observa-
tions and student teacher surveys indicated a need to increase support for
students in the beginning of their year-long internship.
This presentation describes the development of a teaching seminar
for 20 elementary school pre-service teachers who are in the first semester
of their year-long internship. These pre-service teachers are completing
their student teaching in UNC Charlotte’s seven Professional Develop-
ment Schools. The seminar topics are based on the needs of pre-service
teachers, as determined by data from previous pre-service teachers and the
perceived needs of pre-service teachers in the seminar. An overview of the
seminar, materials, resources, and suggestions for implementation will be
provided.
Taking Action: From Classroom Research To
Collaborative Reflection
Patricia Marlin, Nolan Correa, and Vicky Brown, University High School
Professional development is the most common means for implement-
ing change in the classroom. For most teachers in the United States,
professional development means being presented with new strategies and
ideas with limited opportunities to share their own opinions and experi-
ences. This, however, is not the case with pre-service and in-service
teachers at a large urban secondary Professional Development School.
Based on various research studies, professional development that
occurred in the school environment encouraged collaboration among
teachers and focused on issues related to learning and ultimately had
positive results in effecting teacher change (Kwakman, 2003; Phillip, 2003).
Action research as a form of professional development is a vehicle that can
be used by educators to untangle some of the complexity that occurs in the
classrooms, raise teachers’ voices in discussions of instructional prac-
tices, and consequently, result in changes in the classrooms and in student
performance (Dana & Yendol-Silva, 2003).
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
The focus of this presentation will be on the implementation of action
research in a Professional Development School. Presenters will share the
impact action research had on both secondary in-service and pre-service
teachers’ professional growth. In addition, presenters will share how
action research affected secondary students. More specifically, this
session will:
• describe the process to implement action research in a Profes-
sional Development School;
• share the impact action research had on the professional devel-
opment of in-service and pre-service teachers;
• share the impact action research had on secondary students; and
• discuss barriers, issues, successes, and future endeavors for
action research.
Teacher Education Workshop Series: Sailing
Ahead To Improve Practice Through
Research-Based Professional Development
Jennifer Nelson and Melissa Robinson, University of Memphis
The Office of School-Based Clinical Practice at the University of
Memphis is expanding the professional growth of pre-service teachers
through the Teacher Education Workshop Series. Survey and focus group
feedback indicated the need to create a support center cultivating the
acquisition of skills needed for improved professional performance. The
purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate how the Office of School-
Based Clinical Practice developed and implemented the Teacher Education
Workshop Series.
The Teacher Education Workshop Series was constructed to bring
together practitioners, university faculty, staff, and students to improve
practice through developmental activities. The series continues to achieve
the following outcomes: 1) conduct college and community-based re-
search to identify areas of need; 2) extend program opportunities by
providing meaningful research-based professional development and re-
sources for pre-service teachers; 3) improve student preparation for
professional careers in various Memphis metropolitan schools and com-
munities; and 4) foster effective communication between the College of
Education and community stakeholders.
Session attendees will learn how the Teacher Education Workshop
Series was created and implemented. In addition to addressing how the
Teacher Education Workshop Series successfully engages pre-service
teachers, presenters will also describe key program challenges, successes,
and future plans. Further, they will provide guidance to other universities
seeking to implement professional development programs and support
learning communities for novice and in-service teachers.
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Ten Years And Counting! - A Successful
Professional Development School Partnership
Dorothy Feola, Marie Donnantuono, Julie Rosenthal, and Deborah Leverett,
William Paterson University
Deborah Hudzik, Passaic Public Schools
Reflecting on a ten-year urban Professional Development School
partnership using employment data and interviews, we will share an
analysis of the impact of a PDS partnership on the preparation of new
teachers and their success as tenured teachers. We will also explore how
the sustained professional development of in-service teachers led to
teachers becoming school and district leaders.
In 1999, William Paterson University began a partnership with the
William B. Cruise Memorial School #11 in Passaic, New Jersey. The
partnership will celebrate its tenth anniversary in the spring. This session
will investigate how the partnership developed and how, in 2008, teacher
candidates are incorporated as full participants in the PDS. We will also
explore how the PDS relationship provided in-service teachers with
professional development which led to leadership roles within the school
district and how the district, recognizing the impact of the PDS partnership,
now supports the Professor in Residence model using district funds.
Preliminary findings suggest that teacher candidates who were
prepared in this PDS and are now tenured teachers there received what
could be described as “induction support” well before they were hired and
that their “formal” induction years were less stressful and more productive.
In-service teachers who participated in PDS initiatives went on to become
leaders in the school and in the district and cite the PDS partnership as an
impetus to continue their own professional development.
The Critical Role Of The Building Principal In
An Effective Professional Development School
Wendy Moore, Village Elementary School
Dee Holmes, Emporia State University
Kim Kirk, Timmerman Elementary School
The presenters will share the model developed by Emporia State
University’s Professional Development Schools in collaboration with
USD #253 Emporia Public Schools focusing on the role and responsibilities
of the PDS principals. The district is home for seven Professional Devel-
opment Schools working in collaboration with ESU. The Director of the
Emporia Professional Development Schools, and two district principals,
Mr. Kim Kirk and Mrs. Wendy Moore, will explain the critical role of the
building administrator in creating and maintaining an effective PDS. The
content will cover: the responsibilities of building principals, including
their involvement with the Emporia Teacher Council; conducting profes-
sional seminars; identifying mentor teachers; participating in the inter-
viewing and screening of candidates for placements at the PDS sites;
supervising interns; providing on-going feedback to interns, mentors, and
the university site coordinators; collaborating with course instructors;
participating in joint decision making with the Department of Early Child-
hood and Elementary Teacher Education; and giving continuous feedback
to the Director of the Emporia PDS concerning the knowledge level of the
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
interns when they interview for a teaching position and the level of skills
and professionalism they demonstrate during their first year of teaching.
The principals will give examples of the benefits to the district from this PDS
partnership. The emphasis will be on how the PDS principal has a key role
in maintaining the high standards and effectiveness of this PDS program.
Questions from the audience will be welcomed.
The Discursive Nature Of Mentoring: How
Participation In A Mentoring Relationship
Influences The Identities And Practices Of
Prospective And Practicing Teachers In A PDS
Sharon B. Hayes, West Virginia University
In this study I investigated how mentors and mentees utilized
discourse in negotiating their relationship and what role the mentoring
relationship played in their co-construction of knowledge about teaching
and learning, as well as the transformation of their individual identities and
practices. In addition, this study also explored how the context of a PDS
influenced the interactions and transformations of both the prospective
and practicing teachers. The following two questions guided my research:
How does the context of a PDS influence the nature of the mentoring
relationship that develops and evolves between the prospective and
practicing teacher? and How do these mentoring relationships and the
discourses and context in which the mentor and mentee are situated
transform their identities and practices?
My findings revealed that the nature of the mentoring relationships
that developed was influenced by the context of the PDS and the mentors’
understandings of their roles as teacher educators. Moreover, each
mentoring relationship was influenced by the discourses that constructed
the larger sociopolitical context in which the mentors and mentees were
situated and influenced the ways in which the activities of mentoring were
understood and enacted.
Tensions existed between the larger political context in which these
mentors and mentees were situated and the local understandings of their
Professional Developments Schools as to how prospective teachers
should be mentored into a community of practice. The implications of these
tensions for teacher education and professional development within a PDS
will be discussed.
The Ins And Outs Of Writing Workshop
Nancy Boggs, Mary Brown, Emily Carpenter, and Tonia Griffin, A. C. Moore
Elementary School
In collaboration with the Diverse Pathways Project at the University
of South Carolina, A.C. Moore Elementary implemented a professional
development model that focused on Writing Workshop. The model utilizes
the expertise of a university professor who provides professional devel-
opment and support while teachers implement workshop strategies. The
professor facilitates professional development sessions and study groups
as well as conducts demonstration lessons.
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The Writing Workshop implementation resulted in many successes
and a few roadblocks. Over the course of the year, the teachers study
experts such as Katie Wood Ray to learn about teaching strategies that are
vital to the success of workshop. The teachers quickly discovered that the
strategies proved useful far beyond the writing block.
The presentation will focus on the implementation of Writing
Workshop and the benefits they will enjoy, as well as the pitfalls teachers
should avoid. The presenters will be able to provide a unique perspective
on the process because they are all in different phases of implementation.
The Journey Back: A Case Study Examining
The Impact Of The Re-Enculturation Of A
Hybrid Teacher
Rebecca West Burns and Bernard Badiali, Penn State University
Our Professional Development School offers a unique opportunity
for classroom teachers to be reassigned as supervisors for one to three
years. Removed from the typical daily routines of classroom teaching,
these hybrid teachers take on a new identity as a Professional Develop-
ment Associate (PDA). With this identity comes a new set of responsibili-
ties. These individuals focus their attention on supporting pre-service
teachers (interns) and in-service mentors. Working with interns and
cultivating the triad relationship of mentor, intern, and PDA becomes their
primary activity. Lesson planning, administrative duties, and students’
learning become a secondary focus. When their time as PDA expires, little
is known about the transition from PDA back to classroom teacher. This
presentation will present the preliminary findings from an exploratory case
study examining one such individual as she experiences this “journey
back” and the impact of her experiences in a Professional Development
School on her re-enculturation.
The Real NIU Experience: Boot Camp For
Pre-Service Teachers
Judith Cox-Henderson, Northern Illinois University
Jennifer Gould, Jefferson High School
The REAL NIU Experience summer camp was designed to motivate
at-risk high-school students to attend college. It developed over the past
four years into much more. Most importantly, it has been very successful
in improving high school students’ motivation and goal-setting, but it has
also had a wonderful “side effect” on the pre-service teacher community.
Thus far, thirty pre-service teacher candidates have had the opportunity
to participate in this summer camp, serving as camp counselors. The NIU
students refer to the experience as a “boot camp for student teachers.”
Working as camp counselors has provided multiple opportunities
for pre-service teachers to interact with high school students in meaningful
ways; to try out their “teacher voices;” to learn and practice professional
conduct; to use good judgment in a wide variety of situations; to learn and
practice setting limits with high school students; to gain insight into the
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
emotional and social side of teen-agers; and to gain insight into their own
strengths and weaknesses in regard to handling the multitude of problems
that arise when working with adolescents.
This presentation will focus on the mutually beneficial relationship
between three elements of the PDS (college faculty, pre-service teachers,
and K-12 students) and will argue that the college-bound camp could not
have been so successful without the strong ties between the high school
and university. It will focus on the benefits to the pre-service teachers who
report that being camp counselors was a crucial piece of their pre-service
training.
The Three Student Project: How Two Urban
PDSs Are Raising Student Achievement And
Engaging In Practical Professional
Development
Regina Holley, Pittsburgh Lincoln Elementary Technology Academy
Kevin Bivins, Jennifer Violi, Una Davoren, Alison Henry, and Lindsey Knab,
Pittsburgh Fulton Elementary School
Monte Tidwell, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
This presentation will address Question #1. The presentation will
describe a successful project that was collaboratively designed and that
engages student teachers, teachers, university instructors, and principals
in a data-driven, reflective process of continuously tailoring instruction to
students who benefit from more individualized instruction and attention.
While we will share data on advances in student achievement, we will
especially focus on the collaborative and professionalizing benefits that
have come out of this project.
The TIPping Point (Teacher-Intern-Professor):
A Preparation And Practice Triage At Work
Gwen Benson, Susan Ogletree, Dee Taylor, Bill Curlette, and August Dale,
Georgia State University
Qualyn McIntyre, Atlanta Public Schools
Karen Ross, L.O. Kimberly Elementary School
TIP is a research-based model created at Georgia State University
among PDS relationships (teacher practitioners, university faculty, and
teacher candidates). The TIP triage engages in research to meet the needs
of each person and to address student achievement of the P-12 classes for
intern placement. Find out how this model became a venue for PDS
professor research, authentic classroom inquiry, fertile ground for teacher
preparation, renewal for veteran cooperating teachers, a venue to engage
graduate assistants’ classroom skills, and the sharing of a genuine respect
and value for each others’ expertise. Presenters will share the structure at
the elementary and secondary partner school levels, how the model
prepared interns hired in full-time positions, the TIP research findings, and
the TIP expansion. See how the TIP model aligns with Cross Career
Learning Communities and brings novice and veteran teachers together as
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
full community participants (following teacher-friendly structured proto-
cols that work in TIP/CCLC professional learning community meetings).
Results come from real time facilitated meeting opportunities for teachers/
interns/professors, along with other cross career teachers to share and
solve day-to-day classroom challenges and successes. Find out what
teachers and professors find beneficial for teacher preparation, practice,
and university-teacher liaison reflection and relationships.
Thinking Outside The Box: Using Rounds And
Co-Teaching To Promote Professional
Development
Connie Bowman and Rebecca Aicher, University of Dayton
Historically there has been a disconnect between university pro-
grams and clinical experiences, even though research (Guyton, 1989;
McIntyre, 1984; and Giebelhaus & Bowman, 2002) has supported clinical
experiences as being crucial components for candidates in teacher educa-
tion programs. This disconnect has been between theory and practice. As
Darling-Hammond (2006) notes in Powerful Teacher Education, clinical
experiences need to be tied to the coursework, yet the traditional model of
front-loading theory with little or no application to practice is used in many
teacher education programs. With this approach, the candidate is not able
to analyze teaching and learning in order to ground the theory being
presented in the courses. Shulman (2005) further extends this research by
addressing signature pedagogies: the way professionals are trained for
their profession. Shulman maintains that professionals, regardless of their
profession, must be prepared to act, to perform, and to practice.
In order to accomplish this, two professional development compo-
nents have been added to our Clinical Practice Model. This includes
rounds from the medical model and co-teaching that align with research on
professional growth of pre-service and in-service teachers as they discuss
the “how to” of teaching by making connections between coursework
(theory) and field experiences (practice). The strategies of rounds and co-
teaching assist the university and its partners in implementing “act,
perform, practice” to our clinical field experience and professional devel-
opment embedded in the practice of both worlds. This engages all parties
in conversations about teaching and learning, best practices, and system-
atic professional development. These conversations presented qualita-
tive and quantitative data that was used to improve practice, empower
clinical educators, and develop a program that prepares candidates to
address the multiple demands and realities of teaching.
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Together, We Can: A Holonomous Partnership
Between The Masters Of Education In
Teaching Program And The Moanalua
Complex
Cristy Kessler, University of Hawaii
Caroline Wong and Gordon Nakamori, Moanalua Middle School
Kenton Wong, University Laboratory School
Devin Oshiro, Red Hill Elementary School
The Moanalua Complex/Masters of Education in Teaching Program
(MEdT) at the University of Hawaii has created and sustained a learning
community to reflect the concept of holonomy, described by Costa and
Garmston as a phenomenon with the dual characteristics of being both a
part and a whole at the same time. Holonomy looks at both our independent
and interdependent tendencies. A holonomous partnership seeks av-
enues of growth for every individual in the learning community so that
individuals become independent and self-actualizing while functioning
and growing interdependently.
This presentation will discuss two major components of our partner-
ship:
1. School Portrait: an open-ended assignment designed to focus
MEdT candidates’ attention on the culture, habits, and beliefs of our
partnership schools. The goal is to create a focused inquiry question;
collect data from faculty, administration, and/or students; and put together
a presentation of the findings and recommendations to be used for
professional development for in-service faculty.
2. Seminars as Professional Development Opportunities for In-
service/Pre-service Educators: MEdT on-site classes and seminars inte-
grate research and instructional practices which are the same as those that
actively engage the classroom teachers. MEdT students are grounded in
standards-based lesson planning as well as strategies to differentiate
instruction, address multiple intelligences, and integrate metacognitive
reflections to strengthen their learning. Assessments focus on critical
thinking, problem solving, and application to real-life situations, and may
involve service learning. Based on this model, pre-service teachers are able
to work collaboratively with in-service teachers and develop a shared
knowledge and language that focuses on improved teaching and student
learning.
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Transforming A University/School District
Partnership Into A Professional Development
School Model
Joseph Corriero, Lynn Romeo, Harvey Allen, and Kathleen Corriero,
Monmouth University
William O. George III and Jill A. Takacs, Hazlet Township Public Schools
Loretta Zimmer, Middle Road School
Interested in developing a Professional Development School? At-
tend this session and interact with university and school district faculty
as they share their experiences at turning an existing university/school
district partnership between a small university (Monmouth University)
and a 3300 student school district (Hazlet Township Public Schools) into
a formal PDS relationship. Addressing conference question # 1 (How does
professional development successfully engage constituent groups within
the PDS?), our panel will discuss how they used professional growth
opportunities as the stimulus for developing shared conceptions of
effective teaching and learning to create the basis for a “learning commu-
nity.” Viewing schools as “centers of inquiry” and clinical teaching
laboratories, the leadership team created a forum to forge professional ties
through the continuous, sustained professional development of pre- and
in-service teachers, administrators, parents, and university personnel in
order to promote standards-based instruction leading to enhanced stu-
dent learning. Examples of collaborative experiences the panel will discuss
include:
• student teaching seminars including weekly reflective exercises;
• Three-year mentoring program;
• faculty/parent workshops in unit planning, math, and literacy;
• creation of Hazlet’s Professional Development Council (includ-
ing university professors);
• program evaluation; and
• Hazlet administrators and faculty participating in university
programs.
This session will demonstrate how faculty from the school district
and university model promising and productive relationships as they work
as partners in a pre-K-16 setting to enhance the learning of children, pre-
and –in service teachers, administrators, and university faculty in re-
defined organizational roles.
Turning Learning Inside Out: Professional
Development In A PDS
Bernard Badiali and Rebecca West Burns, Penn State University
Donnan Stoicovy, Lindsi Ciuffetelli, and Paige Harris, Park Forest
Elementary School
As a result of the Professional Development School collaborative
between the State College Area School District (SCASD) and The Penn-
sylvania State University (PSU), professional development has become an
integral part of the everyday practices of teachers. Teachers continually
seek opportunities to further develop and hone their skills.
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In the summer of 2005, teachers at Park Forest Elementary School
(PFE) participated in a PDS course that has ultimately resulted in an
ongoing scientific, phenomenological study of our schoolyard since its
inception over three years ago. Two teacher inquiries have been written
and presented about the Schoolyard Project (SYP), with one addressing
student interest and learning and the other identifying curriculum integra-
tion needs. To address the blending of the two inquiry outcomes, a survey
of teachers was completed that underscored the need for professional
development to address teacher concerns. A professional development
plan was written and a grant proposal submitted and received to support
the teachers in this curriculum integration. Our goal was to take the current
curriculum and integrate it with the SYP to extend learning beyond the
boundaries of the classroom to another alternative, inviting, and engaging
environment.
Teacher volunteers were solicited with half of the faculty participat-
ing. Teachers have self selected themselves into project teams to address
their varying needs. Some common themes and strategies from groups
have been proposed that would not be possible without the PDS processes
and involvement.
Presenters will update participants about the professional develop-
ment project and its impact on student learning, teacher attitudes, and
professional development.
Unfolding Drama In The Classroom -
Developing Thinking And Learning Styles
Through The Use Of Opera
Tyra Tripp and Dollye T. James, Paradise Professional Development School
This session will discuss how a constituent group (mentor teacher,
teacher candidate, and school counselor) successfully engages in estab-
lishing behavioral norms and building a classroom community. Another
goal of this collaboration is to teach children to identify their learning styles
and multiple intelligences. By doing so, the children learn to become active
participants and to self-advocate in the educational process as they build
on their individual strengths. Drama will be used to integrate the content
area skills. Children will demonstrate their mastery of literacy, social
studies, math, and the arts by participating in a culminating, multi-
disciplinary theatrical production in the spring. The refinement of this
production allows opportunities for the children to apply their developing
higher order thinking skills.
This full-day, fully-inclusive, general education kindergarten class
at Paradise Professional Development School consists of 28 five-year-old
children. Of this group, 40% are English language learners. The use of
classroom community is a proactive measure to facilitate the development
of personal/social/academic skills for this at-risk population.
The presenters will provide concrete examples of how this process
is implemented in a primary classroom. Attendees will participate in
practical learning activities such as “What’s Your Learning Style?” and
“How Are You Smart?” and/or selected scenes from The Three Piggy
Opera by Carol Kaplan and Sandi Becker.
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Using Action Research Video Findings To
Institute Change And Improvement In A
Holistic PDS Partnership: A Room With Three
Views
Linda A. Catelli, and Clyde Payne, Dowling College
Valerie Jackson, Joan Carlino, and Gina Marie Petraglia, Belmont
Elementary Professional Development School
The purpose of the session is to present action research video
findings and the use of the findings to institute change and improvement
in a holistic Professional Development School partnership. The action
research studies were conducted by members of the partnership (i.e.,
supervising teachers, student researchers, and professors) and focus on
videotaped teaching performances of recent cohorts of teacher candi-
dates. Data and findings from the studies were used during this past
academic year to initiate and coordinate changes in aspects of the pre- and
in-service teacher education program and in the supervision of teacher
candidates. At last year’s PDS National Conference, we presented a
comparison of the PDS’s video research findings from earlier (1998) and
recent (2005/6) studies, along with a strategic model to initiate and monitor
change and improvement. For purposes of this year’s 2009 conference,
members of the PDS will present findings from recent action research video
studies and how the findings were used to institute coordinative change
in the PDS and its holistic school-college agenda for educational improve-
ment. From the perspective of (a) the college’s dean and director, (b) the
school’s principal, supervising and cooperating teachers, and (c) the
teacher candidates and student researchers, each presenter will identify
findings and how they used the findings, from their respective positions,
to make changes in the PDS partnership. The session contributes to
Essential 5 and is intended to promote dialogue among PDS practitioners,
researchers, students, teacher educators, and administrators regarding
how to use the results of deliberate investigations to improve aspects of
a PDS partnership.
Using University-School Partnerships To
Enhance Your Professional Development: A
Different Look
Quantina T. Haggwood and Ulanda James, University of South Carolina
The primary goal of the Diverse Pathways Teaching Project is to
develop a highly qualified teaching force. One strategy utilized to accom-
plish this goal is to use a university-school partnership to affect teacher
quality. Improving teacher quality will enhance the clinical experiences of
interns. Through a university-school partnership, the project provides
sustained professional development to three partner schools. A univer-
sity professor has been assigned to each school based on the professors’
expertise and the schools’ needs. Observations, professional study groups,
and model lessons are some of the strategies implemented to provide
relevant professional development and teacher support.
The benefits for interns and practicum students are two-fold. The
students benefit from having access to research-based professional
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development, with the opportunity to implement strategies learned imme-
diately. Implementation with the support of a university professor and
coaching teacher is an important advantage of this model. The interns also
benefit from the increased knowledge of the coaching teachers, as well as
their increased use of research-based instructional strategies. This pre-
sentation will focus on the implementation of this model and the benefits
schools can expect.
We Believe . . . In The “PD” In Professional
Development Schools!
Rebecca Libler and Brad Balch, Indiana State University
Holly Pies, Vigo County School Corporation
Kathleen Sharp, Indianapolis Public Schools
First established in 1992, the Indiana State University PDS Partner-
ship is a collaboration between the university and 19 schools in five school
districts. From its very inception, the partnership has focused on renewal,
professional growth, and continuing education of all participants as a
means to create optimal learning environments for pre-service teachers
and p-12 students. Our formal agreements address monetary support for
professional development coming from both school district and university
coffers. We also seek grant resources for added professional development
opportunities. This session will provide participants with overviews of 15
different sustainable strategies/models currently in place for successfully
engaging teachers, principals, aspiring principals, university faculty, and
pre-service teachers within the ISU/PDS Partnership in professional
development. Data on effectiveness of many of the strategies will also be
provided.
Welcoming And Orienting Interns To PDS: A
Collection Of Ideas From A School District And
University Partnership
Nancy Smith and Amy Welch, Emporia State University
The Emporia State University/Olathe School District PDS partner-
ship is in its 16th year. Our PDS site has grown to include 53 interns placed
in 8 elementary schools. Interns spend an entire school year in a PDS. One
of the strengths of this nationally recognized partnership is the profes-
sional development provided to interns and mentors. In this presentation,
we would like to share how district and university personnel have worked
collaboratively to plan experiences that prepare interns to successfully
work in the school district, how we have utilized intern and mentor
feedback, and how we support interns and mentors as they work together.
We will share specific information about the following professional
development activities:
• Intern preparation before arrival We have developed several
events to help get to know and orient the interns before they arrive
in the school district. We will share our interview/placement
process, district welcome event, and pre-orientation topics.
• August Training The district and the university partner to
provide a week of training and orientation for both mentors and
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interns. The interns attend district training offered for new
teachers and sessions specifically designed for them. The univer-
sity offers training for both new and veteran mentors and for
interns.
• Ongoing Training The interns attend monthly training offered for
new teachers in the district. They also attend weekly university
seminars. Mentors and interns have separate monthly meetings
with university coordinators.
What It Means To Be A Professional
Development School: Moving Forward With
What We Believe
Mary Lou DiPillo, Gail Saunders-Smith, Betty Greene, and Nicole Storey,
Youngstown State University
Kathie Carlile, Liberty Local Schools
Pam McCurdy, E.J. Blott Elementary School
The Youngstown State University and Liberty Local School District
partnership is celebrating its third year of collaboration. The liaison
continues to grow and strengthen, especially in professional develop-
ment. The center point of the relationship concerned building excellence
in teacher candidates by ensuring that those who teach and mentor them
are afforded powerful, reciprocal opportunities for growth.
The 2008-2009 school year launched an initiative whereby teacher
candidates experience a full-year placement with the same teacher, pre-
clinical through student teaching. Teacher candidates participate in the
opening and closing of a classroom and all that is involved, from curriculum
through management. During the course of the school year, collaborative
professional development opportunities are offered that involve Liberty
teachers and YSU teacher candidates and faculty.
This session, featuring a teacher and her teacher candidate, will
highlight the various types of professional development events currently
in place and will preview future opportunities. Participants will learn:
• the steps involved in establishing a continuous, pre-clinical
through student teaching, arrangement;
• the steps involved in designing and producing media tools such
as DVDs and websites for use in professional development; and
• ways to secure shared opportunities for professional develop-
ment for school and university faculty and teacher candidates.
Why New Teachers Are Leaving: Novice
Teachers Need Support
Ted Price, West Virginia University
Dorothy Stafford, Orange County Department of Education
Far too many teachers leave the profession after a difficult first or
second year of teaching leading to a shortage of teachers, especially
secondary credentialed teachers in English, math, science, and special
education. Clearly, these novice teachers need support. Not only do they
need support, they need to be supported and mentored differently based
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on their age and career experiences. Induction, in-servicing, training, and/
or mentoring should be differentiated to meet professional growth activi-
ties that are sensitive to the two types of novice teachers: first-career and
second-career teachers. Secondary teachers’ maturity, prior experiences,
and life stage are significant. Specifically, at the secondary level, second-
career teachers valued formative assessment activities along with mentor
support more than secondary first-career teachers. But even with acknowl-
edged specific supports, both groups insisted that support of some type
was vital to success, and maybe, more importantly, vital to new folks
remaining in their chosen teaching profession.
Win-Win Collaborations Between PDS School
And University Personnel
Elizabeth Powers-Costello, University of South Carolina
Parthenia Satterwhite, Mary Jade Haney, and Tracee Walker, Horrell Hill
Elementary School
The University of South Carolina has enjoyed a close collaboration
with Horrell Hill Elementary School in Columbia, South Carolina, for almost
two decades. Over the years, Horrell Hill not only has become an extremely
successful Professional Development School but also has become an
active part of the Professional Development School Network by actively
participating locally and nationally at conferences such as the PDS
National Conference. This school serves as role model for providing
exemplary opportunities for professional growth and development for pre-
service teachers, in-service teachers, school administrators, and univer-
sity faculty alike. The presenters, serving in a variety of roles in either or
both settings, present a broad array of collaborative projects between both
institutions, such as curriculum workshops, teacher study and support
groups (e.g. a first year teacher critical reflection group), research on
teaching and pedagogy, student intern mentorship, and innovative
coursework for pre-service undergraduates (e.g. social studies buddies
that pair pre-service undergraduates and elementary students to work on
shared learning activities). The participants also share insights gained as
well as practical advice for engaging in win-win type collaborations that
enhance professional development for personnel in both settings. This
presentation provides useful insights into Question #1 (How does profes-
sional development successfully engage constituent groups within the
PDS?) because it directly addresses how all constituents work together for
a mutually beneficially PDS relationship.
Working Together To Make It Work
Carolyn Kazemi, Woodlawn Elementary School
Vicki Fagliarone Taylor, Ashlawn Elementary School
Jean Massie, Dogwood Elementary School
Pamela Klobukowski, Marymount University
This presentation will address Question 1 (How does professional
development successfully engage constituent groups within the PDS?) by
describing how separate PDS partnerships between Marymount Univer-
sity (a private institution based in Arlington, Virginia) and two diverse, yet
varied in size, Northern Virginia public school systems, share university
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and school system resources with interns, mentor teachers, coordinators,
and university faculty. The collaboration among the two school systems,
the university, and 15 public schools, provides preparation for graduate-
level interns to become effective, confident, highly sought after teachers,
specifically groomed to be hired by their respective school systems, and
encourages professional growth and development for all stakeholders.
The triad, consisting of Marymount University, Arlington Public
Schools, and Fairfax County Public Schools, plans and shares resources
for intern recruitment, mentor training, intern coaching, and adjunct
teaching. Personnel across the partnerships join together for state and
national level conference presentations/attendance, long-range planning,
and program evaluation. All stakeholders directly benefit from common
training and shared professional knowledge that comes from the collabo-
ration.
The presenters will offer examples of how frequent collaboration
between the university and the personnel of its two separate PDS school
systems enhances the partnership’s ability to operate independently of
each other to prepare interns as future teachers trained in the county-
specific initiatives of each separate school district.
You Learn From Me, I Learn From You: A PDS
Partnership Practices Professional Preparation
And Professional Development
Debbie Williams, Dave Gustavson, Ruth Ray, Candi Bagley, Ashley Brown,
and Chris McCurry, Louisiana State University in Shreveport
Heather Rose-Brian, Midway Elementary Professional Development School
For the past five years a partnership between LSU-Shreveport and
the Midway Elementary PDS (MEPDS) community has embraced teacher
candidates by supporting learning from and with each other. Each semes-
ter, including summer terms, teacher candidates participate in one hour
small-group tutorial sessions for grades 3-5 at MEPDS. The project began
as an opportunity for teacher candidates to experience the instructional
format (pre-testing, instruction, post-testing) to support learning of low
achieving students enrolled in MEPDS. It has become institutionalized
over the past three years as a project to meet the needs of students working
one-half to two levels below grade level. Teacher candidates administer a
battery of assessments to determine strengths and weaknesses in reading
and writing literacy. Literacy lessons are modeled during university class
sessions held on-site. Teacher candidates prepare and teach lesson plans
to meet the students’ appropriate reading levels, using a variety of
materials and resources, including trade books, basal materials, and pair-
it texts. Post-testing provides the data supporting change over time in
student learning. Teacher candidates attend grade level meetings, dis-
cussing the best way to meet the needs of low achieving students at
MEPDS.
Parallel to this project are professional development sessions sup-
porting instructional techniques and reading approaches the teacher
candidates were applying in tutorial sessions. Teachers are able to support
teacher candidates in new learning and, in turn, teacher candidates are able
to support classroom instructional techniques. Project timeline and results
will be presented using pre- and post-test data, case studies, anecdotal
notes, and reflections.
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Q UESTION #2: H OW IS BEST PRACTICE
DEFINED , IMPLEMENTED , AND SHARED
WITHIN AND BEYOND THE PDS?
A Cultural Experience: The Sharing Of
Literature Through Best Practices
Jennifer Russell, University of St. Francis
The University of St. Francis, along with Parks Cultural Studies
Academy, are members of the Joliet Professional Development School
Partnership and are collaborating to strengthen the teacher preparation
programs in the areas of social sciences and fine arts. Parks, a dual language
school, submerses the students in yearly cultural themes to be studied in
all subject areas. USF candidates, while enrolled in social studies and
science methods, have an opportunity to work with this diverse group of
students.
Candidates select a children’s literature book based on one of the
yearly cultural themes that is suitable for 2nd or 3rd grade students.
Candidates prepare a best practices lesson to share a book that is aligned
with the Illinois Teaching Standards. Teacher candidates are then encour-
aged to create an activity that:
• Incorporates the use of best practices in social studies/geogra-
phy/fine arts into the lesson
• Encourages some type of hands-on activity
• Has the students develop a better sense of the culture
• Encourages the students to learn more about that particular
culture
A key feature is that students from Parks come to participate in the
lessons at the USF campus, which provides them with an increased level
of college awareness.
The conference presentation will focus on sharing the best practices
lessons and activities created by the candidates that include the continued
observation by in-service teachers at Parks. Presenters will also share exit
interviews from Parks students, Parks teachers, and USF candidates as to
the effect this experience has.
A New Definition Of Professional Development
Schools: Taking The University To The School
Van Cooley, Walter Burt, and Mark Rainey, Western Michigan University
One of the challenges facing educational leaders is the need to re-
engineer schools. No Child Left Behind and other reform initiatives have
forced leaders to look beyond district professional development and seek
assistance from universities. Professional Development Schools can play
a critical function in reform. To expand the PDS role, leaders must build a
bridge between PK-12 and universities. This expansion of PDS strength-
ens the undergraduate programs, graduate programs, and helps to provide
leaders (teachers and administrators) the opportunity to increase student
learning.
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The focus of this presentation is on Milwood Magnet School for
Science, Research, and Technology. The school had been dissolved, with
the principal removed and most of the teachers reassigned. University
professors collaborated with teachers and administrators to create a
learning community. Through a graduate class sponsored by the univer-
sity and planned with district leaders, teachers worked in groups to identify
curriculum shortcomings and address discipline, parenting issues, inter-
nal and external communications, after-school student programs, and
operational procedure. In addressing these issues, teachers developed
problem statements, used data to define the extent of the problem, and
created realistic solutions to bring about meaningful change. Teacher and
administrator collaboration resulted in improved discipline, better commu-
nication between teachers, improved communication between parents,
and the emergence of teacher leaders.
PDSs have the opportunity to move beyond the traditional frame-
work. Placing novice teachers in dysfunctional schools inhibits teaching
and student learning. Expansion of the PDS movement to serve veteran
teachers and administrators provides the best opportunity to improve
education.
A Study Of Student Achievement And
Professional Development Within A
Professional Development School Setting
Debbie Williams, Yong Dai, and Cay Evans, Louisiana State University in
Shreveport
Brandi Rivers, Walnut Hill Elementary-Middle School
Keitha Rogers, Southern Arkansas University
The longitudinal quasi-experimental study examined the relation-
ship between student achievement and teacher professional development
to determine if there was a correlation between professional development
received and student achievement. Questions guiding the research were:
(a) Is there a correlation between the professional development teachers
received and student achievement within a Professional Development
School setting? and (b) What are the levels of student growth between pre-
test and posttest on a standardized instrument?
Participants in the study were twelve students from kindergarten
through fifth grade enrolled continuously in an urban elementary school
following the Professional Development School model. Of the twelve
students (ten females, two males) participating in the study for the five year
period, all were African-American. The researcher collected data from a
standardized assessment administered as a pre-and posttest annually.
Data from selected subtests was utilized for the study. Test data was
analyzed using a correlated t-test. Percentile correlation, mastery level, and
test items were summarized to determine student achievement.
Professional development data was collected based on the number
of hours required by each teacher and the content of the professional
development meetings. Teacher accountability was studied to assess
implementation of resources in classroom practice. The transfer of profes-
sional development into the classroom was expected to increase student
achievement as evidenced by pre-and posttest data.
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Matrices displaying data from all sources were created and used to
identify patterns correlating professional development and student achieve-
ment. Findings of the study have implications for classroom practice,
student achievement, and professional development.
A Summer Authors’ Institute: Sharing Within
And Beyond
Katherine M. Kapustka, Sharon J. Damore, Barbara Rieckhoff, and Catherine
Larsen, DePaul University
Rachel Gemo, Saint Benedict Elementary School
Sara Duffy, Louisa May Alcott School
Creating and supporting P-12 educational leaders who serve the
profession by providing exemplary educational experiences for their P-12
students and mentoring pre-service and early career teachers is of critical
importance in 21st century P-12 and university-based education. This
session, led by university faculty, a school administrator, and a first grade
teacher, will explore how a summer “Authors’ Institute” for PDS educators
served as an exciting opportunity for these teachers and administrators to
develop their leadership skills by participating in a writing institute that
asked them to identify topics and venues for publishing and research,
write, revise, and reflect on the impact of the process on both classroom
practices and the mentoring of pre-service and early career teachers.
While one of the Nine Essentials for PDSs is “engagement in and
public sharing of the results of deliberate investigations of practice by
respective participants,” often the sharing of results is left to tenure-track
faculty involved with PDSs for whom publication is a key component of
their work. While P-12 educators are intimately connected with the daily
work of PDSs and are ultimately responsible for the academic achievement
of their P-12 students, the time and support necessary to prepare written
pieces for publication are difficult to find. The summer authors’ institute
described here allowed for the creation of a professional learning commu-
nity where PDS educators united around the common goals of identifying
best practices in their PDS network and sharing these best practices
through manuscripts intended for publication.
A Whole School Inquiry Into Democracy:
Solving The Lunchroom Dilemma
Bernard Badiali, Penn State University
Donnan Stoicovy, Amy Hawbaker, and Gail Romig, Park Forest Elementary
School
Inquiry takes many forms in our PDS, ranging from intern to teacher
to principal inquiries. It shapes the conversations that we have with one
another. Inquiry has become a regular embedded practice in our school.
This presentation will demonstrate how a principal shared her vision of the
school lunchroom. Then, with the support of students, staff, and faculty,
made it into a more pleasant place for everyone through an all-school
inquiry.
Using protocols to initiate conversations with faculty, staff, and
students, each contributed the pieces necessary for a total school commit-
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ment to improving a lunchroom. Students learned the principles and
practices essential in a democracy to help shape and develop a vision into
a reality. This all-school inquiry took shape in classrooms, all-school
gatherings, and small group discussions bringing the school to consensus
and ultimately improving the school’s lunchroom. Within the whole
process, students found that they had a voice in their school and how to
use it responsibly. All members of the school community realize that
coming together to solve problems is not only feasible but the only
conscious way to make a difference.
This presentation will share processes and procedures that empow-
ered success in this school. Through the best practice of inquiry, all school
community members came together to accomplish something with pride,
ultimately realizing that other school problems/issues may be resolved in
a similar manner. Participants will walk away with the knowledge that
inquiry mixed with a strong sense of community will accomplish anything.
Aligning NCATE, NCLB And The Nine
Essentials Of A PDS
Pam Campbell and Cyndi Giorgis, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Ruth Devlin and Maureen Stout, Paradise Professional Development School
Hilary Jones and Sue Steaffens, Dean Petersen Professional Development
School
Eva White, Clark County School District
Paradise and Petersen Professional Development Schools, located
in Las Vegas, Nevada, are committed to enhancing teacher preparation,
professional development, and research, with the ultimate purpose being
improved student achievement. Both are considered high-needs schools
with high rates of student transience, poverty, and English Language
Learners. Addressing the diverse needs of students under these circum-
stances, while simultaneously addressing the requirements of No Child
Left Behind, the NCATE Assessment Standards for PDSs, and the Nine
Essentials of a PDS is a challenge, but one to which Paradise and Petersen
are committed.
In this session, presenters will share strategies and activities that are
being implemented in each PDS to integrate the Nine Essential PDS
Practices into addressing and aligning NCATE Assessment Standards for
a PDS and the requirements of NCLB. These include ongoing NCATE self-
assessments, collaborative strategic planning and budget development,
implementation of research-based programs/practices, and engaging par-
ents and the wider UNLV and Las Vegas Community. These practices are
disseminated through collaborative professional development, research,
and scholarship activities, in addition to PDS websites, newsletters,
brochures, and outreach to the media.
Opportunities for discussion and conversation among presenters
and participants will be provided and encouraged.
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Arts Alive: A Network-Wide Arts Collaboration
Catherine Larsen, DePaul University
Music, drama, dance, and the visual arts come together in a very
public way in this seven school PDS collaborative. This session describes
the evolution of a team of PDS arts teachers providing improved and
enhanced educational opportunities for P-12 students.
One of the nine essentials of a PDS as defined by NAPDS describes
“ongoing and reciprocal professional development for all participants,
guided by need.” Unfortunately, the type of professional development
often provided by a PDS tends to focus primarily on curricular areas
considered by some educators to be mainstream, excluding many impor-
tant areas of education for P-12 students. One such curricula area that is
critical to the development of the whole child is the arts, yet professional
development opportunities in the arts are not often available.
A key component of many PDSs has been the development and
ongoing support of professional communities of practice. In an unusual
take on this hallmark of effective professional development, arts educators
from a PDS network of public and private schools in a large urban area
created their own study group. Initial sharing of existing resources and
effective practices led to regular ongoing professional development, peer
observations, increased reflective practice, leadership within and across
network schools, development of conference presentations locally and
nationally, and, ultimately, a network-wide arts exhibit on the university
campus. This session documents the events leading up to this significant
public display representing pre-K-12 students and their multiple cultural
perspectives and the sharing of best practices within and outside the
network that resulted.
Best Practice: Examining And Reflecting On
Student Learning
Tenna Gray and Kathy Humphries, Capital High School
Katherine M. Kress, Stonewall Jackson Middle School
Brenda Wilson, West Virginia State University
The history of inequity of educational outcomes in the U.S. is part
of the impetus toward the current emphasis on accountability in P-12
education. The renewed interest in accountability for P-12 learning has
sparked interest in accountability at all levels of education, including
monitoring of teacher education programs and their public school partner-
ships. This new emphasis encourages programs that prepare teachers to
find answers to the question, “How do we know that teacher candidates
have a positive effect on P-12 student learning?” This presentation
showcases a project that helps the institution answer that question and
includes information that will assist other teacher education programs with
implementing such a program.
Presenters will discuss this project, which is a simplified action
research study that undergraduates complete during their student teach-
ing semester. With the help of cooperating teachers and college supervi-
sors, teacher candidates examine and reflect on the effect of their teaching
on students. Teacher candidates develop an instructional unit, design and
administer assessments, and modify instruction based on the results of
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assessments. Projects are evaluated on both the degree of improvement
of student achievement and whether the documents give evidence of data-
based decision making. Presenters from the IHE and public schools will
give their perspectives on the project and their perceptions of the effect
it has had on improving candidates’ teaching skills and on increasing
communication among stakeholders.
Best Practice Strategies Across The
Curriculum
Larry Bice, Michele Vosberg, Joyce Meier, and Nancy Spalla, Clarke College
The Professional Development School offers a unique opportunity
for college pre-service teachers, classroom teachers, and college profes-
sors to practice and share in teaching and learning with best practice
strategies. Best practice strategies are research-based strategies that meet
the needs of students with diverse learning styles and that require
students to be metacognitive learners.
In this dynamic, interactive presentation we will share our best, easy-
to-use, and effecting learning strategies such as ABC Charts, Math
Journals, Readers’ Theatre, 3-2-1 Strategy, and Bio Poems. We will
demonstrate examples from math, science, social studies, and language
arts and share ideas for how to use these strategies in any subject area and
with any grade level. If you are looking for ideas for Monday morning this
session is for you.
Blazing New Trails
Paula Stephens, Sally Short, Joanna Supler, and Laura Gisler, Meadowfield
Elementary School
Through our University of South Carolina PDS partnership research
project, we identified the Paideia instructional model, which provides a
framework for incorporating best practices school-wide. We will share how
our Paideia adventure transformed instructional best practices at
Meadowfield.
Paideia is a philosophy of education that encompasses academic
equity and rigor, democratic participation, and specific teaching practices.
Three primary goals of a Paideia school are to prepare every student to earn
a good living, participate actively in democratic self-governance, and be
a lifelong learner. To achieve these goals, Paideia teachers stress increas-
ing self reliance and self discipline.
The Paideia model incorporates three complementary teaching
techniques: 1) direct instruction for factual knowledge, 2) academic coach-
ing for skill development and 3) seminar discussions for deeper under-
standing of ideas and values. Paideia classrooms feature units of study,
called coached projects, that integrate curriculum across subject areas.
Paideia schools successfully increase students’ ability to solve problems,
work collaboratively, think conceptually and coherently about a range of
subjects, and present ideas orally and in writing.
Attendees of our presentation will receive a packet of information
containing an overview of the Paideia instructional model that highlights
benchmarks from inception to full program implementation. Examples of
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
coached projects and seminar texts will be shared, and teachers will tell the
story of their transformation from interns in our Meadowfield Professional
Development School to Meadowfield Paideia teachers.
Broadening The Literacy Spectrum: Modeling
Best Practice In A PDS Cohort
Marilyn J. Narey, East Stroudsburg University
Dora Tartar, Pleasant Valley School District
Best practices in literacy instruction focus upon developing the
learner’s ability to make meaning of diverse texts (print, film, Internet).
Although these texts include verbal and visual elements, teacher educa-
tion programs tend to only prepare the pre-service teacher for verbal
literacy development. Rarely is there an attempt to explicitly connect verbal
and visual meaning making processes applicable to multimodal texts. As
a result, most classroom teachers enter the field unable to go beyond telling
learners to look at illustrations to predict the storyline of a book or to draw
a picture of a story event. This deficiency has become increasingly
problematic over the past decades with the explosion of multimodal texts
encountered in daily life that have the potential to influence thought and
action. Without the means to develop both visual and verbal literacy,
teachers cannot adequately prepare learners to critically and effectively
make meaning within this multimodal culture.
As one component of our instruction targeted to addressing this
deficiency, we have developed the Poetry Book Project in order to model
basic interconnectivity among visual and verbal meaning making pro-
cesses to our PDS cohort students. In this conference presentation we
describe our co-taught verbal/visual literacy session at the university,
provide examples of students’ completed poetry books, explain our
assessment tool and strategies, and discuss the subsequent impact of the
project on the teachers and students at the PDS partner school as the
university students use their poetry books in the classroom and share them
with the broader PDS community.
Building Bridges For English Language
Learners With Academic Vocabulary
Instruction
Angela Angers, April Hoffman, Tiffany Nay, and Shannon Puglisi, Dean
Petersen Professional Development School
With an English Language Learner population of over 60%, Petersen
Professional Development School looked to the research of Robert J.
Marzano to best meet the learning needs of our students. Using Building
Academic Vocabulary: Teacher’s Manual (Marzano & Pickering, 2005) as
our cornerstone and our extremely enthusiastic ELL strategist, our staff
worked together to create an implementation plan for this best practice. We
will discuss how these strategies are shared with various constituents.
In this interactive presentation, you can expect to go home with lots
of great ideas to take and implement right away. Presenters will share how
we have worked to build academic vocabulary in various grade levels (K-
5) and with many different ability levels. Activities range from choosing
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terms from an academic vocabulary word list, to teaching the selected
terms, and finally reviewing terms with highly motivating games and
activities!
Building On Best Practice In An Urban PDS:
Focusing On Student Learning
Jill Miels, Ball State University
Karen Boatright, Jennifer Nichols, Mary Hendricks, and Jo Burnside,
Rhoades Elementary School
Ball State University has a long history of working successfully with
schools throughout the state of Indiana to prepare future teachers. The
practices and procedures associated with the Professional Development
Schools Network at Ball State University have been institutionalized and
recognized for a process of true collaboration with its individual partners,
as well as serving as a role model for other institutions. After eleven years
of working in the Professional Development Schools arena, there is much
to be learned from both the larger Network and from individual school
stories.
This session will include an examination of the activities defined and
developed to provide professional development for in-service teachers
and continual growth for pre-service teachers and for 750 PK-6 students
in one urban elementary PDS. The presentation group represents constitu-
ents from all PDS stakeholders who will describe how certain ideas have
developed into ongoing work in the school. Presenters will discus such
topics as:
• Use of data and research to drive instruction
• Additional tutoring for struggling students
• Variety in grade level placements for pre-service teachers
• School-wide action research
• Expanding use of technology in teaching and in supervision
• Dissemination of findings beyond the school
The collaboration and planning processes that occur before project
implementation will be presented along with the integration of PDS work
and NCLB mandates.
Bullying In Schools: Tips For Supporting PDS
Schools And Teachers In Minimizing Issues
Related To Bullying
Margaret Kernen, Jerri Saltz, and Anne Varian, University of Akron
School districts across the country are increasingly struggling with
problems related to bullying. The Center for Disease Control reports that
10% of students regularly miss school because of fear from unsafe learning
environments. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that,
in the 2005-06 school year, 86% of public schools reported that one or more
serious violent incidents had occurred. This 2007 report also provides
statistics which reveal that, in 2005, 24% of public schools described
bullying as a daily or weekly problem and 28% of students ages 12-14
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
reported that they had been bullied at school. During the 2003-2004 school
year, 10% of teachers in city schools reported that they had been threat-
ened with injury or had been physically attacked. The occurrence of
aggression at this level challenges all members of the school community
(students, teachers, administrators, and staff) to develop and maintain a
safe and productive learning environment. Since 2007, The University of
Akron Student Teaching Office has been providing Conflict Resolution
Education to teachers and student teachers working in our PDS schools
through the program Conflict Resolution Education in Teacher Education
(CRETE). Among the four highly interactive training days is one specifi-
cally devoted to understanding, preventing, and effectively responding to
bullying in schools. This session will share some of the information and
strategies presented to participants during the training.
Closing The Achievement Gap: The Effects Of
Small Group Instruction On The Literacy And
Mathematics Achievement Of Urban PDS
Students
Barbara Purdum-Cassidy, Baylor University
Bill Shepard, Bettye Keathley, and Patricia Morgan, Mountainview
Elementary School
NCATE 2000 Standards require evidence to demonstrate that teacher
candidates have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to
positively impact P-12 student learning. The purpose of this session is to
describe the results of a study designed to examine the effectiveness of
focused, small-group instruction on elementary students’ literacy and
mathematics achievement in an urban PDS. Specifically this presentation
will:
• Describe the small group tutoring model developed as part of the
collaboration between PDS mentor teachers and the university
supervisor
• Share the research design
• Share results related to student achievement and candidate
instructional practices
• Describe the impact on the local partnership
• Analyze and discuss transferability to other institutions
Collaborating On Researched Best Practice:
Sustaining A Twenty-Year Partnership
Donna Cole, Tracey Kramer, Ron L. McDermott , and Nimisha Patel, Wright
State University
This presentation highlights a collaboration effort between a select,
mid-size university and its twenty-year partner P-12 school district. Two
conference factors are merged in this proposal. First, this partnership has
been sustained for over two decades as a result of the constant quest to
research best practices and infuse the agreed upon practices into each
partners’ work. The central project being addressed currently is an
endeavor to enhance students’ learning outcomes in the partner school via
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co-teaching. One could use the foundational base of sustainability (Fullan,
2005) to analyze capacity building and both short term and long term results
within teacher education programs. All partners must address the moral
commitment of public service and a vision aligned with changing contexts
at all levels. Key factors used to continue momentum within a seasoned
partnership will be analyzed. A brief overview of changes in significant
stakeholders (from lead administrators to educators) will be presented. The
strategies implemented to sustain the partnership will be the focus of the
interactive dialogue between the presenters and the participants. The
backgrounds of the presenters are a major factor in telling the story: a full
professor (now field director), a lead administrator from the select district
(now partnership coordinator) and a classroom educator (now district
gifted coordinator) will explain the various levels of sustainability neces-
sary to insure a viable, continuing partnership.
The current researched best-practice selected by Wright State
University, in partnership with Fairborn City Schools, is co-teaching.
Building on the excellent work of St. Cloud University, the partnership has
attended St. Cloud workshops, examined their research findings, and
brought a specialist from St. Cloud to the PDS to provide leadership in
infusing the practice, both at the PK-12 level and in teacher preparation.
Building a concrete plan for sustainability through personnel changes,
program changes, and accountability changes is the goal for this partner-
ship endeavor. Being able to share current successes and challenges will
impact similar partnerships throughout the country. A major goal is to
explain how a policy for promoting a culture of sustainability in Colleges
of Education and their partners (Arts and Sciences and pK-12 schools)
increases student achievement in both institutions.
Collaboration And Best Practice: Looking
Inside The PDS To Enhance All Student
Learning
Marcy Keifer Kennedy and Grace Essex, Ohio University
Michelle Chapman, Chauncey Elementary School
Janet Idleman, The Plains Elementary School
The purpose of this presentation is to share how “best practice” is
defined and implemented by PDS partnerships at Ohio University.
Presenters will discuss the definition of “best practice” and the
rationale for having pre-service teachers complete a year of work with a
PDS partnership. Presenters will then discuss the key components to
effectively implementing the partnership model.
Examples to be shared include collaborative efforts between the
university and the Professional Development Schools to implement mutu-
ally beneficial programming. Before each academic quarter begins, meth-
ods instructors, faculty coordinators, and teacher liaisons in each of the
Professional Development Schools come together to share and discuss
course expectations for the upcoming courses and how those expectations
can best be met in each of the PDS classrooms. The goal of each meeting
is to not only share information regarding course content but to also share
how pre-service teachers can best incorporate their activities into the
mission of helping to support the learning and development of the children
in their PDS classrooms.
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Other programming to be shared ranges from providing individual
support to children through assessment of learning needs and develop-
ment of intervention plans to the planning and implementation of an
Integrated Methods Teaching Day at the end of each academic quarter.
The presentation will conclude with questions and answers regarding how
best practice is implemented and shared in the PDS programs at Ohio
University.
Creative Ways To Provide Professional
Development
Annette M. Zito and Veronica McCauley, Farmersville Elementary School
Judith A. Duffield, Lehigh University
What are the professional development needs of our faculty? How
do we address them? These are two key questions we will focus on in our
session. Determining the needs of our faculty is done through a wish list
of things each teacher feels are important issues that need to be addressed.
This is collected at the end of each school year and combined with the
district and school goals defined by assessments and issues related to
student achievement. At the end of each meeting, feedback is collected on
needs through the use of exit slips. Learning Walks provide feedback from
those outside the school on things that the school is doing well and those
that need improving. Additional surveys are regularly conducted to
determine professional development needs, particularly when deciding if
the need is related to everyone or to sub-groups of teachers.
Professional development is addressed in multiple ways. We con-
duct most school business electronically, saving faculty meetings for
professional development and related team planning. We have district in-
service days and before-school meetings devoted to professional devel-
opment. We also hold a summer institute the week before school starts. We
have used substitutes and teaching interns to release teachers for short
blocks of time during the day to receive intensive in-service on technol-
ogy-related skills.
This session will provide examples of the types of professional
development opportunities we make available, how resources from the
school district and university play a part, and how other schools might
design similar opportunities in their partnerships.
Data That Delivers: School-Wide And
University Collaboration
Rebecca Panagos, Leah Shipley, and Jenel Darrow, Lindenwood University
Melvin Bishop and Melissa Armbruster, Harris Elementary School
For the past four years, one university professor has held elementary
reading methods classes at local elementary schools. In exchange for the
principals’ and teachers’ support, the university professor provides in-
services and offers graduate workshop credit to the K-4 teachers. Previ-
ously, the university professor and partner coordinator delivered profes-
sional development offerings to all teachers through in-service format
before school or on early release days, coordinating with the principal and
literacy coach. Determination of topics resulted from in-service needs
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evidenced through state mandated testing or new literacy curricular
programs introduced to the teachers. With a new initiative utilizing a site-
based, building-designed Pyramid of Interventions, university students
and the professor collaboratively work on the grade level teams to collect
and analyze data and teach a pyramid of interventions to the K-4 grade level
students as prescribed by the data teams. Data teams and K-4 teachers
receive on-going professional development based around individual
student and class data analysis. University students receive in-depth
training on best practices for literacy assessment and early interventions.
Not only does the collaborative partnership maintain a quid pro quo
agreement with no monies exchanged, but the new Pyramid of Interven-
tions Initiative began and operates on a shoe-string budget.
Data-Driven Math Interventions Through
School, University, And Family Partnerships
Karen Callender and Margaret Denny, Louisiana State University
Toni Peters, Families Helping Families of Greater Baton Rouge
David Strauss and Joni Nabors, West Baton Rouge Parish Schools
Michelle Kauffman and Margaret Pelham, Port Allen Elementary School
The strong family component coupled with the use of data-driven
math interventions for making decisions and leading instructional plan-
ning make the Louisiana State University-West Baton Rouge District
Special Education Professional Development Schools a unique partner-
ship. Participants in this session will learn how university teacher candi-
dates and family partners in a rural Louisiana school district PDS play a role
in providing math interventions for K-3 students. The presenters will
discuss Response to Intervention (RTI) and describe how the AIMSweb
software program assists in identifying students for targeted assistance
and how the system provides benchmarking, progress monitoring probes,
and assessments. The tutoring program which involves university teacher
candidates and the Families Helping Families program that work in con-
junction with this intervention system will be highlighted. The presenters
will show samples of data (district, school, grade, classroom, and indi-
vidual) and describe how it is used to make data-driven decisions.
Dedication And Professionalism With
“Generation Me”
Celeste Granthum, Michelle Tharpe, Melinda Walters, Lynne Mills, Carolyn
Corliss, Brooklyn Middleton, and Lakayla Johnson, Auburn University
Montgomery
In order for best practices to be implemented in Professional Devel-
opment Schools, the partnership between the PDS schools and the
university must be a functional one. Anything which can strain that
relationship must be recognized and dealt with. In the Auburn University
Montgomery Mentor Teacher Project, teachers in PDSs in Autauga,
Chilton, Elmore, and Montgomery County schools and Alex City, Auburn,
and Tallassee City Schools assume the role of both cooperating teacher
and university supervisor with their interns. While this program has been
generally very successful, one area of concern has been the generation gap
between veteran educators and “Generation Me” interns. The vast differ-
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ence in perceptions about what professionalism and dedication entail can
sometimes lead to dissention between the intern and the mentor teacher,
resulting in strained relationships between the school and the university.
When this occurs, the viability of the partnership is jeopardized. Present-
ers in this session will share how the university utilizes the interns’ seminar
class to prevent conflict. Input from mentor teachers is used to structure
class discussion so that the “Generation Me” interns have a better
understanding of what is expected of them while in the schools. The role
of the mentor teacher project coordinator in facilitating positive relation-
ships between the schools and the university and minimizing conflicts
between the generations will also be examined. The presenters will discuss
the viewpoints of “Generation Me” interns and the “Non-Generation Me”
supervising teachers and how they differ.
Digging Deeper: Using Video Analysis To
Unearth The Intricacies Of Novice Teacher
Reflection And Supervisory Practices
Rebecca West Burns, Penn State University
Deana Washell, Park Forest Elementary School
Reflection in teacher education is a powerful experience in support-
ing teacher learning, yet research tells us that this abstract notion is
difficult for novice teachers. Classrooms are complex spaces, and it is this
complexity that causes novice teachers to stumble and focus only on the
superficial aspects of the classroom. Current reflective practices rely on the
memory and perceptions of the discussants, but video provides a perfor-
mance artifact as evidence to the experience and exists as a conversation
catalyst for the discussants. Like novice teacher reflection, the decision-
making during a supervisor/novice teacher conference is quite opaque.
Video also provides an artifact for reflection and discussion about super-
visory practices.
Video has typically been cumbersome, but as technology progresses
the tools are becoming more user-friendly. Studio Code is a video analysis
tool that provides a systematic way of coding essential elements of the
practice under examination. This experience can be tailored to the indi-
vidual needs of the participants and provides on-demand access to the
desired footage without the unwieldy task of fast forwarding and rewind-
ing.
Our presentation will show examples of how this analysis tool was
used to improve the reflective practices of novice teachers as well as their
supervisors. Elements of audience participation will be embedded in our
presentation. The audience will be videotaped and live coded as an
engaging component of the experience and to demonstrate the power
behind this tool.
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Effects Of Specialized In-Service Professional
Development Activities On Elementary School
Students’ Reading Achievement
Debbie Williams, Christy Jarrett, Cay Evans, and Yong Dai, Louisiana State
University in Shreveport
Keitha Rogers, Southern Arkansas University
This correlational study examined the relationship between special-
ized training offered to in-service teachers in a Professional Development
School and reading achievement. Questions guiding the study were: (a) Is
there a significant increase in reading student achievement during 2nd and
3rd grade of the twelve students who attended this PDS school from
kindergarten through fifth grade? and (b) Is there a relationship between
the in-service professional development required by the PDS and the
reading achievement of the twelve students measured on the Development
Reading Assessment (DRA) test?
Of the original 61 kindergarteners enrolled during the first semester
at an urban elementary school, only twelve students were still enrolled at
the end of the fifth grade. These twelve students became the participants
in the study. Data were collected from an individually administered
criterion-referenced reading assessment to determine instructional read-
ing level, guide the classroom instructional program, identify appropriate
supports and interventions, and document progress over time. A corre-
lated t-test was used to determine the mean differences between the pre-
and post-test statistical significance.
Professional development data was collected. Data showed in-
service teachers received professional development covering various
aspects of pedagogy, student assessment, portfolio assessment, class-
room management, technology, and best practices in content instruction.
The study explored distinguishing elements of the literacy professional
development.
Tables and charts were created to display data and identify signifi-
cant patterns. Findings of the study suggest implications for a relationship
between student reading achievement and classroom reading instruction
and professional development as set forth in the PDS model.
Elementary And Secondary PDS Experiences:
Teaching Best Practice Through Critical
Pedagogy
Jean Ann Foley, Northern Arizona University
Each and every educator must strive to be an effective change
agent. (Fullan, 1993)
At our midsized southwestern state university, we are applying to
the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).
Through this process, the education unit has developed a conceptual
framework that stresses critical thinking and inquiry for preparing teacher
candidates. As faculty in the College of Education, we are charged with
updating the curriculum in our elementary and secondary professional
development programs to better align with the vision of the education unit:
“to develop educational leaders who create tomorrow’s opportunities.”
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In our efforts to update our courses and experiences in our Profes-
sional Development Schools, we have made curricular changes that focus
on reading the discourse of schools to identify inconsistencies in what we
know to be best practice and the reality of the culture of schools. In this
session we will first share our curricular changes; second, we will describe
and discuss the results from our own perspectives and those of our
students and PDS faculty; finally we will invite discussion about how
others might use critical thinking and inquiry in their PDS programs.
The changes in our curriculum represents a shift from an instrumen-
tal philosophy of prescribed lessons on instructional strategy and the
practice of teaching to one of critical thinking and discourse about teacher
practice and the teacher candidate’s role in affecting positive change
through leadership. In this session, we will focus on practical imagining
of what we can do as educators to become leaders and change agents for
improving teaching and learning in a PDS environment.
Encouraging Best Practices Through A Mentor
Preparation Course
Jim Nolan, Sonja Brobeck, Kathleen Sillman, and Eve Shellenberger, Penn
State University
The task of serving as a mentor for a pre-service teacher is extremely
complex. In addition to modeling best teaching practices, mentor teachers
must enable the novice to understand the teacher thinking and decision-
making processes that lie behind the overt behaviors. Most effective
teachers require preparation in order to become effective mentors as well.
The purpose of this presentation will be to share a graduate level
course that has been designed and used effectively (in a course format as
well as a study group format) to prepare mentor teachers to serve as
mentors for pre-service teachers in professional development and partner
schools. The course has two interrelated strands: a conceptual component
and a skills component.
The conceptual piece of the course uses readings drawn from
literature on teacher education, pre-service teacher development, mentoring,
and instructional supervision to enable prospective mentors to under-
stand a variety of concepts including the complexity of the mentoring role,
qualities of effective mentoring, the nature of today’s college students,
pre-service teacher development, relationship building within the student
teaching triad, co-teaching strategies, and the notion of cognitive appren-
ticeship and coaching as the foundation for mentoring.
The skills component of the course uses videos, demonstrations,
and hands-on activities to enable mentors to sharpen their skills in the
areas of communication and active listening, data collection, feedback and
conferencing strategies, and summative evaluation skills. The presenta-
tion will focus on sharing the course outline and resources as well as
engaging participants in sample hands-on activities.
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Engaging A Local High School In Partnership
Work
Tom Poetter and Jay Kimiecik, Miami University
Jean Eagle, Talawanda Schools
Vicki Brunn, Talawanda High School
From the beginning of our school-university partnership work in
2001, we focused on the quantity and quality of engagement of the local
public high school in the work of the partnership and in improving the
experience of secondary education for all citizens in our locale. In the public
eye, the high school had sometimes - and most times unfairly - received
criticism from the university and wider community regarding leadership,
climate, academic/extra-curricular offerings, and facilities. While facilities
still remain a key issue, the partnership, with tremendous support from
people and resources inside the high school, has helped to create a
stronger public story focusing on excellence and opportunity in the high
school. Several key strategies have paved the way for a new discourse
about the high school inside and outside the partnership:
• Supporting the transition from middle to high school with pro-
gramming for freshman addressing the whole child with hopes of
increasing retention and graduation rates and the overall stron-
ger well-being of the individual and family;
• Extending professional development and access to materials for
teachers in AP courses;
• Collaborating on public relations connections and the simulta-
neous creation of new academic opportunities through the
school’s revived student newspaper; and
• Sharing resources, personnel, and experiences through univer-
sity tutors, student interns, and faculty members involved at a
much greater level than before and in unique, effective ways.
Our presentation discusses the nature of these four strategies, their
component parts and how they work in the setting, and our perceptions
of formative outcomes and next steps along the way to building a quality
partnership between the high school and university for the long-term
future.
Engaging Various Constituency Groups In The
PDS Model
Michael Pregot, Iona College
Michael Segvich, Rice High School
A Professional Development School model was initiated this school
year between Iona College in New Rochelle and Rice High School in
Harlem, NY. This workshop will focus on the varied structure and tiers of
PD programs and an analysis of their success in implementation. In all,
there are four basic types of professional development programs planned:
• The first type of training deals with engaging high school faculty
members to reflect on ways to improve instructional delivery.
These activities include pre-service training, in-service academic
coaching, individual teacher PD goal-setting, and the establish-
ment of a school-wide mentoring program.
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• A second tier of training would include programs utilizing the
range of collegiate resources such as assigning student teachers/
interns, completing field experiences for education majors, devel-
oping collegiate courses within the secondary environment, and
sharing collegiate facilities in an exploratory manner.
• Still another type of professional development would focus on
the students themselves. Examples of this would include action
research projects, identifying measurable goals for student
achievement, individualizing a career plan, and active student
participation in PDS goal setting.
• Parents and the general community have been asked to partici-
pate in redefining the school’s academic goals, assisting in PTO
activities, projecting the future needs of their children’s educa-
tional program, and reacting to current written institutional goals.
As an emerging program, we intend to host an interactive group
discussion in terms of developing and implementing the PDS model in an
urban setting.
English In Engineering? Collaboration For
Motivation In The Language Arts
Rene Segler and Kim Izumo, Fremont Professional Development Middle
School
As a new PDS, Fremont Professional Development Middle School
uses the unique approach of teaming and academic academies focused on
student interests. Fremont has two academies, one for engineering and the
other for communications. A portion of the English Language Arts
department is encompassed in the Engineering Academy. The presenta-
tion discusses the use of coordinated lesson planning in the area of English
language. Joint planning and the use of data-driven methods aid in
teaching the genres of reading and writing to students in the academy.
Team-planned lessons pay close attention to sequencing and provide
continued reinforcement of the language arts curriculum. In addition, team
planning incorporates methods which engage and motivate literacy devel-
opment and require students to be actively involved in making meaning
from text. Through the use of coordinated activities, students find the
interconnectedness of reading and writing in their chosen area of interest.
Enhancing The Quality Of Action Research
Conducted By Prospective And Practicing
Teachers In The PDS
Nancy Fichtman Dana, University of Florida
Diane Yendol-Hoppey, West Virginia University
The PDS movement is tightly coupled with the teacher researcher
movement, as one of the leading organizations that advocates for and
supports Professional Development Schools, the Holmes Partnership,
states one general guiding principle for creating PDS sites is that they must
include a commitment to making reflection and inquiry a central part of the
school (Holmes Group, 1986, 1990). Hence, in PDSs across the nation,
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action research is conducted by interns as a part of the professional
preparation of future educators as well as by mentor teachers as part of the
continuing professional development of educators already in the field. In
these PDSs, much of the action research conducted has contributed
significantly to enhanced educational opportunities for P-12 students
(Dana, Yendol-Hoppey, & Snow-Gerono, 2006), as prospective and prac-
ticing teachers take action for improvement based on what they have
learned as a result of their research and, in addition, share the results of their
classroom-based research with others.
Since engagement in action research by prospective and practicing
teachers is being utilized as one primary vehicle to enhance the education
of students in PDS sites, a closer look at the quality of action research is
warranted. Yet, to date, there has been little conversation in PDSs about
teacher research quality. The purpose of this session is to discuss ways
we can enhance the quality of action research conducted in PDSs through
the exploration of five quality indicators, as well as four critical junctures
in the coaching of the action research process.
Following Our Belief: Using The Teacher
Work Sample To Impact K-12 Learning And
Teacher Efficacy
Joseph Sencibaugh, Truman State University
Suzann Copeland, Kirksville R-III School District
According to Willard-Holt & Bottomly (2000), the connection be-
tween coursework and field experience must be clear in order for field
experiences to have the greatest impact on pre-service candidates. Profes-
sional Development Schools provide opportunities to bridge the gap
between research and practice. Candidates demonstrate best practices
according to the research while supervised by mentor teachers. Evaluation
of the candidates’ teaching effectiveness frequently focuses on peda-
gogical skills without considering the impact on student achievement.
Beginning in the fall of 2009, Truman State University will pilot a program
that requires pre-service candidates in special education to complete a
Teacher Work Sample, which will assess their proficiency in designing
instruction to meet the needs of students P-12.
The Teacher Work Sample is designed for candidates to scrutinize
the effect their pedagogical skills have on student learning. The Teacher
Work Sample serves as both a planning and a reflection tool, directing
candidates to describe their learning goals, lesson structure, and assess-
ment strategy prior to teaching. After teaching a lesson, candidates utilize
assessment data to analyze student learning and reflect on potential
adjustments for succeeding lessons (Henning et al, 2005). Specifically,
Teacher Work Samples are exhibits of teaching performance that provide
direct evidence of a candidate’s ability to design and implement standards-
based instruction, assess student learning, reflect on the teaching and
learning process, and provide credible evidence of a candidate’s ability to
facilitate learning of all students.
Presenters will discuss the process for implementation, shared
responsibilities, evaluation of student performance, intended outcomes,
and the development of action plans for improving the collaborative
partnerships for preparing highly qualified special education teachers.
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Giving Back To The Children: Best Practices
In An Elementary Education/Special Education
Professional Development School
Debi Gartland, Towson University
This session addresses Question #2 in that the focus will be on the
how our Elementary Education/Special Education (EESE) Professional
Development School is providing improved and enhanced educational
opportunities for P-5th grade students and how we share the results of best
practices incorporated in the dual certification major of our undergradu-
ates. Presenters will be a Towson University faculty member, as well as
school-based mentors and interns. We will describe specialized in-school
projects aimed at changing the challenging behaviors and academic
achievement levels of at-risk children and children with disabilities. We will
also describe some of the successful after-school service learning projects
aimed at children and their families, particularly English Language Learn-
ers. Session attendees will have plenty of opportunities for discussion,
questions, and idea exchanges. As a result of attending our presentation,
session participants will be able to identify and replicate best practices
used in our EESE PDS.
Global Studies In PDS Classrooms Serve As A
Catalyst For 21st Century Education
Stan Maynard and Barbara Maynard, Marshall University
Daniele Perez, Kellogg Elementary Model School
Victoria Smith, Geneva Kent Elementary School
21st Century Learning is the focus of the West Virginia Department
of Education’s first K-5 Model School at Kellogg Elementary in Wayne
County. Kellogg Elementary PDS is collaborating with Geneva Kent
Elementary PDS in Cabell County and Thurgood Marshall Elementary PDS
in Lynwood, California, to strengthen all 21st Century teaching and
learning elements with a focus on best practices in global studies. The
Marshall University Professional Development School Partnership recog-
nizes the importance of global studies for the students of today to be
successful in the world of tomorrow. These best practices are impacting
the in-service teachers as well as the pre-service teachers as the two share
information with one another. Focusing on global studies, Kellogg El-
ementary, Geneva Kent, and Thurgood Marshall have established a
partnership through distance learning technology as well as on-site
collaboration that has positively impacted all the stakeholders in the
educational system.
Various strategies and creative learning activities composing a
rigorous and relevant curriculum have been implemented, evaluated, and
shared not only among the three Professional Development Schools, but
with other schools in the partnership. The opportunities afforded the
students in all the schools involved have raised the standard from global
awareness to a deeper understanding of the international community. The
pre-service teachers are benefiting from their involvement in these best
practices and will continue the implementation into future classrooms
resulting in the enhancement of learning opportunities for students.
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Grand Rounds: Building Capacity Within A
PDS Model
Donna Cooner and Rodrick S. Lucero, Colorado State University
Tom Myers and Jennifer Roth, Fort Collins High School
The strong partnership between Fort Collins High School and
Colorado State University is stronger than ever! Grand Rounds have
allowed us to expand our influence, while effectively managing dwindling
resources. Grand Rounds were piloted at our partnership site last fall and
have grown considerably since their implementation. Grand Rounds allow
students to gain an understanding of the total school environment beyond
their content and beyond their professional responsibilities. This year, we
have added another strand to the Grand Round model which revolves
around a four day experience in an experiential educational setting. Our
partnership has expanded with the inclusion of the High Trails Outdoor
Education Center. The results have been inspiring, as teacher candidates
have found a venue to practice their “teacher voice” in a non-traditional
setting. Teacher candidates have reported that since this experience they
are more confident, more certain of their career choice, and more enthused
about the profession. Furthermore, they report that the strategies they
learn in this outdoor setting will help them create relevance for their
students regardless of the content or the setting.
Growing As A Professional Development
School: Expanding And Enriching
Kathy Evans, Shawn Suber, Felicia Sellers, Rice Creek Elementary School
Megan Burton, University of South Carolina
Rice Creek Elementary has been a Professional Development School
with the University of South Carolina for over ten years. Through this time,
the partnership has evolved and is now thriving for teachers, pre-service
teachers, university faculty, and students within this community. Re-
cently, courses have been taught on site for school faculty and pre-service
teachers, interns have been placed on site, and research projects were
conducted to inform both the school and education community at large.
This fall pre-service teachers taking a course on site spent time
working with elementary students during their course time, making content
games and providing information to teachers from the time spent with the
elementary students. This course and others are planned for the future.
There have been study groups and M. Ed. courses offered on site to
faculty. One benefit often overlooked are the informal conversations
between university and K-5 faculty, due to the collaborative, informal
working relationship that has been established. Each of these activities has
enhanced the professional community, supported individual growth, and
had a positive impact upon students.
This partnership is successful partly because of the openness and
mutual respect between K-5 and university faculty. In addition, the
administration is very supportive and provides materials and facilities
necessary to be successful. This administrative support helps new teach-
ers see the value in this work and contributes to this partnership. This
session will briefly describe the history of the partnership; the current work
will be shared in addition to the vision for the future.
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If The Pace Car Would Move . . . We Could
Go Forward! Maneuvering Our Way Around
Scripted Programs
Michelle Tharpe, Celeste Granthum, Melinda Walters, Lynne Mills, and
Carolyn Corliss, Auburn University Montgomery
In the “NASCAR” world ... what if every car had to look exactly the
same, drive at the same speed, and finish at the same time? It just wouldn’t
work! With the mandates for using one-size-fits-all scripted programs,
many PDS partnerships are finding if to be very difficult to implement best
practices. Although Auburn Montgomery has established positive re-
lationships with eight school systems, this situation can potentially
compromise the objectives that the college has identified for teacher
candidates. In this discussion forum, we would like for participants to come
together and share ideas for ways to support the classroom teacher and
the teacher candidates who are faced with the challenge of maintaining a
positive learning environment.
Implementing Inquiry In The Middle School:
Successful Projects That Increase Student
Motivation And Academic Achievement
Brian McCants and Jeffrey Burden, Hand Middle School
Having partnered with Dr. Jane Zenger and Dr. Mary Earick of the
University of South Carolina, we were motivated to implement several
inquiry-based projects at our school. By allowing our middle level students
the opportunity to investigate several school issues, we discovered that
they became more engaged in their learning and had greater interest in our
classes. Our inquiry projects included an investigation of South Carolina’s
ecology and social sciences, genetics, the acoustics of our building, and
blending music to our Carolina Fence Garden.
Inquiry allowed our students to take the direction of each project in
a way that was interesting to them. Each project addressed multiple
standards and multiple disciplines. Inquiry is the foundation of science
education. By blending inquiry science into the related arts curriculum,
more students had the opportunity to benefit from these investigations.
These projects were very interesting to our students as they were
able to study the standards using real-life, in-school situations. Having
taken a course on inquiry from USC, we as teachers realized that students
being involved in their own learning was rewarding for them and for us as
well. We found an increase in student achievement for these standards.
This presentation discusses the specifics of these projects and how our
students learned from them.
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Improving Effective Technology Integration
Through Simultaneous Renewal
Cathy J. Siebert, Vanessa L. Wyss, and Karen A. Dowling, Ball State
University
Undoubtedly, the rapid, continuous evolution in technology poses
immense challenges to teachers. Trying to remain current with what is
available and how to literally use the technology is difficult for teachers
who are confronted with implementing instruction to diverse students that
results in authentic student learning, improved standardized test scores,
and meeting AYP demands for their schools. Conversely, while our pre-
service teachers are typically very well-prepared in the use of a variety of
technologies, they struggle to think critically about when and why to
implement the use of the technologies in their instruction.
One of the greatest strengths of PDS relationships is the opportunity
for simultaneous renewal. With Ball State University nationally recognized
as the Most Unwired Campus and, according to Sperling, at the forefront
of “exploring innovative ways to use new technology,” our students
pursue post-secondary education in an incredibly technology-rich envi-
ronment. As part of our pre-service teacher education program for second-
ary education majors, pre-service teachers participate in a sequence of
courses (Teaching in the Middle/Junior High Schools and Teaching in the
Senior High Schools) which include significant time in content classrooms.
In addition, a significant number of student teachers are placed within our
secondary PDS schools.
This presentation presents the variety of ways our pre-service
teachers influence the technology capacity of in-service teachers during
practicum and student teaching field experiences in our partnerships and
considers ways in which experienced teachers work with our pre-service
teachers to think through pedagogical issues related to the use of technol-
ogy in instruction.
Inclusion And Communication Strategies: PDS
Parents, Schools, Universities, And
Communities Within The DREAMS Initiative
To Increase Academic Efficacy In Urban
African-American Male Students
Susan C. McClendon and Lawanda Cummings, Georgia State University
This presentation will address Question #2: How is best practice
defined, implemented, and shared within and beyond the PDS? The implicit
goals of any PDS initiative are improved and enhanced educational
opportunities for P-12 students. The D.R.E.A.M.S. (Developing Relation-
ships to Empower African-American Mentee’s Success) Initiative, a
program spawned from the Georgia State University PDS, was created to
address issues in African-American male students’ psychosocial devel-
opment, their awareness of educational and occupational opportunities,
and to boost their perceived capacity to be academically successful and
navigate educational settings. To ensure academic success of urban male
students within three PDS schools, strategies for inclusion and communi-
cation were developed and implemented to incorporate parents, school
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administrations, the university, and community members. The ecological
framework acknowledges that a student’s development is determined by
his/her experiences within multiple settings and the number and quality of
the connections between those settings (Bronfenbrenner, 2004). The
D.R.E.A.M.S. Initiative engages multiple settings and stakeholders through
parent meetings, school-based clubs sponsored by teachers, a university-
based summer institute for high school students, and a bi-annual youth
summit conference open to community members and practitioners within
the school system. This presentation examines the strategies employed to
promote inclusion of all stakeholders and dissemination of best practices
and program effect to practitioners, parents, and the research community.
Participants will gain insight in 1) tailoring findings to different audiences,
2) using multiple modalities of communication to get the information out,
and 3) the necessity of empirical research to validate best practice.
Inquiry In Action
Barbara Dire and Lusungu Sibande, Forest Heights Elementary School
Forest Heights Elementary is a partner school with the University of
South Carolina Diverse Pathways project. During the last five years, a team
of teachers has worked to examine their instructional practices in order to
facilitate more meaningful experiences for their students.
Carnival of the Animals is a project that integrates visual and
performing art, music, science, and English language arts. The purpose of
the project was to provide an integrated experience for second grade
students. Students focused on learning about various aspects of animals
and their habitats. In their music classes, the students learned songs and
dances that mimicked those animals. They learned how to expand their
knowledge of lines, texture, and colors as they brought their animal
drawings to life as a part of their art classes. The culmination of the
experience was a winter performance by the 2nd graders for the entire
school body where they shared their poems, art work, songs, and dance.
Another project, partially funded through USC Diverse Pathways,
was the creation of the Junior Scientists Organization. The Junior Scien-
tists are a group of fourth and fifth grade students who wanted to
investigate coastal ecology and the Earth’s natural processes. The group
engaged in a six month study which included multiple field studies to a
barrier island and research with an oceanographer and atmospheric
scientist.
The two featured learning experiences are a demonstration of how
Forest Heights Elementary is moving forward to create meaning learning
experiences for its students.
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Integrating Subject Areas As A Basis For
Literacy Development For English Language
Learner (ELL) Students: An Emphasis On Co-
Teaching And Collaboration
Marna Armbrister and Karon Lee, Paradise Professional Development School
Best practices will be defined by a process that includes a brief
overview of the Clark County School District’s (CCSD) policy of teaching
English to ELL students through content areas by including a strong
English language development component that emphasizes cooperative
learning, hands-on activities, visuals, demonstrations, modeling and by
way of feedback determining which mix of methodologies achieves the
best results.
Implementation will involve a mini-interactive and science-math-
word study integrated lesson with student work samples, followed by
questions, comments, and evaluation.
Sharing within the PDS community will be demonstrated by examples
of collaboration between general education, special education, and the
English Language Learner (ELL) specialist. Additionally, a second-year
teacher new to third grade is being mentored and supported through our
actions with the clear intent to ease the transition from the primary to the
intermediate level.
Sharing beyond the PDS community will be explored through our
Action Research Project sponsored by the Research and School Improve-
ment division of CCSD in collaboration with the University of Nevada Las
Vegas’ College of Education. Students from the university frequently
observe classroom instruction; as a result we have recruited these observ-
ers, once introduced to the methodology, to be part of our research data
collection.
Involving All PDS Stakeholders In Creating A
Friendship Garden
Nichola Perillo, Paradise Professional Development School
Pamela Campbell, University of Nevada Las Vegas
In response to the need for increased hands-on science participation
for students in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten, a proposal to develop
a “Salsa and Flower Garden” was developed and implemented at Paradise
PDS in Las Vegas, Nevada. This research-based project incorporated
curriculum standards in mathematics, earth science, life science, literacy,
writing, social studies, art, and nutrition, while involving administration,
teachers, pre-k through fifth grade students, families, community busi-
nesses, and university staff in planning, as well as implementation. Our
Garden Project Committee, which incorporated administration, teachers,
community businesses, and university staff, provided enhanced educa-
tional activities and knowledge with the progress of natural life forms for
children who live in an area of Las Vegas that affords no opportunity to
plant or till the earth.
Our conference session will outline the inception of the project, the
foundation of the mission, planning and development, the procurement of
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donated materials, architectural assistance and labor by community part-
ners, the involvement of students, parents, UNLV educational interns, the
local news media, and all stakeholders both inside and outside of the
Paradise PDS. We will share our tips and techniques for intertwining
curriculum strands, sharing our ongoing project with our community, and
a chronological presentation of the steps involved toward this valuable
learning instrument.
Kids On The Move: Intervention Groups As An
Action Research Project
Sherry DuPont, Christine Walsh, Marilyn Lees-Yensick, and Megan Newmeyer,
Slippery Rock University
Patti Messett, West Hill High School
In our PDS culture, we define best practice by asking, “What is the
best practice for the K-6 learners in Sharon City Schools?” This ongoing
inquiry is accomplished through action research and involves the student
teachers, cooperating teachers, literacy coaches, and university faculty.
Within the climate of NCLB, this question propels our decision-making
process as we dialogue to determine how we can impact the learning of K-
6 students.
Implementation of best practice begins when student teachers and
cooperating teachers collaboratively analyze data from various assess-
ment tools. Once a focus area is determined, the student teachers conduct
a literature review, establish a protocol for intervention, and complete the
IRB process. During each intervention session, student teachers complete
a documentation log to record their decision-making processes. It requires
them to answer three central questions:
• What interventions were used? (listing the activity, method, and
materials)
• What did I observe/notice? (noting the performance of individual
students)
• What will I do next? (reflecting on next steps for subsequent
sessions).
As reflective practitioners, student teachers meet with university
supervisors to discuss the logs and their emerging data analysis.
The entire school faculty is invited to hear the results and implica-
tions of these inquiries as we celebrate the learning of each PDS participant.
Student teachers prepare Power Point presentations to share results of
their inquiries. They are also encouraged to present at local and national
conferences and foundational grants are provided to cover their travel
expenses.
Knowing Students First
John Ward, Meghan Cross, Lindsay Gemmill, Abby Lavery, and Jeremy Fritz,
Millersville University
A key methodology of our urban middle school internship program
is the weekly presentation by interns of three data-rich case examples of
specific students. Interns present actual student work, discuss their
insights about students, and discuss how they will respond to these
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students. Interns focus for a full year on a student with an IEP, an English
Language Learner, and a purposefully chosen third student. After discus-
sion of the case examples, interns lead discussion of assigned pedagogical
texts and use case examples to make connections between theory and
practice. Data are recorded from internship presentations and are posted
on a group-accessible online database using Google Docs.
This methodology is based on the idea that knowing students well,
their learning strengths and needs, their personal qualities and contexts,
and what they actually know and can do is key to “teaching students” and
not just teaching subject matter. This quality is typically considered part
of the “art” of teaching and is rarely explicitly taught in traditional teacher
education. The Professional Development School model provides a unique
opportunity to explicitly coach strategies for reflection, assessment, and
teacher practice that focus on student learning.
Faculty and interns together collect, analyze, and present several
forms of data including data from case examples collected over a six-month
time period and analysis of the impact on intern practice through qualita-
tive interviews, teaching observations, and quantitative measures of
intern knowledge of students correlated with teacher collected and stan-
dardized measures of student learning.
Leading By Example: An Inquiry Into Teaching
Action Research
Jason Jude Smith, Diane Yendol-Hoppey, and Sharon Hayes, West Virginia
University
One of the core requirements for pre-service teachers in the Five Year
Teacher Education Program at WVU is to design and conduct action
research. By substituting action research for the more traditional Master’s
thesis, a particular image of rigor has been created for this capstone
activity. To date, action research has been a tool for actualizing multiple
purposes in education including: teacher professional development, cul-
tivating an inquiry stance, and creating opportunities for teacher voice.
While we have worked to create a rigorous and purposeful endeavor
in which our students develop identities as teacher researchers, some of
our students have had difficulty developing an inquiry stance and under-
standing that action research should be “a part” of their practice. As core
faculty members engaged in designing the components of the action
research and the seminars which explain the goals and processes of action
research, we feel it is important to study this problem. We further believe
that conducting action research to answer the questions we have about
the consequences of our course design is a meaningful way to study the
problem and to model best practices for our students with respect to
reflection and inquiry.
This presentation will focus on data collected from our fourth year
students who have spent significant time in the PDSs in which they will
conduct their action research and are crafting proposals which will guide
them during the next academic year. We utilize survey data, field notes, and
artifacts to identify the concerns and misconceptions of our students in
an effort to problematize our facilitation of action research. We will also
discuss changes we will make to the course and the action research process
which seek to address these problems.
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Learning For All: Inquiry Into Transfer Theory
At A PDS
Lourdes Z. Mitchel and Alisa Hindin, Seton Hall University
Lori Moonan, Brookside Place Elementary School
Action researchers typically ask questions which are directed at
improving the quality of their own practice, their understanding of their
practice, and the social context in which the practice is located. In order to
serve as an instrument of change, our PDS governance committee, after
eight years of self-study, began to wonder why transfer of learning was
not occurring across all segments of the learning community. As a best
practice the group used an inquiry approach to examine the question of
transfer of learning.
University faculty questioned transfer of learning across courses
and application to the field experiences. Administrators questioned why
after much professional development in math education change was so
slow, while language arts faculty and teacher leaders were concerned
about the lack of transfer of literacy practices. All members of the learning
community expressed concern as to why students lacked transfer from one
problem to another within a course, from one year in school to another,
between school and home, and from school to workplace. To examine
current instructional practices the group decided to study the research and
to conduct a quantitative study that would examine the degree to which
university faculty and third through fifth grade teachers used transfer
practices during instruction and assessment.
In this presentation we will briefly share findings and discuss how
conducting inquiry is defined as best practice, how best to implement
research within a district and university, and how findings within and
beyond the PDS can be shared.
Leonardo – Art, Math And Science
Explorations 2.0. How The Visual Arts Can
Contribute To Advancing Math And Science In
Professional Development Schools: A
Workshop Presentation
Michael Henry, Paradise Professional Development School
Pam Campbell, University of Nevada Las Vegas
The Paradise Professional Development School is located on the
University of Nevada Las Vegas campus. Some of the challenges at
Paradise include an abnormally high student transient rate (62%), ninety
percent of the students qualify for free and reduced lunch, and 60% are ELL.
Art Specialists have the unique opportunity to reach all students
within the school community. By utilizing best practices and cross-
curriculum explorations, they can contribute to the overall success of the
Professional Development School experience. Art lessons can aid non-
English speakers with nonlinguistic representations that reinforce math
and science standards. The arts can contribute to higher level thinking and
problem solving as art programs can go beyond the Spatial/Mechanical,
Logical/Mathematical Multiple Intelligences.
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This presentation will provide:
• Art lesson plans utilizing instructional strategies and cross-
curriculum experiences with an emphasis on math and science
test preparation
• Art tips and strategies that integrate math and writing standards
• A “make and take” art/math lesson
Instructors without the benefit of an art specialist can also easily
utilize these lesson plans and strategies in their classrooms.
Leveling Best Practice: All Together At The
PDS Site
Lyn Krenz, Asa Packer Elementary School
Stacey Leon, Governor Wolf Elementary School
Dawn Roman, Lincoln Elementary School
Judy Hartzler, Pleasant Valley Elementary School
Nancy Daniels and Sue Ellis, Resica Elementary School
Alison Rutter and Katherine DiSimoni, East Stroudsburg University
One strength of our PDS at ESU is the way in which many of our
mentor/co-operating teachers have learned to work with multiple individu-
als in their classrooms to promote best practice for teaching and learning
at all levels. Having an apprentice teacher situated in a classroom with a
returning resident student teacher has challenged the traditional norms of
the student teaching dyad. These seasoned master teachers have ac-
cepted that challenge and have worked with a number of classroom mixes
over the last five to eight years with varying degrees of success. While
creative and efficacious teachers in their own right, these teachers have
not only guided new teachers into the field, but have gained in terms of their
own personal professional development from reflecting on their practices
with these pre-service teachers. Their analyses of these experiences,
discussions and journaling with their apprentices and student teachers
have given them insights into the process of learning to teach and
continuing to learn about teaching. While these teachers have shared their
successes and challenges locally and informally with the PDS staff and one
another, this presentation offers them the opportunity to share their
strategies and learning experiences with others. The teachers will share in
a panel format 1) the elements of their best teaching practice, 2) the ways
they have found to best transform pre-service teachers and 3) the ways in
which this transformation process has affected their own teaching.
Maintaining Professional Development School
Partnerships: Sustaining Best Practices
Teresa Jayroe, Margaret Pope, and Rebecca Robichaux, Mississippi State
University
Pre-service teachers in the senior elementary/middle level methods
block (SEMB) take methods courses with intense field-based experiences
prior to the student teaching semester. Pre-service teachers are
collaboratively placed with K-6 classroom teachers in two rural school
partnership districts. The following semester these pre-service teachers
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are collaboratively placed in approximately 25 school districts for the
student teaching experience.
In each SEMB school district, classroom teachers work directly with
university supervisors (SEMB professors) and teacher candidates as they
plan and prepare lessons, interact with K-6 students, implement lessons,
and begin to assess student learning. SEMB university supervisors use
the Teacher Intern Assessment Instrument (TIAI) to complete informal
observations and formal assessments and provide on-going, consistent
feedback to teacher candidates as they work in classrooms. Classroom
teachers also provide on-going, consistent feedback through daily con-
ferences and weekly evaluation forms to the pre-service teachers.
When teacher candidates progress to student teaching, they con-
tinue to be informally and formally assessed using the TIAI. However, a
large majority of the daily informal feedback during this semester is
provided by the classroom teachers. University supervisors provide
weekly feedback along with formative and summative assessments over
the 16 week student teaching experience.
Data from the TIAI indicate that pre-service teachers exhibit continu-
ous growth from the SEMB semester through the student teaching
semester. Best practices are shared by classroom teachers and university
supervisors through meetings and conferences throughout the semesters.
Best practices are continually refined based on feedback from classroom
teachers, university supervisors, and pre-service teachers.
Moving From Theory To Practice
Implementing Essential 4: Developing The
Continuum From College Student To
Professional Teacher
Rebecca Griffith, Edward Clark, Drema Morris, and Dawn Poore, Avery
County High School
Often pre-service teachers and beginning teachers (ILTs) are taken
into a classroom, given a roll book, a policy manual (if that!), and a textbook,
then told to get busy. Most spend valuable weeks to months floundering,
afraid to ask questions about basic classroom management and essentials
about the school. To alleviate this, Avery County High School began a
program acquainting pre-service teachers and ILTs with the whole school,
as well as best practices, classroom management, an opportunity for
reflection, and practical advice from a team of veteran teachers.
We began with an after-school session titled “Conversations With
Teachers” which answered questions pre-service teachers and ILTs often
have. Quickly we realized our pre-service teachers and ILTs had questions
about our school, but most were concerned about classroom management.
To acquaint them with the school, each member of our PDS took a topic and
began showing our pre-service teachers and ILTs the other side of the
school once each week for 15 minutes after school. We also held after-
school sessions on classroom management where our pre-service teachers
and ILTs reflected on situations they encountered, asked any questions
they wanted, and got practical advice from a panel of seasoned teachers.
This gave the pre-service teachers and ILTs many perspectives and
methods from which they could choose.
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PDS Commitment: Time, Energy, And Effort
Jill C. Miels, Ball State University
Mary Hendricks, Rhoades Elementary School
Rhoades Elementary, MSD Wayne Township, Indianapolis has
been a Professional Development School in the Ball State PDS Network for
eight years. It has been recognized for its collaborative work by the Holmes
Partnership, by AACTE and ATE as part of the larger PDS Network, and
by the USDOE as a National Blue Ribbon School. More recently, Rhoades
has been labeled a “failing school” as defined by NCLB. With a rapidly
changing urban population, the Rhoades/BSU partnership has extended
every effort to make student learning the focus of their PDS works. This
session will offer an examination of the activities defined and developed
to provide ongoing sustainability. The presentation group represents
constituents from the university, the school, and a pre-service teacher
representative. Presenters will discuss the work at Rhoades in relation to
navigating roles, responsibilities, time, energy, and efforts that have
allowed the partnership to prosper over the last eight years. Topics will
include:
• Integration of PDS work and NCLB mandates
• Formal and informal roles of presenters
• Tangible rewards
• Intangible rewards
• University promotion and tenure
• Using data for instructional purposes
Portfolio Assessment In The City: Pre-Service
Teachers’ Evidence Of “Social Justice”
Diane G. Corrigan, Shawn Washington, and R. D. Nordgren, Cleveland State
University
Edward Weber, Paul Finucan, Jim Heffernan, Sarah Sells, and Karen
Mortensen, Cleveland School of Science and Medicine
This presentation describes the portfolio assessment method uti-
lized to determine future urban teachers’ integration of social justice across
three semesters of training. The presentation focuses on the assessment
system requirement that pre-service teachers select their own criteria each
semester to add to the four point “social justice” rubric provided. The
researchers posed three questions to study the implementation of this
system with three recent cohorts of future teachers:
1) Based on the “social justice”-related criteria interns have selected
across the three semesters of their pre-service training, what is the nature
of these future city teachers’ understanding of “social justice?”
2) How do these pre-service teachers’ concepts of “social justice”
evolve during their three semesters in the program, as they move across
the community, school, and classroom settings?
3) What is the evidence of proficiency with this notion of “social
justice” to which other urban- and social justice-focused licensure pro-
grams might look when preparing teachers?
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Data and findings include the criteria interns have identified, ex-
amples of artifacts they have selected as evidence of their proficiency with
their notions of social justice, and reflections describing the artifacts that
interns have identified across the school, community, and classroom
settings. This continuum might be the basis upon which assessment
systems of future and veteran urban teachers are structured.
This presentation addresses Question #2 by describing best prac-
tices. The portfolio assessment system presented is implemented and
shared by pre-service teachers and faculty within the PDS, university, and
other urban schools.
Providing A Strong Foundation For Middle
Level Education In A PDS
Randy M. Wood and Krystal Goree, Baylor University
This presentation will discuss the preparation of BU Middle Level
Certificate Program candidates to enter the teaching profession. Examples
of learning opportunities provided for these pre-service teachers to
develop the eighteen competencies will be discussed along with how they
match the seven National Middle School Association Standards:
• Young Adolescent Development (NMSA standard 1)
Candidates are introduced to the major concepts, principles,
theories, and research related to young adolescent develop-
ment.
• Philosophy and School Organization (NMSA Standard 2)
Baylor teacher candidates are introduced to the philosophical
and historical foundations of developmentally responsive
middle level schools.
• Curriculum and Assessment (NMSA Standard 3)
Candidates are expected to conduct assessments using mul-
tiple strategies and implement curriculum.
• Teaching Fields (NMSA Standard 4)
Candidates apply the knowledge gained through their educa-
tion curriculum requirements to specific teaching tasks.
• Instruction and Assessment (NMSA Standard 5)
Candidates are introduced to the major concepts, principles,
theories, and research related to effective instruction and
assessment.
• Family and Community Involvement (Standard 6)
Candidates develop an appreciation for the larger community
context within which schools exist.
• Professional Roles (Standard 7)
Candidates are expected to join and become active in the
CMLA Baylor chapter.
The presenters will:
• relate the seven NMSA Standards to the BU Middle Level
eighteen benchmarks;
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• describe how PDS middle schools can develop programs that will
support their high achieving college students and low achieving
middle level students; and
• describe best practices that connect the middle level program to
parental involvement and student achievement.
RAIS Of Light: A Model For Linking Stressed-
Out Interns’ Action Research Projects With
School Improvement Plans
Clara Outten, Snow Hill Elementary School
Keith Conners, Stacie Siers, Dennis Pataniczek, Corinne Ponder, Cassandra
Graves, Staci Stonnell, and Jennifer Ruark, Salisbury University
An action research investigation tackled by an intern/mentor team
in 2007 has given life to an ongoing program at Snow Hill Elementary
School, a Title I school in Salisbury University’s PDS partnership. Dubbed
RAIS (Readers Accelerating through Intern Support), the program targets
first graders with skill deficiencies as identified by the Houghton-Mifflin
Emerging Reader Survey. Using activities and scaffolding strategies
developed by interns and mentors, targeted students receive 20 minutes
of daily intervention - made possible by the steady flow of interns and
teacher candidates (future interns) placed at Snow Hill. Data collection and
analysis become an integral part of interns’ involvement in their school and
fulfill the requirements of the action research assignment without creating
undue stress.
Interns often experience considerable anxiety about conducting
action research investigations during the assignment-heavy internship
year. In this session, the presenters will outline the template provided to
interns for action research and the support provided by mentors and
university personnel in guiding their projects. PDS stakeholders will
describe how the RAIS program is linked to the school’s Middle States
Accreditation for Growth plan and how the school improvement-linked
data collection activity serves as a model for interns placed in other
schools. The presenters will also discuss strategies for using action
research projects to increase school leaders’ involvement in PDS and for
helping future interns become invested in similar school improvement
projects.
A related session featuring the RAIS program will be part of the
intern poster session on Saturday.
Reciprocal Relationships: Sustaining
Partnerships And Improving Preparation,
Practice, And Policy
Van Dempsey and Jaci Webb-Dempsey, Fairmont State University
Debbie Johnson, White Hall Elementary School
Public schools and Schools of Education are often called upon to
implement state educational policy mandates; sometimes those mandates
are a good fit and help serve to improve teaching and learning, but other
times they are difficult to implement and may have unintended negative
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consequences. The best of all possible worlds is when policies are
informed and well-understood by those constituents who will ultimately
be responsible for their implementation. In West Virginia, Professional
Development School partnerships create a unique resource for the devel-
opment and implementation of educational policy around teacher prepa-
ration and teacher practice. One of the strengths of PDS-based teacher
preparation is the coherence and coordination of expectations and central
practices. When there is reciprocity in the relationships within and among
partnerships, and between partnerships and state policymakers, there is
the potential for mutually beneficial policy development and coherent and
coordinated implementation. This session will discuss issues related to
establishing and maintaining reciprocal relationships across all levels in
the policy system. Several examples of the impact of PDS partnerships in
policy development and implementation will provide a context for this
discussion, including: 1) the incorporation of results of research on the
effect of a PDS-based teacher education program on the preparation of
program graduates into the discourse around the development of a state
mentoring system for novice teachers and 2) the integration of new state
teacher and principal standards into the redesign of preparation programs.
Reflections From The Trenches: First Year
Teachers Identify Best Practices From Quincy
University’s PDS
Ann K. Behrens, Quincy University
Thomas Conley, Quincy High School
K-12 practitioners have indicated that first-year teachers coming
from the Quincy University Professional Development School model are
exceptionally well-prepared. First-year teachers and senior teacher candi-
dates who have experienced the Professional Development School model
of teacher training were asked to reflect on the most useful aspects of their
preparation. Immersed in the K-12 setting from their initial pre-professional
courses in education, teacher candidates participate in a wide variety of
interactions with both public and parochial school students. Which were
most beneficial in preparing them for their own classrooms?
The practices they found to be most beneficial in the areas of
classroom management, instructional strategies, planning and interacting
with parents will be shared with workshop participants. This survey has
caused university instructors to adjust their own course expectations and
schedules to incorporate these best practices.
Roundtable Discussion: How Do You Teach
Cultural Diversity? Let’s Talk About Best
Practices!
Doris Grove and Jane Harstad, Penn State University
Jeff Tranell, Park Forest Middle School
The State College Professional Development School partnership
wants to discuss best practices when it comes to teaching cultural
diversity and multicultural education to our interns. We have been learning
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and growing with our teaching practices and are always looking for
valuable and culturally responsive resources and practices. Research-
based information dealing with this issue will be provided, and we would
love to hear your thoughts, ideas, and practices. What do you teach?
When do you teach it? How do you teach it?
School-University Partnership That Models
Best Practice
MeShelda A. Jackson, James Pelech, and Ovid Wong, Benedictine University
Denise Spells, St. Ethelreda Catholic School
This presentation describes a unique partnership between an el-
ementary Catholic school and a Catholic university. The primary purposes
of this partnership are to (a) improve student achievement at the elemen-
tary school, (b) enhance the efficacy of the faculty at the elementary school
and the university, and (c) provide pre-service teachers an opportunity to
put theory into action. The first phase of this partnership began with an
assessment of teacher content knowledge and pedagogy. The second
phase aligned the identified needs of teachers to research-proven prac-
tices. This presentation includes the data from the first phase and the
impact of that data on the second phase; how best practice was defined,
implemented, and shared with the school and university. It will demon-
strate improved and enhanced educational opportunities, including teach-
ing through a collaborative approach which includes but is not limited to
video conferencing, modeling, co-teaching, co-planning, and teacher in-
service. As a team we have been able to create a unique learning community
that benefits both institutions.
Science Inquiry In The Elementary Classroom
Betsy Elliott, Grace Farnum, and Christina Russell, Guinyard Elementary
School
Anna Rast, Sandy Run Elementary School
Through a grant with Diverse Pathways we have continued to get
our science program on the right track. This grant started with a simple
weather station, weather instruments, and classroom sets of books that
made it possible for our students to have hands-on experiences with the
implementation of our state standards. Through this grant and our collabo-
ration with the University of South Carolina, we have been able to bring
in consultants (Jane Zenger, Saudah Collins, and Phyllis Carey) who
brought their expertise in different areas to enhance our students’ knowl-
edge.
Through summer classes, workshops, and a local field trip spon-
sored through Diverse Pathways, many doors have been opened to
enhance our students’ knowledge and achievement in the classrooms.
Through the sharing of valuable information among our county’s elemen-
tary schools and with other PDS schools in Richland County, we are better
equipped to put best practices to use in our classrooms. The teachers are
able to plan, reinforce, and enhance the science curriculum with hands-on
experiences and activities for the students. The challenges of scheduling,
funding, and resources had to be worked out for successful implementa-
tion. Through Diverse Pathways we were able to obtain and utilize valuable
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materials. Some of these materials include the Anderson Five Curriculum,
AIMS activities, Project Wild activities, FOSS kits, and STC kits. Diverse
Pathways has provided our classrooms with numerous hands-on materials
and books. As a result, through inquiry-based instruction, we are ensuring
classrooms of future scientists.
“Social Justice” Teaching And City Schools:
PDS vs. Non-PDS Teachers’ Considerations Of
Progressive Ideals
Kristien Zenkov, George Mason University
Diane G. Corrigan, Amanda Rutkowski, Joshua Piscura, and Shawn
Washington, Cleveland State University
This presentation will report on the results of a 21-item web-based
survey of the relevance of social justice ideals to approximately 75 in-
service graduates of an urban, social justice-oriented, PDS-based licen-
sure program, approximately half of whom are now working in PDS schools
and half of whom are not. The results of this study address three questions:
1) What is the evidence of new city teachers’ understandings of
social justice as they begin their employment in PDS and non-PDS urban
schools?
2) What does social justice teaching look like to in-service urban
educators - in PDS sites as compared with non-PDS sites - in this world of
narrowing notions of teaching, curricula, assessments, and teacher qual-
ity?
3) What are the supports for and impediments to the consideration
of this concept of social justice in in-service city teachers’ pedagogies and
curricula - in PDS and non-PDS sites?
The presenters will share findings from the survey, including a
typology of lessons these teachers identified as related to social justice
and the extent to which this program’s graduates are interested in and able
to continue to focus on this social justice outcome, paying particular
attention to the nature of the site (PDS or non-PDS) in which they are
employed.
This presentation addresses Question #2 by describing the prepa-
ration of future educators based on social justice ideals and assessing the
best practices incorporated by these teachers within PDS versus non-PDS
sites.
Successfully Unsuccessful Part II: Validating
An Assessment Rubric Designed To Assist
PDSs With Teacher Candidates Experiencing
Dispositional Difficulties
Debbie Anderson and Bruce Brydges, SUNY Potsdam
This session will highlight the use of a newly developed rubric
designed to assess dispositional criteria of all teacher candidates in a
School of Education in northern New York. More specifically the present-
ers will focus on its use to identify and improve the dispositions of
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candidates experiencing difficulty in their program of studies and student
teaching placement within PDSs. The process of developing the assess-
ment rubric format will be outlined, as well as its implementation through-
out the candidate’s program of studies and field work. Use of this rubric
as a more objective tool to help all stakeholders deal effectively with
dispositional issues will be discussed - including perspectives from the
coordinator from the university field experiences office, the faculty super-
visor, the sponsor teacher, and the school administrator. The various
technologies facilitating this rubric’s use will also be demonstrated.
Relevant and analyzed assessment data collected from the semesters in
which it has been used will be presented, including case studies by teacher
candidate supervisors and PDS sponsor teachers using this new format.
The pros and cons of this new assessment tool will be compared to
previous tools used for assessing dispositional issues, as well as how the
data can be used to improve both training and outcomes. Come and enjoy
an innovative model for supporting PDSs in facilitating assessment for
improvement with the sometimes “fuzzy” area of dispositional evaluation.
Teacher Candidates Engaging Families In
Cross-Cultural Connections
Maria Ceprano and Nancy Chicola, Buffalo State College
Amanda Yard, Enterprise Charter School
Involving parents in the development of their children’s literacy and
appreciation of diversity has long been a goal of schools and educators.
Studies directed at increasing parental involvement in their children’s
academic pursuits show the need for developing culturally responsive
programs with respect to specific groups. This presentation describes how
two methods instructors worked together with the staff of an urban-based
Professional Development School and engaged teacher candidates in the
planning and implementation of a project that successfully involved
parents in their children’s literacy and multicultural understandings.
In implementation and outcome, the project is responsive to Ques-
tion 2 (How is best practice defined, implemented, and shared within and
beyond the PDS?). A brief introduction on the research-based consider-
ations for the design and implementation of the project as it pertained to
the specific community for which it was directed, and the benefit for the
teacher candidates in terms of integrated curriculum planning and profes-
sional/disposition training will be presented. The introduction will be
followed by a multi-media power point presentation showing how two
classes of teacher candidates collaborated in producing a Multicultural/
Literacy Fair. The outcomes of the fair as it pertained to participation,
learning, and attitude formation on the part of the parent/child community,
the teacher candidates, and the PDS staff will be shared with the audience.
Teaching Action Research In A PDS: Do the
Lessons Last?
Jeffrey Scheetz, East Stroudsburg University
The purpose of my presentation is to share with attendees the results
of a study recently conducted with graduates of the ESU secondary PDS
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program. These former PDS students were required to take a course in
action research as part of the program. I wanted to know if the “habits of
mind” we sought to develop in our PDS students were carried over when
they became full-fledged teachers. Specifically, are PDS graduates likely
to continue to be reflective decision makers in their schools because they
had a course in action research? The results of the survey will be used to
make adjustments to our action research course. It is hoped that the
presentation will help to share best practice concerning action research in
a PDS with a wider audience.
Teaching And Learning 21st Century Skills
Within The Context Of Urban Professional
Development High Schools
R.D. Nordgren and Shawn Washington, Cleveland State University
Recently, much scholarly attention has been given to what were
formerly considered “non-academic” skills: communication, collabora-
tion, problem solving, critical thinking, and self-directedness (e.g., Conley,
2005; Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2006). How these skills are
taught, learned, and assessed is crucial to the P-16 community if we are to
prepare our students to be productive workers in a knowledge-based
economy and participatory citizens in a public democracy (Conley, 2003;
Cuban, 2003; Daggett, 2005; Sehr, 1997).
This presentation shares the trials and tribulations of 36 pre-service
teachers in urban Professional Development High Schools who work
diligently toward fostering these skills in their classrooms. In their 4-month
long practicum, they are required to teach a 2-week unit of instruction that
incorporates 21st Century Skills and assesses these at both a high
cognitive and high application level. (The pre-service teachers are in the
Master of Urban Secondary Teaching Program.) Assessments and data
from these unit plans will be shared along with the pre-service teachers’
own stories about their triumphs and struggles to implement these in their
classrooms.
The Effect Of The Study Of Action Research In
A PDS On Action Research Agenda By A PDS
Candidate
Angela Ferri and Jeanne Tunks, University of North Texas
Action research, the research method choice of PDS teachers and
candidates, provides a venue for examination of practice, with an intention
for taking action that improves teaching and learning. The study of action
research by a PDS candidate inspired the candidate to initiate action
research in her final semester as a student teacher. The case study of fifty
action research projects, developed and presented by mentor teachers and
candidates in the spring of 2008, led to the inception of an action research
project by the candidate who studied these initial projects. This research
examines the effect of this candidate’s study of the action research projects
on her own development and completion of an action research project in
a different PDS program.
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The ultimate purpose behind the candidate research is to evaluate
an action research project with the influence of data (accumulated from the
fifty other studies) demonstrating the goals, benefits, and possible limita-
tions of action research. In studying action research, the candidate found
that all of the projects were initiated to achieve one or more of these four
goals: support or refute the validity of a teaching strategy, improve the
everyday efficiency of the classroom, improve motivation of students to
perform better academically and behave effectively, and empower stu-
dents. One study, concerning reduction of transition times, aimed to
achieve the last three of the four goals and was chosen by the candidate
as a project to emulate and improve upon, utilizing the gathered data on
action research.
The Integration Of Technology In The
Collaborative Internship Practicum: Mentor,
Intern, And Technological Best Practices
Ron Siers, Sara Elburn, and Stacie Siers, Salisbury University
The recent construction of Salisbury University’s Teacher Educa-
tion and Technology Center has provided an appropriate venue for
technological integration in our teacher education programs and PDS
partnerships. The need to educate preservice teachers about technology
is an issue at the forefront of best practices. If preservice teachers are to
adequately and effectively integrate technology in their future class-
rooms, it is paramount that they be prepared during the internship
practicum. Technological best practices are shared at SU through profes-
sional development workshops.
At the 2008 PDS National Conference in Orlando, presenters from
Salisbury University’s PDS partnerships shared a phenomenological look
at the collaborative internship experience. Since then, the presenters have
looked at the integration of technology in the collaborative internship
practicum and the subsequent dissemination of best practices.
This session will demonstrate best practices for collaboration during
the internship practicum that can be infused with methodologies for
technology integration. Those in attendance will be given an opportunity
to actively participate in technology-rich collaborative environments.
Participants will glean an understanding of how technological collabora-
tive strategies will benefit mentor, intern, and students in PDSs.
Session attendees will be given an opportunity to submit questions
and challenges from their environments that will be addressed by the
presenters who have vast technological experience.
The Psychological Underpinnings Of Race And
Pedagogical Excellence: An Interactive
Presentation Of Race And Educational
Outcomes
Miles Anthony Irving, Georgia State University
Decades of educational mistreatment suggest that past and current
educational reform has been largely ineffective in rectifying African
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Americans poor school matriculation, class grades, and test scores when
compared to their European American counterparts (Cokley, 2002a; Tucker,
1999; Kaplan, 1999). According to the 2001 National Center of Educational
Statistics’ (NCES) “Our Nation Report Card,” 65% of African American
students have achievement levels that fall below basic skill levels com-
pared to only 19% of white students. While many researchers, psycholo-
gists, and educators have offered different theories in an attempt to explain
the disparity between the educational achievement of African American
students and white students, the research suggests that race and racism
remain as relevant challenges to educational excellence (Dittmann, 2004;
Chamberlin, 2004).
Using students’ culture in the classroom has been found to be an
effective way to incorporate the student into the academic process
(Ladson-Billings, 1995; Hilliard, 1995). However, racism, stereotypes, low
expectations, and European ethnocentrism may all inhibit teachers from
effectively valuing and utilizing African children’s culture in the class-
room. This presentation will utilize an interactive multimedia experience to
engage the participants in effective pedagogical practices that expose
racism in the educational environment. In addition, this presentation will
demonstrate powerful exemplars of how classroom expectations can
impact the classroom experiences of students. This dynamic presentation
will disseminate effective knowledge regarding race and educational
excellence, demonstrate the challenges preventing educational change,
and interactively teach the tools necessary to implement high quality
educational experiences for African children.
The Roles Of Student Leadership
Caroline J. Allen and Maureen Stout, Paradise Professional Development
School
This presentation will cover a best practice model for fostering and
encouraging student leadership within a PDS environment. Simulating a
“real world” experience of our government and making decisions that
directly affect their daily lives is a priceless opportunity that they would
otherwise not have. Student Council empowers the students to:
• Have a voice in how decisions are made at our school
• Possess ownership of our learning community
• Get a glimpse of what government, politics, and leadership really
mean
• Become role models to their peers and younger individuals
• Take the tools and experiences that they have acquired and
implement them in their future lives
Students in grades 3-5 at Paradise PDS come from a background of
diverse experiences. Student Council participants would benefit greatly by
working cooperatively to solve problems, create ideas, and increase their
understanding of working toward a common goal.
Paradise PDS Student Council candidates are required to apply for
the office of their choice. Campaign posters are created and displayed
around the school. Speeches are written and all candidates are videotaped
so that the student body can view and become aware of their platforms.
Computerized elections are held for grades 3-5, votes are tabulated, and
winners are sworn in the following day during the morning ceremony.
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Student Council is a structure that allows all participants a forum for
ongoing governance, reflection, and collaboration. The guidelines and
model that we use are from the National Association of Student Councils
(NASC).
Transforming A Reading Assessment Class
Into A PDS Reading Clinic
Eva Garin, Bowie State University
This session will describe how I transformed an undergraduate
reading assessment class into a PDS reading clinic. When I began teaching
this class I believed there should be opportunities for our pre-service
teachers to authentically assess students’ reading strengths and instruc-
tional needs. In the past pre-service teachers learned about reading
assessment in the confines of their university classrooms and completed
case studies with K-6 students that they identified on their own. Two
research questions framed the PDS reading clinic: What is the impact of
the PDS reading clinic on K-6 students’ learning? What is the impact of the
PDS reading clinic on the pre-service teachers’ self efficacy? Data will be
shared that documents the growth of the K-6 children and the teacher
candidates who tutored them. I will share the reading assessments that we
used in the PDS reading clinic and talk about how we worked collaboratively
with one elementary PDS site to develop our PDS reading clinic. I will also
share a pre-post survey that I used with teacher candidates that documents
their growth in self-efficacy.
Trepidation To Transformation: Transforming
Urban Practicum Students’ Experiences
Davene D. Heckman, Bloomsburg University
How does a university practicum supervisor really prepare future
teachers for the awesome responsibility of nurturing and teaching every
child in his/her charge (Elmoore, 2002; Gross, 2004; NCTQ, 2006; Neuman
& Belano, 2006; Sernak, 1998; Shapiro & Purpel, 2004; Shapiro & Stefkovich;
2005; Young, Peterson, & Short, 2002)? Now couple that question with a
student population that ranges from 55 to 65% Hispanic on any given day/
grade. In addition, this school has a 70% “Free and Reduced Lunch”
population.
This presentation will attempt to briefly outline the university
practicum supervisor’s guidance in the students’ life-altering experience
of teaching high percentages of children with language and cultural
differences from their own (Neuman &Celano, 2006) as possibilities replace
fear (Best Practice Symposium, 2002; Blanchard, 1999; Brough , Bergman,
& Holt, 2006; DuFour, 2002; Gross, 2006; Heckman, 2006).
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Triple E = Excellence: A Mental Health
Prevention Model “Saturday School”
Dollye T. James and Patricia Marquez, Petersen Professional Development
School
Marty Kulesza, Fremont Professional Development Middle School
Wendy Hoskins, University of Nevada Las Vegas
The presentation will include an overview of a best practice model
that promotes academic success and mental health prevention focusing on
student efficacy, empowerment, and engagement. This model comes out
of the needs of teachers, parents, students, and support staff and is based
on a needs assessment recently conducted at Petersen Elementary. Our
collaboration will include Professional Development School counselors
and the UNLV Department of Counselor Education faculty and students.
This comprehensive plan will service the at-risk population of students
and families between grades pre-kindergarten through eighth. The areas
of greatest concern that will be addressed include:
• truancy/absenteeism/dropout rate
• retention issues
• emerging mental health issues
• parental/caretaker involvement
All schools are within close proximity of the University of Nevada
Las Vegas campus and serve an urban, underprivileged population of
children. It is proposed that we implement a prevention model Saturday
School designed to provide the elementary schools with the tools to
support the personal/social needs of students and facilitate student
transition to the partnering PDMS. The results will be measured using pre/
post assessments.
UNLV graduate students from the Department of Counselor Educa-
tion, under the supervision of licensed school counselors and UNLV
professors, will develop a unique practicum/internship program by provid-
ing academic success strategies, social skills, and mental health services
to identified students. The model will follow the guidelines of the Annual
Guaranteed Level of Service (AGLS), the ASCA Model, and the nine
required essentials of a Professional Development School.
Universal Access To Teaching In The
Environment The PDS Way
Alison Rutter, Katherine DiSimoni, and Gina Scala, East Stroudsburg
University
Judy Hartzler, Pleasant Valley Elementary School
Unfortunately, teachers frequently decide not to conduct field trips
in the environment due to challenges presented by meeting various
students’ needs in the outside environment. In our PDS, we live by our
mantra of being inclusive practitioners for all learning. As a major part of
our elementary science program is implementing the environmental edu-
cation programs project WILD (PW) and Project Learning Tree (PLT), we
decided we needed to confront these fears head on. We initially model
these programs’ activities to our pre-service teachers at the outset of the
semester and then have them in turn teach lessons to their classes. Part of
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this instruction now includes one of our special education professors
introducing ways to ensure these activities are inclusionary and differen-
tiated for all learners. We have recently extended this experience to allow
our students the opportunity to explore teaching these lessons with a
variety of children in an outside learning setting by holding a Project WILD
Day or a Project Learning Tree Day. A cohort of our students (about 20-
25) work together in teams to teach PW or PLT to the classes at a specific
grade level at one of our PDS sites. Our pre-service students are expected
to ensure that their “Days” are also inclusionary. Inasmuch, their plans
must overcome the very real physical limitations of the environment. Our
presentation will provide suggestions and examples (handouts) we have
used for overcoming the obstacles that many teachers fear. A Q & A
discussion will follow.
Using A Guided Literacy Practicum Within A
PDS Model
Sandra J. Stone, Northern Arizona University
Brian Stone, Mountain School
The purpose of this session is to describe how a guided literacy
practicum operates within a PDS model. A brief overview of the compo-
nents of the Northern Arizona University DeMiguel/Knoles PDS program
will be highlighted. In this program, which has successfully operated for
12 years, PDS interns work with mentor teachers on a daily basis in
classrooms following the mentor teacher’s guidelines for involving the
interns in positive learning experiences. In addition to the daily experi-
ences, a literacy professor integrates theory and practice by teaching
interns literacy strategies and immediately providing interns with the
opportunity to use these strategies with children during two semesters in
mentor and/or practicum teachers’ classrooms. Two days a week for a half-
hour the interns work with individual or small groups across grade levels
including multi-age classrooms. The professor supervises the interns
during this guided practicum.
This session provides “best practices” examples of the literacy
strategies used and the operation of how mentor teachers, interns, and the
professor are involved in this process. Participants will also learn how
authentic assessment is used with the interns and children and how the
professor gains insight in order to integrate the theory into practice.
Discussion from a former PDS intern will highlight the benefits of this
approach for future teachers. The benefits for the professor, mentors
teachers, and children will be discussed as well. These best literacy
practices are shared within and without the PDS program and examples are
noted.
Utilizing Literature Circles To Develop Future
Teachers As Readers
Linda K. Rogers, Rhonda M. Sutton, Jennifer Asman, and Elise Clifford, East
Stroudsburg University
Reading is a complex process. It requires the reader to be engaged
with text on many levels. This engagement draws on social, personal, and
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cognitive experiences for comprehension. It is vital that reading professors
facilitate pre-service teachers’ awareness of reading processes. This
awareness sets the stage for understanding reading instruction. This
presentation will share the metacognitive awareness of pre-service teach-
ers and how this awareness impacts literacy instruction in a PDS site. It is
the researchers’ belief that metacognitive awareness is the foundation of
understanding effective reading instruction. Pre-service teachers begin
this metacognitive journey a semester before the Apprentice II semester
in a PDS site. During the Apprentice II semester, data was gathered through
reflective journaling in which pre-service teachers reflected on the pro-
cesses used to understand text that was read and discussed in literature
circles. These reflections and discussions focused on their awareness of
the strategies (comprehension, fix-up, etc.), when they were used to make
sense of text, and how this awareness assisted them in understanding
effective reading instruction. In addition to reflective journaling and
literature circle discussions, the pre-service teachers reflected on their
awareness and usage and its impact on the reading instruction they
planned.
What Do They See And Hear? Comparing The
Effects Of Classroom Audio And Video
Recording On Pre-Service Teachers’ Self-
Evaluations
Daniel Bergman, Wichita Sate University
This presentation will share results and analysis of research into the
reflective practices of teachers. The purpose of this study is to differentiate
the effects of audio and video self-taping on pre-service teachers’ self-
evaluations of classroom instruction. Participants include those enrolled
in the general methods course for secondary educators and its school-
based fieldwork counterpart. The two general methods sections met
during the spring semester, allowing for two groups of participants. The
audio group used audio recorders during their fieldwork experiences to
monitor their classroom teaching; the video group used video recording
equipment for their fieldwork experiences.
Data indicates multiple findings about the impact of recording in
general, as well as results specific to each format. Analysis includes
summaries of all participants and comparisons between the audio and
video groups. Participants generally do not behave differently whether
they are video- or audio-recording themselves. In their self-evaluations,
participants in the audio group more frequently addressed questions and
responses, praise, and wait-time, while those in the video group gave more
attention to non-verbal behaviors such as facial expressions and gestures.
Both groups focused more on the role of curriculum over instruction, and
annoying mannerisms were the most frequently identified teacher behav-
ior among participants. Participants identified self-improvement as the
primary reason for recording their teaching, yet cited time constraints,
embarrassment, and distractions as reasons why they would not record
themselves. Implications for research, teaching, and teacher education in
PDSs are discussed, including methods for enhancing and increasing the
habit of teacher recording and self-reflection.
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What Matters In A PDS?
Teresa Filbert and Sue Small, University of Maryland Baltimore County
Teresa Spray, Stevens Forest Elementary School
Over time we redefine best practices to keep the PDS current with the
realities that our students encounter in local schools. Reflection on our
practice and evaluation of our work are integral as we support pre-service
and in-service teachers across their careers.
In early 2008, three UMBC faculty embarked on a qualitative research
project to investigate how teachers who graduated from the Early Child-
hood Education Program at UMBC perceived the impact of their internship
in a PDS on their subsequent classroom experiences. Using interpretive
inquiry as the primary approach, the project focused on self-reflection and
critical analysis by participants who completed a written questionnaire and
took part in a videotaped focus group.
Findings identified benefits of being trained in a PDS as a mentor’s
knowledge, experience, and advocacy; the development of professional
dispositions; the year-long time frame in a PDS; and observation of child
development in the school setting. Former interns noted the costs of
working in a PDS as the anxiety related to being closely monitored by the
PDS community and feeling a need to excel as representatives of UMBC.
They also discussed how the PDS could have better prepared them for
classroom management/discipline challenges, one current focus among
PDS faculty.
The results of this study will be shared with UMBC faculty, teachers
in the local schools, current interns, and teacher educators in other
institutions to inform current practice as we strengthen the alignment of
our PDS program with the reality of today’s classrooms.
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Q UESTION #3: W HAT IS INVOLVED IN
THE CREATION AND MANAGING OF A
PDS?
“And They Wrote Reflectively Ever After...”
Reflection As Development Through Journals
Jodi Kamin, Grays Woods Elementary School
Kristen Dewitt and Susan Lunsford, Penn State University
Christine McDonald and Lindsi Ciuffetelli, Park Forest Elementary School
This presentation focuses on the use of reflective journals as a tool
for improving practice and for fine-tuning observations made by interns.
As pre-service interns begin the journey from college student to profes-
sional educator, many issues and questions arise; concerns and discov-
eries surface that require personal and professional reflection. A weekly
journal not only becomes a record of development over time but also a
resource for reflection to improve teaching practice.
When shared with a university or district supervisor who adds
thought-provoking questions and comments, this journaling discourse
pushes the intern’s thinking and understanding into his own teaching
practice. Questions interspersed by the supervisor guide the intern to
further wonderings and reflections that, because they are documented,
can be revisited throughout the course of the internship.
In this session a mentor teacher and professional development
associates from the Penn State-State College Area School District School
Partnership will share journal reflections and real-life examples of how their
teaching practice improved based on the journaling process. Ideas for
journal topics as well as developmentally appropriate reflections will also
be shared. Perspectives from former interns on the importance of journaling
as a pre-service teacher and as a beginning teacher will be shared.
An Evolving Story: The Role Of Continual
Reflection And Communication In Defining
Successful PDS Partnerships
Michael Patte and Caryn Terwilliger, Bloomsburg University
Mutual collaboration between school and university faculty and
administration is a vital component in the creation, management, and
sustainability of an effective Professional Development School. Focus
groups, reflective journals, and surveys from PDS participants provide a
rich data set for enhancing school-university partnerships. Reflecting on
the experiences of two distinct Professional Development Schools, the
presenters share how continual reflection and communication are crucial
in shared governance by identifying mutually beneficial program goals
that subscribe to the nine essentials of a PDS. Through the process,
flexibility for on-going improvement is highlighted and assists in design-
ing experiences that advance the College of Education’s conceptual
framework and districts’ strategic plans for guiding pre-service and
practicing teachers’ professional development.
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Building And Managing A Professional
Development School Partnership
Marci Greene, Florida Gulf Coast University
Tim Ferguson, Veterans Memorial Elementary School
This presentation will highlight the process used in the development
of a Professional Development School partnership between Florida Gulf
Coast University and the District School Board of Collier County. The
presenters will explain the one-year planning cycle that resulted in con-
stituents in both arenas agreeing to formalize the school district/university
working relationship by creating a PDS, the process used to actively
engage all parties in crafting the written agreement, and the current
management plan. The process used in the development of a written PDS
agreement between the university partner and three schools located in
Collier County will be shared and the final document will be distributed. Our
agreement outlines the following components: partner roles, PDS objec-
tives, instructional activities, internship opportunities, professional de-
velopment partnerships, model program development, action research,
faculty exchange, and graduate degree cohort programs.
The established PDS partnership is governed by a Leadership
Advisory Board (LAB) made up of representation from the university
partners, school-based and district personnel, along with parents and
community members. The LAB provides oversight of the PDS agreement
serving in an advisory capacity for identified PDS activities and special
projects.
The presentation will provide a historical overview of the PDS
partnership from initial conception through the second year of implemen-
tation. Presenters will highlight the benefits of the PDS partnership from
three perspectives: the university, the individual school, and the school
district as well as share obstacles that were encountered along the way.
Collaboratively Creating And Maintaining
Several PDS Sites
Wren M. Bump, University of Houston Clear Lake
Joan Maier, Sam Houston State University
One university working with ten school districts and over fifty PDS
sites can be a daunting task. How can the requirements and standards of
the program be maintained? How can all the involved parties have a voice?
Several structures were created to frame this multi-faceted partnership at
one suburban university. A written agreement that specifies all the roles,
responsibilities, and requirements was created. A committee that consists
of 51% school district personnel was created to be in charge of the
application process for PDS sites. A smaller committee made up of district
supervisors and university supervisors was also created that meets
regularly throughout the semester to revise and align the syllabi for the
two-semester internship; place the interns in their districts; discuss and
update the assignments; and reflect on what is working, what is not
working, and what needs to be changed. This is the committee that actually
governs the internship program and makes all the major decisions that are
involved.
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
In an effort to improve our communication and high standards, we
developed a checklist that includes the Nine Essentials. We asked all of
our university and district supervisors, our dean, and our teacher educa-
tion faculty to comment on each of these essentials and how they were
being implemented in our program. Our next step is to use the comments
to further improve our program. We would like to share this process with
other PDS programs.
Communication, Community, And
Commitment: Opportunities And Challenges Of
Formalizing Shared Agreements
Rocio Delgado and Pat Norman, Trinity University
Erica Gonzalez, Hawthorne Academy
In 1991, Trinity University established a long-term Professional
Development School partnership with Hawthorne Academy, one of our
original PDS campuses. A single university teacher educator created and
sustained the partnership at this school campus over a fourteen year
period. Although a single formal written agreement between the school
district and university existed, many informal practices and ways of “being
a PDS” had been established and reinforced informally and on the ground
at the PDS campus. The university teacher educator’s untimely demise
created both opportunities and challenges in re-negotiating shared expec-
tations and formal agreements.
This presentation explores from the university’s perspective how
formal written documents were used to assess the state of the partnership,
develop shared understandings of what it means to be a PDS, and
determine whether and how to move the partnership forward. Specifically,
we will share and analyze two documents: (1) the “Partnership Covenant
for a Partnership School” and (2) the “Roles and Responsibilities of
Interns, Mentors, School Liaison, University Liaison, and School Princi-
pal.” In addition, we describe and analyze a recently created PDS committee
that meets monthly to assess, inform, and establish agreed-upon policies
and practices. Finally, we identify three threads that run throughout our
governance work: communication; community; and commitment.
Creating And Managing A Successful PDS: A
Study In Participatory Democracy
James B. Tuttle, Shepherd University
The Shepherd University/Jefferson County/Berkeley County (West
Virginia) PDS unit was begun in 2003-2004 through the collaborative vision
of Jefferson County teachers and a Shepherd professor. Our growing unit
continues to use the original collaboratively-written documents put in
place, including the allocation of roles and assigned responsibilities; these
agreements continue to serve well. These and all other documents the unit
uses for ongoing governance, reflection, and communication are available
for all members of our unit, all the time, online originally through WebCT,
now through Sakai.
Shepherd University recently switched to Sakai as its online center
for courses. We worked together to create identities for non-Shepherd PDS
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participants, and a module for the PDS has been constructed using the
same tools and offering the same powerful benefits for PDS governance,
reflection, and communication as for university courses. Our PDS unit also
uses the online FIPSE PDS standards database for ongoing management
of needs and unit activities.
Creating And Managing Our PDS Through
Transformational Leadership And A Change In
Our School Culture
Shelli Barton, Saint Leo University
Kim Rulison, Pasco Middle School
This session highlights the early stages of a transformation leader-
ship model used in: 1) writing goals for our PDS relationship that support
school goals and pre-teacher needs, 2) maintaining communication among
our PDS leadership team and maintaining participation from all parties, and
3) following and tracking of our goals. The process of developing our goals
with our leadership team of teachers fostered a team atmosphere that
afforded each a voice in the process that continues at monthly meetings.
All goals will be reviewed in this session. One of the goals our teachers
formed was that of learning about school culture and changing school
culture among faculty in order to provide more quality placement positions
for pre-interns and final interns. The structure, roles, and governance of
the goals will be reviewed, as well as some case studies of selected teachers
and pre-interns of their experiences in this process.
Creating PDSs In A Unique “3x3” Urban
Partnership
Janice L. Nath, University of Houston - Downtown
In 2006, an urban university began a partnership (termed a “3x3”)
with a large urban/suburban school district and an outlying community
college to provide a “seamless” transfer from the community college
partner. Thus, students are now able to accomplish three critical achieve-
ments: an associates degree, a bachelors degree, and their state teachers’
certification. Within this process, education students have extensive
fieldwork requirements at the community college and university level,
resulting in the establishment of new PDSs for regular and bilingual teacher
candidates within the partnership district. The first group has recently
graduated (Summer 2008), and all of these teacher candidates have been
hired by the district in which they were placed for their fieldwork. This
session will describe the process of working with these partners to create
this unique program and its PDSs that are working for the benefit of all three
partners. The university, with its mission to serve urban students, felt that
it was unable to serve many teacher candidates located in outlying,
increasingly diverse areas of the city due to gas prices, growing traffic
congestion, and lack of public transportation. This created some concern
that enrollment would continue to decline. The district, growing in size and
diversity, faced increasing difficulty in retaining teachers in areas where
minority populations were filling its schools (and where PDSs were
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established). This partnership has resulted in a surge of enrollments both
in the community college and within the Department of Urban Education.
Creation Or Redesign: Managing A PDS Is
Much The Same
Gary L. Willhite, Rita Chen, Cindy M. Duley, Joyce Shanks, Tim Gerber, and
Kathy J. Thomas Willhite, University of Wisconsin LaCrosse
Deborah Markos, Logan High School
Jac Lyga, Irving Pertzsch Elementary School
Communication, trust, interest, and need are a few of the words used
to describe the creation of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse PDS
Partnership with the School Districts of La Crosse and Onalaska. Our PDS
partnerships are entering their 6th year of operation in a variety of configu-
rations: one has a reading emphasis, another a Spanish language empha-
sis, one a science, technology, engineering and math emphasis, and
another is connected to a general methods course for secondary students.
Our partnership is at a crossroads with sustainability and growth. We have
operationalized a written agreement and yet have specialized PDS sites in
practice - one size may or may not fit all. As we review our partnerships
against the new document What It Means to Be a Professional Develop-
ment School and the nine essentials, our internalized structure for gover-
nance, reflection, and communication is a significant avenue to the
continual management of our partnerships. This session will be an over-
view of the original mechanism for implementing the PDS partnership and
the subsequent mutually-crafted written agreement. The remaining dis-
cussion will address how we have “managed” the challenges of limited
placement availability, specialization, sustainability, and growth as related
to the nine essentials of a PDS.
Developing A PDS Mindset
LaVonne Peterson, East Moline School District #37
Tracy Greer, Glenview Middle School
Cindy Dooley and LaVerne Logan, Western Illinois University
This presentation is designed to describe the process by which a
Professional Development School relationship is being crafted between
the East Moline, Illinois School District #37 and Western Illinois Univer-
sity. We will share the two-year story of our Professional Development
School relationship from the “idea stage” through a newly generated
formal agreement, guided by the NAPDS document What It Means to Be
a Professional Development School.
Participants in this session will hear from representative teachers,
principals, university faculty, and administrators, all of whom were mem-
bers of a two-year planning committee. Specific elements of the presenta-
tion include: the role of research in planning a PDS, the role of site visits
in planning a PDS, methods and strategies employed to foster “buy-in”
from constituents, and a discussion of potential barriers and how they were
overcome.
The presentation would likely benefit those who are seeking strat-
egies and approaches for beginning a Professional Development School
relationship. Handouts and resources will be incorporated into our story.
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Encouraging And Finding “Voice” In Forums
For Ongoing Growth Of The PDS Partnership
Deb Theiss, Carl Grigsby, and Nicole Nickens, University of Central Missouri
With more than eleven years of collaborating with rural area schools,
the PDS partnership with the University of Central Missouri was now
focused on sustaining and supporting ongoing growth of the program.
Several organizational structures were put in place to provide continued
governance, reflection of all participants, and effective communication. To
measure the success of our program, data was collected over a two-year
period to provide concrete evidence in the efforts to fully implement an
effective collaboration between the university and public schools. This
has given participants a forum to reflect on best practices and a voice that
has encouraged a renewed sense of vision for future work.
Expanding Professional Development Schools
In Las Vegas, Nevada: The Process And
Structures For Moving Forward
Pam Campbell, Cyndi Giorgis, and Sherri Strawser, University of Nevada Las
Vegas
Ruth Devlin and Maureen Stout, Paradise Professional Development School
Kim Izumo and Antonio Rael, Fremont Professional Development Middle
School
Hilary Jones and Sue Steaffens, Dean Petersen Professional Development
School
Eva White, Clark County School District
Four years ago, there were only two existing Professional Develop-
ment Schools inLas Vegas: Paradise and Petersen, both elementary schools.
While both were called “PDSs,” they were actually PDSs in name only. PDS
activities were limited to a single cohort program for approximately twenty
pre-service students in general education and there were minimal profes-
sional development and/or research activities.
Then, through a collaborative initiative among representatives from
the College of Education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV)
and the Clark County School District (CCSD), stakeholders came together
to renew and re-create Paradise and Petersen PDSs. Through sustained
conversations that continued for a full academic year, a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) that formalized governance processes and struc-
tures was created. In the three years that have followed, both Paradise and
Petersen PDSs have been transformed into active, vibrant, thoughtful
PDSs with greater engagement by the university and school district, as well
as the wider Las Vegas community. Then, last spring, the process was
repeated and Fremont PDS, a middle school, was restructured as the third
UNLV/CCSD PDS.
In this session, presenters will share both the process and the
products of creating, maintaining, and expanding the work of the PDSs.
The structures for governance (Governing Board and individual PDS
Coordinating Councils) will be described. It is through the governance
structures that all three PDSs maintain ongoing conversations and reflec-
tions about their practice and collaborate in planning for the future.
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Opportunities for discussion and conversation among presenters and
participants will be provided and encouraged.
Exploring 21st Century Communication Tools
To Support PDS Partnerships
Barbara Owens and Denise Lindstrom, Fairmont State University
JoAnn Gilbert, Nutter Fort Elementary School
Fostering on-going governance, reflection, and communication
between participants in a PDS partnership can be challenging. The
Fairmont State PDS partnership is currently the largest PDS partnership in
West Virginia with the recent inclusion of forty K-12 schools within a large
geographic area. The mountainous terrain and long distances between
schools and the university make face-to-face meetings cumbersome. 21st
century technologies like electronic social networking and video-
conferencing can help facilitate the kind of collaboration and communica-
tion needed for a successful and healthy partnership. Currently our
partnership is exploring the use of Ning, an online social networking site,
and video conferencing with Adobe Connect to supplement face-to-face
meetings in ways that foster collaboration, improve decision making
processes, and improve efficiency in the dissemination of information
among university liaisons, site coordinators, and cooperating teachers. In
addition, uses of these information and communication technologies to
enrich the clinical and student teaching experiences of teacher candidates
will be considered. Professional development is essential in preparing
educators to integrate technology into their teaching practices in ways
that more fully prepare students for life in the 21st century. These
technology-rich experiences also have potential to improve teachers’ self-
confidence in using new ICT so that they may consider integrating them
into their own teaching practices. Examples of how the partnership
provides educators with access, time, and support to utilize these tech-
nologies so that they may become more “fearless” in their use of technol-
ogy will be provided.
Get Ready, Get Set, Go!: Establishing A
Meaningful PDS Partnership
Jennifer Craft, Montgomery Blair High School
Andrea Speaks, Sligo Creek Elementary School
Effective Professional Development School partnerships require
comprehensive training, meaningful time to collaborate, and a continuous
improvement model in order to build a program that promotes successful
relationships. The action steps used in establishing a meaningful partner-
ship that is mutually beneficial to the university and the partnering schools
will be discussed. The session will detail the strategic planning meetings
and include copies of all the handouts used during the process. The
planning process used with both the elementary and high school will be
outlined. In an era of high stakes testing and increased accountability, the
two schools will discuss the specific benefits and challenges of collabo-
ration and communication. In addition, recruitment of mentor teachers will
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also be addressed. Time will be allocated to allow session participants to
ask specific questions related to the strategic planning process utilized.
How It All Came Together
Gena Riley, John Hammett, Slenda Haynes, Roland Thornburg, and Jordan
Barkley, Jacksonville State University
Eric Mackey, Jacksonville City Schools
Bob Phillips and Bridgett Vernon, Kitty Stone Elementary School
Mike Newell and Ann Powell, Jacksonville High School
Diedre Vital, parents
Four major elements were critical in the creation of the Jacksonville
Professional Development School (JPDS), a joint venture of Jacksonville
City Schools (Alabama) and Jacksonville State University: (1) strong
central figures in the university and public schools; (2) powerful, well-
presented ideas; (3) inclusion of key university and public school figures
early in the planning process; and (4) adequate resources. Important
factors in the implementation stage were careful attention to communica-
tion and to nurturing relationships. The Jacksonville Professional Devel-
opment School focuses on three specific goals: (1) to develop and offer a
comprehensive field-based collaborative pre-service teacher preparation
program; (2) to create and manage comprehensive programs for extended
development of teaching professionals in the Jacksonville City Schools;
and (3) to provide a setting for educational professionals to come together
to examine, evaluate, and reflect on teaching and learning. The presenta-
tion will include a brief physical description of the PDS, discussion of
systematic reflection and disciplined inquiry in the PDS, a mutually-crafted
written agreement, and outlines of the program goals and curriculum
content of the pre-service and in-service programs and specific program
plans for 2009-2010.
It Takes A Village: How We Created Our
Professional Development Schools In
Burlington, North Carolina.
Jean Rohr and Judith Howard, Elon University
The Elon University School of Education, along with its two public
school partners, are currently involved in the creation of a Professional
Development School partnership in Burlington, North Carolina. Since we
are in the early stages of our PDS partnership, our presentation will focus
on the creation of a PDS rather than the management of the PDS. We have
relied on the structure of the Professional Development Schools plan
proposed by the National Association for Professional Development
Schools as a frame on which to shape the creation of our PDS partnership.
Our session will underscore the steps we have taken in developing our PDS
partnership. The presenters will take the audience through all phases of
the evolution of our PDS, ranging from initial decision making to final
agreements. We will discuss the creation of: our mission statements;
professional development endeavors; placements and field experiences
for our pre-service teachers; efforts to demonstrate respect for the skills
and expertise of all the stakeholders in the PDS; research and scholarship
activities; formal contracts detailing the expectations of the public school,
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school district, and the university; and decisions regarding specific roles
of personnel and resources. Additionally, we will highlight the develop-
ment of broad community involvement in our PDS along with sustainability
efforts to ensure PDS successes.
Managing The Complexities Of A Professional
Development School As A New Principal
Susan Steaffens, Dean Petersen Professional Development School
Maureen Stout, Paradise Professional Development School
Antonio Rael, Fremont Professional Development Middle School
Eva White, Clark County School District
Sherri Strawser, University of Nevada Las Vegas
The complexities of a Professional Development School can be
overwhelming, especially to a new principal. This session will discuss the
impact that being a Professional Development School has on a new
principal. Three principals will discuss their successes and challenges as
they have undertaken this new role.
There are three Professional Development Schools in the Clark
County School District. One elementary school, Paradise PDS, has been
a Professional Development School for nine years, but now has a new
principal. Dean Petersen PDS opened six years ago as a Professional
Development School. The current principal has only been there for one
year. The newest addition, Fremont PDMS, formerly a middle school, just
came on board this year. The current principal was appointed in March,
2008. Each of these schools is different, yet with one common factor - they
all follow the PDS structure. What is different is where they all are in the
PDS continuum.
Moving Forward: Involving All PDS
Stakeholders To Put Beliefs Into Practice
Maggie Madden and Cheri Wittmann, Maryland State Department of
Education
Nancy Neilson, Baltimore City Schools
Evelyn Randall-Perry, Morgan State University
Maryland’s Professional Development School Standards provide
guidance for PDS stakeholders to implement successful PDS partnerships.
Representatives from university education departments, school systems
and schools use the PDS Standards in their strategic planning process
(Essential 7). How does an institution involve the university as a whole and
its community partners in supporting the mission of the PDS? Presenters
will describe strategies used by Morgan State University and Baltimore
City Public Schools to create and manage PDS partnerships which maxi-
mize the resources of both. Presenters will share articulation agreements
and describe a variety of ways in which key PDS stakeholders (the
university PDS coordinator and the local school system PDS contact) use
limited resources to achieve common goals (Essentials 6 and 9). A
description of strategies used to involve those outside the immediate PDS
to meet the needs of the partners will be provided (Essential 1).
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Moving Forward With Assessment
Nancy Norris-Bauer, William Paterson University
Martha Mobley, Kean University
The adoption of the NCATE PDS standards in 2000 established a
framework for PDS assessment. The goal was to have standards which
addressed applicant quality, candidate and graduate performance, and
unit operations. The goals of those standards and the reality of actually
implementing an effective assessment system is the challenge for institu-
tions of higher education who have not one or two PDS relationships, but
a larger network of twenty or more schools.
Most work related on assessment has focused on candidate perfor-
mance or the performance of P-12 students in PDS schools compared to
non-PDS schools. Developing AND implementing an assessment system
for networks of Professional Development Schools are parallel goals for
two metropolitan universities committed to preparing educators for urban-
rim districts. PDSs at both institutions are established creating multiple
opportunities for developing and implementing successful protocols and
expectations while addressing basic competencies of prepared teacher
candidates, assessment of professors in residence, teacher satisfaction,
examination of site support, and impact on K-12 student learning.
In an era of accountability, school districts providing financial
support for PDS relationships want to be involved in the development of
assessment systems and protocols. All stakeholders have a vested
interest in developing instruments which provide reliable data and docu-
mentation while not becoming too detailed to maintain over time.
This session will present some protocols currently being used by
two different institutions with large networks of Professional Develop-
ment Schools.
Moving Forward With Technology: Sharing
PDS Best Practices At The Local And State
Level
Judy Beiter, Anne Arundel County Public Schools
Donna Culan, Howard County Public School System
Jeanne Imbriale, Baltimore County Public Schools
Maggie Madden and Cheri Wittmann, Maryland State Department of
Education
Barbara Onofrey, Mount St. Mary’s University
PDS practitioners (representing schools, school systems, higher
education institutions, and state department of education) have come
together to use technology to communicate within their PDSs and with
other PDS practitioners statewide (Essential 7). At the school system level,
use of technology has broadened the outreach and scope of individual
partnerships, connecting them across higher education institutions (Es-
sential 1). Presenters will describe uses of technology to facilitate commu-
nication about best practices. At the state level, Maryland sponsors
meetings for school and university partners in various parts of the state
(Essential 1). Stakeholders indicated a need for “hybrid” communication,
combining face-to-face and electronic meetings (Essential 3). A team
representing the state department of education, higher education, and
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school systems collaborated to develop a process, using Elluminate video
conferencing software, to facilitate statewide discussion and sharing
among PDS practitioners. Presenters will describe the developmental
process, possible uses, and lessons learned from early implementation.
PDS Re-Defined: Making Our PDS Work
Purposeful
Cathy J. Siebert and Peggy Lewis, Ball State University
Creating, maintaining, and growing a successful Professional Devel-
opment School Network has proven to be a complex challenge for many
schools, colleges, and departments of education. The Ball State University
network has accomplishments to relate, lessons learned to share, and plans
for continued growth to discuss.
Reflecting on our first decade, we consider the context of our next
phase of work as “PDS Redefined.” One major realization is that our PDS
work needs to be more purposeful. To this end, we are re-framing and
constructing a new model for network reporting.
Annual goals at each site are now set to respond to NCATE PDS
Standards. Periodic site reviews will assess the strength and relative health
of network partnerships through self-evaluation and collaborative discus-
sions. This site visit provides a forum for discussing the partnership and
revealing potential next-steps. The Nine Essentials presents a platform for
this discussion and for revisions in partnership agreements that are more
connected to a PDS initiative that directly impacts P-16 learning.
The outcomes of this re-defined structure will provide us with
specific evidence to support policy changes at local and state levels. Our
partners will be able to use the data to answer the questions, “What does
it mean to us to be a Professional Development School?” and “How do we
document increased student achievement as a direct result of our PDS
efforts?” By sharing our story and network plans, we anticipate discussion
and dialogue among session participants.
Pitfalls And Positives Of Creating A PDS: What
Steps Are Necessary In Creating And
Managing A PDS?
Melanie Hurley, Black Hills State University
The creation of PDS partnerships is not linear in design; rather it
involves orchestrated agreements happening simultaneously with all
participants. In July of 2007, I was hired to redesign the senior year at Black
Hills State University. We decided to move the College of Education’s
senior year into a PDS model. Little information is available providing
institutions with examples of contracts, structures, or criterions, nor what
structures should be in place to establish and sustain the PDS mission.
This proposal is designed to provide participants an overview of the
NCATE PDS Standards and how these effect the development of the PDS.
Participants will walk through step by step: how to create a PDS before the
PDS is launched, criteria for clinical faculty, criteria and contracts for
school districts, organization of a PDS governing committee, structures of
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the PDS with methods schedules, professional development, and PDS
research questions. Participants will learn how structures assist in deter-
mining professional development to sustain communication and gover-
nance once the PDS is launched. Participants will leave the session with
a jump start on how to develop and implement a PDS. Examples of sample
contracts, PDS research, and a sample of a PDS handbook will be shown.
Designing on-going governance, reflection, and communication in PDS
partnerships cannot be an afterthought, rather foreseeing the future with
a vision of what the PDS work can do, and this must begin during the PDS
development and continue throughout the life of the partnership.
Strategies For Setting Up Mentors And Interns
For A Successful PDS Experience
Cindy Cowan and Christine McDonald, Park Forest Elementary School
Jennifer Tranell, Panorama Village Elementary School
Kristen Dewitt and Susan Lunsford, Penn State University
In the past ten years, we in the PDS at Penn State have learned what
is needed for interns and mentors to have a successful year. Providing
support and strategies to ensure a positive start to the new school year is
essential. We understand that it is a commitment toward fostering a strong
relationship between the mentor and intern. A proactive approach to
building this rapport involves providing opportunities and tools to em-
power both parties for a successful PDS experience.
Mentor preparation suggestions include:
• A PDS guide for mentors
• Fall, winter and spring mentor workshops and retreats
• Professional development opportunities
• Ongoing communication through monthly mentor meetings and
monthly stakeholders meetings
• Ongoing support from Professional Development Associates
Intern preparation suggestions include:
• A two-week Jump Start orientation program
• Year-long professional development through methods courses
and seminars
• Ongoing communication through weekly intern meetings and
weekly reflective journaling assignments
• Ongoing support from Professional Development Associates
This session will focus on two areas:
• Strategies and ongoing support for preparing mentors that
include roles, expectations, and tips for the classroom partner-
ship
• Strategies and ongoing support for preparing interns with the
qualities needed for a successful PDS experience and beyond
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Sustaining A School District-University
Collaborative: Supporting Mentors Through A
Clinical Faculty Liaison
Kathleen Sillman and James Nolan, Penn State University
In 2001, a collaborative was formed between Penn State University
and Bellefonte Area School District. The university had already estab-
lished a PDS with the State College Area School District, closer in proximity,
but it was serving less than 20% of the teacher education candidates. At
the time, I was employed by the Bellefonte Area School District and had
just completed a doctoral program, but I was currently on leave and at the
university. Through discussions with the school superintendent, the
director of field experiences at the university, and me, the Bellefonte
Collaborative was established. The goal of this partnership was to identify
research-based benefits of the existing PDS and apply those to the new
partnership while using available resources to sustain it. A clinical faculty
position was created for me where I was to serve as a school-university
liaison. In this position, I continued to be employed by the school district,
with the university paying an honorarium to the school district to fill my
position with a first-year teacher.
This presentation will focus on the role that I play in this partnership,
including teaching university courses, supervising pre-service teachers
in the same classroom with the same mentor over the entire school year,
training mentor teachers in an induction program, and teaching graduate-
level courses onsite as requested, one being a course to become a more
effective mentor. The opportunities and challenges of the liaison role will
be examined.
Teacher Education Is Everybody’s Business:
The Continuing Development Of A Professional
Development High School
Jewell E. Cooper, Carl Lashley, and Stephanie Kurtts, University of North
Carolina Greensboro
Joseph Yeager and Christine Ricci, Northern Guilford High School
The purpose of this presentation is to describe the ongoing efforts
in the development of a comprehensive Professional Development High
School (PDHS) at Northern Guilford High School. More specifically, this
session responds to Question #3: What is involved in the creation and
managing of a PDS?
Research is scant concerning the particulars of creating and using
a PDS partnership to prepare high school students for the 21St century
AND as an environment for the enhancement of the purposes of a PDS.
Additionally, helping teacher education become everybody’s business -
specifically, the active participation of members of the College of Arts and
Sciences, the School of Music, and the School of Health and Human
Performance, along with the School of Education - has been touted as one
of the most difficult ventures of collaboration in institutions of higher
education nationwide. In this presentation, the participants will chronicle
the activities completed during the fourth year of planning and actual
implementation of the comprehensive Professional Development High
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School. In an attempt to clearly answer Question #3, participants will first
share how they prepared higher education faculty for the PDS model in a
high school setting. Second, they will share their efforts related to
candidate preparation, inservice teacher professional development (in-
cluding the K-16 math initiative), collaborative research projects and
publications, shared resources (including university and school-based
management), and evaluation data results.
The Dream Team: Challenges And Lessons
Learned Establishing A New PDS At The
Middle Level
Antonio Rael and Kimberly Izumo, Fremont Professional Development
Middle School
Sherri Strawser, University of Nevada Las Vegas
Four years ago, the Clark County School District (CCSD) and the
University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) committed to shared responsi-
bility for continuous teacher education improvement and reform to pro-
mote increased P-12 student learning. School district-university partner-
ships that utilize a PDS model primarily have focused on elementary
schools. However, the nine required essentials of a PDS provide a rich
opportunity for joint participation to enhance middle level teacher prepa-
ration, promote student learning, and close the achievement gap. In 2008,
the John C. Fremont Middle School was restructured and joined the
partnership as a Professional Development School.
This session will focus on the challenges and lessons we have
learned over the course of the year as the first middle school in the
University of Nevada Las Vegas/Clark County School District Profes-
sional Development School partnership. Participants will leave with knowl-
edge of the steps taken by the stakeholders to cultivate a collaborative
middle school partnership emphasizing high quality teacher education,
sustained professional development, and joint participation in research.
Participants will be encouraged to share ideas and experiences with the
presenters and collaboratively discuss issues that may arise as the PDS
middle school partnership continues.
Third Times A Charm: The Birth Of Three
PDS Partnerships Of One Professor
Denise Hill, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and the Corpus Christi
Independent School District embrace a thriving Professional Develop-
ment School partnership including six elementary school partnerships.
Three of the Fall 2008 partnerships were initiated by Dr. Denise Hill,
Associate Professor of Teacher Education.
The first of the three PDS partnerships to be discussed includes
Schanen Estates Elementary, an elementary school serving approximately
500 students, 72.3% Hispanic and 68.6% economically disadvantaged.
This PDS was initiated and has been sustained by Dr. Hill since Fall 2002.
Since 2004, Schanen Estates has experienced two principals, four assistant
principals, and six counselors, and a faculty turnover of 68%. Today, ten
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of its twenty-five faculty members have previously served as PSTs at
Schanen Estates.
In Fall 2004, Dr. Hill imitated the PDS partnership with the CCISD
Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC), an EC3-Grade 5 dual lan-
guage elementary located on the campus of TAMUCC. The ECDC serves
approximately 180 students, 88.4% Hispanic and 54.1% economically
disadvantaged. Today, Ms. Mary Beth Tierce sustains that PDS relation-
ship.
In 2005, a new CCISD elementary school was opened, Faye Webb
Elementary. Its principal had been the assistant principal at Schanen
Estates during its first two years as a PDS partner, along with nine of its
faculty members. They knew the value of the PDS relationship and
requested its own PDS partnership. Dr. Hill initiated the partnership in Fall
2005 and today Dr. Karen Paciotti continues that partnership. The cre-
ations and program development of all three partnerships will be dis-
cussed.
Three-Way Sharing: PDS Day On Campus
Anita Reynolds and Terry Mullins, Concord University
An effective PDS partnership requires active involvement of all PDS
constituents. Providing a medium through which university faculty, P-12
educators, and teacher candidates can share instruction, information, and
input is paramount to the goals of the PDS partnership. And, if this medium
is implemented early in the teacher candidate’s preparation, this partner-
ship between P-12 and the university to improve educational practices
becomes an inherent part of the teacher candidate’s educational paradigm.
As a result, teacher candidates enter the teaching field with the expecta-
tions and anticipations of teaching P-12 as a partner with teacher education
programs in higher education and sharing information that ultimately leads
to enhanced preparation of future teachers and more effective instruction
in the P-12 classroom.
The implementation of an on-campus PDS forum bi-annually has
provided such a medium for our PDS. The “PDS Day on Campus” provides
an opportunity for sharing between university faculty, P-12 educators, and
teacher candidates enrolled in professional education courses. This
session will provide participants with information on how this forum helps
fulfill the goals of the PDS, the agenda followed for PDS Day on Campus,
the key elements and goals of the forum, and the beneficial outcomes from
the meetings. Perspectives from university faculty, P-12 educators, and
teacher candidates on the outcomes of the forum will be presented. Also,
based on past outcomes, future plans for the biannual forum will be shared.
Using NCATE Standards To Improve Your
PDS
Susan Steaffens, Petersen PDS
Maureen Stout, Paradise PDS
Pamela Campbell, University of Nevada Las Vegas
Petersen PDS and Paradise PDS have both utilized the NCATE
Standards for Professional Development Schools to assess where they are
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now and to develop goals to advance their schools. This session will
discuss two different formats that were used to include stakeholders in this
process. In addition, they will discuss how they used these findings when
developing each school’s School Improvement Plan. The meshing of these
two processes was important in the growth of these schools. It also
provided the stakeholders with a better understanding of what being a
Professional Development School means.
The NCATE standards address five developmental guidelines in the
areas of learning community, accountability and quality assurance, col-
laboration, diversity and equity, and structures, resources, and roles. The
levels assessed include beginning, developing, at standard, and leading.
Working Toward A Formal Agreement
Cynthia L. Gissy and Greg Boso, West Virginia University at Parkersburg
Adding a new Professional Development School to an existing
partnership is not a simple matter. This session will share the stages that
West Virginia University at Parkersburg follows. From piloting the partner-
ship to signing the formal document, each phase will be discussed in detail.
Teachers, administrators, and faculty all play an important role in devel-
oping a new partnership. All stakeholder roles and responsibilities will be
detailed and how decisions are made will be included. Forms and copies
of agreements will be shared. Official signing ceremony for the culminating
activity will be documented in an interactive presentation.
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2009 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Q UESTION #4: W HAT DOES IT TAKE TO
RUN A PDS DAY - TO - DAY AND TO SUSTAIN
IT OVER TIME ?
A Day In The Life Of A Professional
Development Middle School
Lisa White-McNulty, University of St. Francis
Kimberly Pfoutz, Victoria Pelton, Bill Benoit, and Jaculin Taylor-Nowak,
Dirksen Junior High School
Beginning in 2003, the University of St. Francis joined with two
elementary schools in Joliet District 86 to form the Joliet Professional
Development Schools Partnership (JPDSP). The purpose of the JPDSP is
to strengthen the collaborative relationships between the university and
the P-12 schools it serves. In 2006, we began exploring a partnership with
a middle school in the district.
This presentation highlights some of the many activities that are now
part of the everyday life of Dirksen Junior High as a result of its partnership
with the university. For example, we will discuss teacher candidates in
inclusion classrooms, the Lesson Plan Handbook, math journals,
multicultural field trips, JPDSP meetings, and action research projects.
Activities such as these serve to sustain the partnership for the benefit of
students, teacher candidates, and faculty and staff at the respective
institutions.
In addition, this presentation will offer some history on the forging
of the partnership between the university and Dirksen Junior High. We
offer a look at some of the challenges and opportunities of thriving as a
middle school in an urban, high-needs K-8 district, and how those
challenges and opportunities are being addressed to meet each partner’s
needs. We will also discuss our respective roles - principal, teacher,
university supervisor, and faculty - as we work to sustain the partnership.
A PDS Partnership – More Than A “Family
Affair!”
Joseph Oliverio, Worthington Elementary School
Paula Oliverio, Belmont Elementary School
Cynthia Gissy, West Virginia University at Parkersburg
Two people: a husband and a wife. Both educators: one a principal
and one a first grade teacher. Two different schools: one established as a
PDS and one wanting to join and just beginning the journey. What are the
characteristics of a thriving PDS and what does it look like to an outsider
just wanting to participate? This session will deal with the “Partnership’s
Project” at West Virginia University-Parkersburg and how it has affected
this couple and the schools and students they represent. Last year you
were told of how a particular PDS relationship was “Pretty Darn Special.”
Now, come and find out just how special and how this story continues.
From early on in their marriage, they wanted the best for the students in
their care and through the philosophy and vision of this particular PDS,
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they can achieve this goal and make this educational endeavor a “family
affair.”
See where college faculty come into this “Family Affair” and how
dedication to a common cause define both formal and informal roles. See
how a variety of resources are used across the school-university con-
tinuum and what rewards and recognitions are possible.
Adding To The Plate: High School PDS Sites
And Multiple Reform Initiatives
Marc Turner, Blythewood High School
Barbara Holbrook, University of South Carolina
Roy Blakeney, Dreher High School
Kimberly Scott, White Knoll High School
One problem facing high schools is the never-ending rain of reform
initiatives coming from national, state, and local levels. It can be difficult
to recruit teachers and administrators for the PDS when the staff is already
overwhelmed by the school’s commitment to the most recent educational
reform programs in order to meet the demands of accountability legislation.
High schools in the USC PDS Ntwork have worked together to
identify common issues in the reform agenda of the network and their
respective schools. PDS leaders from Blythewood, Dreher, and White
Knoll high schools will present an instrument that highlights the similarity
of the agendas of the National Network for Educational Renewal, High
Schools That Work, and Smaller Learning Communities. This work endeav-
ors to keep faculty focused on successful educational strategies and not
on the various programs that these strategies serve.
An Effective Belief In PDS
Kitty Brant and Dana Moore, University of Central Missouri
What are the most effective ways in assisting pre-service teachers
in their preparation for teaching? Why do some beginning teachers
succeed, while other beginning teachers struggle? By empowering teach-
ers to be the leaders of their own learning and customizing the nature and
immediacy of training, transfer and application of newly learned skills into
classroom practice is far more assured (Zepeda, 1999).
University of Central Missouri early childhood, elementary, and
middle school majors must complete the PDS block the semester prior to
their student teaching. The third school district brought into the PDS
program is in its fifth year and has experienced much success. The goal of
this PDS site is to continue to provide PDS pre-service teachers additional
correspondence along with their weekly classroom contact with PDS
practitioners by networking via technology to validate that what they are
being taught is applicable in a “real” classroom.
Our belief in an effective PDS is for all to participate on an ongoing
basis to reflect on their implementation of chosen strategies, to expand a
collegial conversation about instruction, and to share reflective discus-
sions about classroom practice and student results.
In summary, the primary goal of any staff development plan should
be to improve student performance. By creating communities of educators
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that are collectively responsible and accountable for student learning, and
who find collective energy in the joy of working together to reach common
ends. Professionals, both practitioners and pre-service teachers, who are
engaged in staff development, can learn much from research, reflective
practice, and from each other.
Building Stronger PDS Relationships Through
Accreditation: Before, During, And After
Laura Corbin Frazier, Barbara Onofrey, and Stacey Brown-Hobbs, Mount St.
Mary’s University
Linda Civetti, Frederick County Public Schools
This presentation will discuss the growth and development of a PDS
network through the accreditation process. It will summarize five years of
PDS activity before, during, and after an initial NCATE/Maryland state
team visit. Highlighted will be the formal PDS agreements through system-
wide and school-based memoranda of understanding, organization and
governance structures, collaborative initiatives, and recognition and
rewards for all participants.
PDS standards guided the preparation of university and school
system stakeholders from initial meetings to final debriefings. The present-
ers will share sample artifacts from elementary and secondary school site
visits as well as from the university.
Changing Roles, Changing Structure, And
Keeping PDS Work Alive
Linda Taylor, Ball State University
Paula Morris, Huffer Memorial Children’s Center
When a Professional Development School relationship has been in
effect for a period of time, change is bound to occur. Huffer Memorial
Children’s Center has been an early childhood PDS in the Ball State
University network for ten years. Changes at the early childhood program
level include liaisons and site council members, as well as the executive
director of the program. Changes from the university include liaisons and
the PDS network director. How consistency was maintained and how
change has been handled will be discussed as university and program
members share how the relationship has been sustained and grown over
a ten-year period. Roles of members will be discussed along with how the
structure of the site council has changed over time.
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Children’s Literature As Instructional
Resources: Selecting And Interpreting Cultural
Literature In The Classroom
Jane Harstad and Doris Grove, Penn State University
Debbie Patrick, Park Forest Elementary School
Laura Barthmaier, Easterly Parkway Elementary School
While most of the student teaching interns who join our PDS
partnership enroll already suspicious of textbooks, unfortunately they fall
into the trap of making carte blanche generalizations about entire resource
categories as being simply good or bad, right or wrong. Not yet a stance
informed by actual practice, they cling to the “correct answer” they
“learned” from their coursework prior to student teaching. As any prac-
ticing classroom teacher can attest, most resources have shortcomings,
but these can also provide a springboard to provoke complementary
lessons and opportune activities with great potential. Student teaching,
particularly in the context of a year-long internship within an established
PDS partnership, provides an excellent opportunity for pre-service teach-
ers to wed their preconceptions of theory with practice - to develop a more
informed and responsible relationship with a variety of instructional
resources.
For as skeptical as they may be of textbooks, many of our student
teaching interns enter their practicum comparatively oblivious to the
notion that many children’s books may be equally imperfect. In this
presentation we will share strategies and experiences with regard to
helping our student teaching interns recognize problematic matters of race,
class, and gender, as well as attempt to empower them to feel they can help
balance the scales of inequity or challenge prejudice with their own
instructional practice.
Collaborating Across Partnerships: Benefits
And Challenges
Barbara Owens and Jaci Webb-Dempsey, Fairmont State University
Diane Yendel-Hoppy and Sarah Steel, West Virginia University
As the number of school-university partnerships and Professional
Development School initiatives increases, there is also an increase in the
possibility of multiple higher education institutions to be engaged in
partnerships with the same school districts and, in some cases, the same
PDSs. Partnering across the institutional and cultural boundaries of higher
education and public schools to improve teacher preparation, professional
development, and teaching and learning has tremendous benefits for these
endeavors. However, the development of substantive and vital school-
university partnerships has also required partners on both sides of the
relationship to work through many challenges. When more than one
partnership operates across a set of common school districts and PDSs,
this “sharing” has the obvious potential to create additional benefits and
challenges. Benefits may include opportunities to pool scarce resources
to support professional development and to develop a richer, broader
collective knowledge base about strategies for improving teacher prepa-
ration, professional development, teaching and learning, and sustaining
partnerships. Challenges may include competing agendas, increased
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needs for communication and coordination of efforts, and significant
differences in institutional structures for growing and sustaining PDS
work. This session will offer a situated discussion of possible benefits and
challenges in the context of two overlapping partnerships: one a mature,
well-established partnership at a large land grant university and the other
a developing partnership at a small regional university.
Comparing Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions
Of Their Learning Across PDS Contexts
Jason Jude Smith and Diane Yendol-Hoppey, West Virginia University
Throughout teacher education programs nationwide, program de-
sign should facilitate pre-service teacher learning across a multitude of
domains. While those who create programs may feel that their designs
attend to these domains, it is important to consider how, and to what extent,
those actually enrolled in these programs perceive their own construction
of knowledge. To this end, we conducted a survey last year of pre-service
teachers in a PDS-based “pre-internship experience” as part of their fourth
year (of five) program requirements. We used quantitative data analysis
techniques supported by analysis of complimentary qualitative data to
pinpoint to what extent these participants felt their host teachers, field
advisors, and course instructors facilitated their constructing of knowl-
edge across an array of learning domains. Portions of these findings were
presented at the 2008 Professional Development Schools National Confer-
ence.
This year we administered a similar survey to pre-service teachers
in a different program which also has a fourth year (of five) PDS-based
placement. We used quantitative techniques to comparatively analyze the
responses from these two surveys in an effort to denote differences across
the two contexts. We then looked at the construction of the two programs
in an effort to determine the potential causes for differences between the
two samples and the implications these differences have for PDS programs
nationwide. Our presentation will provide highlights of this analysis,
focusing on our conclusions and how these conclusions might facilitate
program design and evaluation processes in other PDS networks.
Daily Focus, Strong Collaboration - Moving Us
Forward
Sheila R. Gloer, Baylor University
Betty Charlton, G. W. Carver Academy Middle School
Baylor University and Carver Middle School have always focused
on the NCATE Standards to guide the partnership and now include the
Nine Essentials of PDS Work to further evaluate our program. Baylor and
Carver each have a primary mission to educate our students to be the best
they can; but both have the secondary mission to uphold the other’s
primary mission. Using this cohesion of our mission statements as a guide
makes this partnership stronger and allows us to work together, achieving
learning for both Baylor candidates and K-12 students. Some of the ways
we are achieving this are enumerated below:
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• Carver hosts a shadow study for sophomore novice candidates
to better understand adolescent development and diversity.
• Seminars for junior level associates and senior interns are hosted
on the Carver campus so candidates can easily be taken into
classrooms to observe what is being discussed and so Carver
teachers can easily demonstrate “Best Practice” teaching.
• The university and Carver share funds to send candidates and
mentors to conferences, for book study texts, and for salaries.
• Carver, Baylor, and candidates share information from confer-
ences, plan action research, and analyze the results.
• Steering and Campus Decision Making committees provide a
forum for the collaboration of Carver, Baylor, candidates, and
community members to reflect, self assess, and implement yearly
goals.
In this presentation, the Carver site-based coordinator and the
Baylor liaison discuss how shared resources and daily collaboration
sustain this partnership in growth, encouraging research and learning for
all.
Deliberately Using The PDS to Prepare Future
Teacher Educators
Bernard Badiali, Rebecca Burns, Doris Grove, and James Nolan, Penn State
University
Using the conceptual framework from the Carnegie Project on the
Education Doctorate (CPED), this session describes how a PDS can
incorporate structures and activities that work to deliberately prepare
aspiring teacher educators for work in school-university partnerships.
Presenters explain and engage participants in conversations around the
following issues:
• What are the signature pedagogies of a PDS?
• How has the notion of apprenticeship been changed from “ap-
prenticed to” into “apprenticed with?”
• How can the PDS use the practice of “professional rotations” in
preparing future teacher educators?
• What would constitute an improved “capstone” experience for
PDS doctorates?
• Why is PDS the ultimate “laboratory of practice” for future
teacher educators?
Effective Professional Development In Middle
School Mathematics Education: Sustainability
Within And Beyond A PDS
Pam Hilgert, Rockford Public Schools #205
Portia Downey, Mary Shafer, and Helen Khoury, Northern Illinois University
Project REAL initiated, over a span of five years in a large urban
school district (Rockford School District #205) in partnership with North-
ern Illinois University, a successful PDS at RESA, the largest middle school
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in Rockford. Components of a successful PDS as identified by NCATE
(2001) and NAPDS (2008) were transparent at RESA. In particular, the
middle school mathematics teachers immersed themselves in long-term
research-based professional development in middle school mathematics
education. With the support of administrators, teachers implemented
change in their instructional practices, they assumed new teacher-leader-
ship roles, they supported and coached each other as needed, they
developed into a glued nucleus that sustained the health of the PDS, and
an open invitation was extended to the mathematics teacher educators to
the student-centered classrooms. Improved and sustained student math-
ematics achievement emerged over the past three years at RESA.
This presentation will focus on having involved educators in this
PDS journey identify and discuss formal and informal relationships formed
and actions taken (1) within the PDS, that were effective in sustaining
teachers’ professional growth and increased student mathematics achieve-
ment, and (2) beyond the PDS, at the district and university levels that led
to the support and development of a new leading master degree program
in Middle School Mathematics Education. The following questions will be
answered: (1) What did it take to sustain an effective PDS over time at
RESA, and (2) What are the sustainable benefits that emerged beyond this
PDS in Rockford School District and at Northern Illinois University?
Experiencing PDS
Patty Nugent, Sherrie Pardieck, Robert Wolffe, and Helja Antola Crowe,
Bradley University
JoNancy Warren, Illinois State University
Helen Khoury, Northern Illinois University
At the heart of Professional Development School partnerships is the
lived experience of the people doing the work, those who experience the
curriculum and foster collaborative school/university relationships. Three
Illinois Professional Development School partnerships will discuss the
structure and sustainability of PDS partnerships. Continued conversa-
tions are helpful for beginning, developing, and mature school/university
relationships.
The panel will address various aspects of the PDS experience from
an individual’s personality, skills, talents, communication approaches,
reflective practices, modeling dispositions that support relationship build-
ing and behaviors that encourage and empower others to participate.
Whether individuals come from a university or school, their personal
attributes, interactions, and roles affect the way the partnership develops.
We will address challenges ranging from multi-tasking and time
management issues, to personality differences and issues from teamwork
requirements to the dynamics of school culture. Part of these experiences
might hold hidden agendas as well as unarticulated expectations and
“experience of voice” within PDS relationships. The willingness to explore
possibilities, flexibility, and the broadness of the personnel’s interests
contribute to the sustainability of the partnerships.
The panel will address the dynamics of pre-scheduled planning
meetings to the incidental interactions, dialogue in school hallways, to the
development of PDS personnel’s attributes. We will share examples of how
preconceptions turn into accurate realities and reflect the changes in
public school environments, resources, and priorities for professional
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development practices. The intent of the panel presentation is to continue
dialogue that advances development of partnerships and strengthens the
work of Professional Development Schools.
Factors That Limit Success: Four Years Of
Research On Why Interns Fail
Bernard Badiali and Kristen Dewitt, Penn State University
Deana Washell, Park Forest Elementary School
Amy Hawbaker, Park Forest Middle School
This study of struggling interns began in 2004 as a result of
conversations during team planning meetings about one or two chronic
cases of poor performance by pre-service teachers in a Professional
Development School. As responsible instructors in the PDS, we wondered
why some of our students who appeared to be very qualified struggled to
succeed and how, if possible, we might adjust the program to avoid this
problem in the future. This presentation traces the systematic study of
struggling interns over a four-year period. It uncovers the nature of
interns’ struggles from three viewpoints: the interns, their mentors, and
their supervisors. The investigation sought to answer the following
questions:
• Why do some interns struggle?
• What is the nature of their struggle?
• How do mentors describe interns’ struggle?
• How do supervisors describe interns’ struggle?
• How do the interns describe their struggle?
• What are the context variables that contribute to their struggle?
• What are the personal variables that contribute to their struggle?
• What are the relationship variables that contribute to their
struggle?
From An “F” School To An “A”: The Journey
Of One Urban Professional Development
School Moving Forward With Beliefs Intact
Cathy O’Farrell, Fred Nelson, and Donna Keenan, University of North
Florida
Michele Floyd-Hatcher and Kathleen Witsell, West Jacksonville Elementary
School
The presenters will trace the uneven history of one urban Profes-
sional Development School (UPDS) over the last seven years in which the
State Department of Florida awarded the school a grade of “F” in 2001 and
an “A” in 2008. This UPDS is part of a larger urban Professional Develop-
ment School enterprise involving three urban elementary schools, one
middle school, and one university. It is a highly successful endeavor, four
years ago winning the Association of Teacher Educators’ Distinguished
Program in Teacher Education Award. We will be addressing Question #
4, What does it take to run a PDS day-to-day and to sustain it over time?
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At the outset of our UPDS experiences, and even when we were
labeled an “F” school, three components were firmly in place.
a) formal/informal roles played by both university and P-12 faculty,
including a Resident Clinical Faculty (RCF) member who supervises
interns and beginning teachers and a Professor-in-Residence who works
with teachers on best practices;
b) dedicated and shared resources across the school-university
continuum, which includes both the university and school district funding
the RCF position; and
c) rewards and recognition structures which acknowledge the work
of all participants including released time for the Professor-in –Residence
and travel for RCF and teachers to present their work.
Additionally, we have always believed in ongoing collaboration in
which we work through differences which occasionally arise through
different school/university cultures. Our story will by told through inter-
views with past and present students, administrators, teachers, RCFs, and
Professors-in-Residence.
From Good To Great: How Georgia State
Partners Moved PDS Work To What Really
Mutually Matters!
Gwen Benson, Dee Taylor, Susan Ogletree, Mary Ariail, and Shaila Philpot,
Georgia State University
This session will address Question #4: What does it take to run a PDS
day-to-day and to sustain it over time? Participants will travel to focus
corners during this session to learn how Georgia State University’s five-
year grant P-12 university partners moved from a good PDS partnership to
a great partnership (to borrow Jim Collin’s corporate success concept).
Come and engage in finding the funding, looking at the baseline data that
significantly improved, engaging five urban school districts, and sustain-
ing it day-to-day and over the five-year period. Come learn:
• how partners identified and nurtured PDS relationships (formal/
informal roles played by both college/university and P-12 fac-
ulty);
• how boundary spanning positions (teacher candidates to teach-
ers, p-12 administrators to university faculty, GRAS to P-12
researchers, etc.) developed and were actualized to enhance PDS
goal attainment and career accomplishments;
• how partners dedicated and shared professional development
expertise and critical resources across the school-university
continuum;
• how to ensure professors get effective candidate placements/get
research and how schools get school improvement results;
• how the PDS incorporated a structured annual PDS planning
retreat and district-based PDS conferences for shared planning
and input; and receive
• hands-on examples of publications, website ideas, meaningful
rewards to recognize the valued PDS work focusing on outcomes
(for higher quality teaching and improved student achievement).
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Visit at least three focus corners, to receive GSU’s Map for PDS
Success CD.
He Said/She Said: A PDS Partnership From
Two Views
Richard S. Druggish, Concord University
Shirley Bourne, Mercer Elementary School
Practices that can form the basis for effective collaborative work
between universities and schools to support new collegial relationships
include talking about teaching, shared planning and teaching, and devel-
oping pedagogical skills. Over the past four years, these practices have
engaged a first grade teacher (she) and a university teacher educator (he)
in a journey to improve their craft and their understanding of the learning
of their students.
As a teacher educator, he had searched for ways to keep in touch with
the ever-changing classroom. In an effort to improve and to defend his
beliefs on teaching, he sought a classroom teacher who would talk about
teaching, share teaching experiences, and allow him opportunities to
teach, as well as offer critique. At the same time, she, a veteran and
successful first grade teacher of more than twenty-five years, was eager
to share her craft while simultaneously discovering more about the
ambiguous nature of teaching young learners. The PDS partnership
brought them together.
The collaboration began with classroom observations. It grew as
they participated in the planning and teaching of literacy lessons. It has
thrived on continued conversations about their teaching. The collabora-
tion has culminated into a full year of team teaching in the first grade
classroom.
The presentation will be their story. In an informal sharing, he/she
will trace this collaboration and share with the audience what they have
learned that has helped them become stronger and more confident in their
craft, in addition to strengthening the PDS partnership.
I Can Take Care of That!: Utilizing Teachers
As The Strength Of A PDS School
Christopher Irovando, Conackamack Middle School
This presentation will address the process and time spent on the day-
to-day operation of a PDS in the middle school setting. The participants
in this presentation will discuss the value of the PDS project (three years
old) for Conackamack Middle School and the roles defined by the school
staff to create and maintain a successful program. Working with Kean
University’s Center for Innovative Education and the New Jersey Consor-
tium of Middle Schools, Conackamack Middle School sought to identify
specific roles and responsibilities necessary to distribute leadership in a
PDS school. This presentation also discusses the “behind-the-scenes”
collaboration needed to address such needs as professional development,
recognizing accomplishments of both teaching candidates and veteran
teachers, and community outreach to support the PDS movement.
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Our NJCMS PDS program noted that administration and delegation
of PDS issues is more effective when those who benefit are directly
involved. This presentation will inform participants on how our PDS
committee:
1. Encourages professional development attendance and peer train-
ing
2. Assists non-tenured staff with handling the daily responsibilities
of teaching
3. Makes crucial decisions surrounding budgets, events, and pro-
fessional development
4. Seeks to define a vision and purpose for the PDS community
5. Supports the goals and vision of the building and district
Discussions of established practices, as well as discussions of
future initiatives, will be provided.
If You Build It They Will Come: Creating And
Sustaining A PDS Partnership Outside Of The
University Community
Laurie A. Palmer, University of Delaware
The University of Delaware/Milford School District Professional
Development School is a partnership originally created to serve students
in the southern part of the state who wanted to stay in their local community
for their college education and later to teach. This program was jointly
planned and continues to be run by both the university and school district.
In an attempt to create an innovative teacher preparation program, mem-
bers from both communities met to define the components of this program
and continue to jointly govern and sustain this partnership.
Specific components of this partnership include university faculty
located on-site where they teach all junior and senior level courses, a
strong field experience of more than 1,500 hours in the classroom for
interns, integration of courses and assignments, courses assimilating
district curriculum into course content, variable credits with courses
taught over multiple semesters allowing interns to scaffold their knowl-
edge throughout their junior and senior years, joint professional develop-
ment, and an advisory board that continues to develop this partnership.
In this session we will share the unique characteristics of our
partnership, discuss our origin and how we built our program with input
and support from the university and district communities, and what we do
to continue to support the work and growth of this PDS.
It’s All About The Tools . . .
Denise Barth, Gena Brigman, Pam Powell, Sally Catoe, and Beth Phillips,
North Springs Elementary School
Come join our “construction team” for a lively blueprint of how to
build a solid PDS program from the ground up. We will address the “nuts
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and bolts” issues, resources, benefits of collaboration, and special “de-
signer upgrades.” Because our school has been a part of a PDS relationship
for six years (in a district that has been involved for twenty years), we are
new enough to recall the details for making the foundation and experienced
enough to discuss the day-to-day maintenance and goal-setting neces-
sary to keep the program energized as it moves upward to new heights. We
invite you to examine a program that welcomes interns and supports their
efforts throughout their year-long internship in our school. We will
introduce ways to make the entire faculty a part of the program, even if they
do not choose or do not qualify to have a student intern. We will also
address how our district has institutionalized PDS as part of its overall
commitment to the teaching profession. Once a program is a part of the
school and district culture, finding ways to keep it energized can be a
challenge. We will share ideas about how that can be accomplished in a
variety of ways.
Keeping A Long Distance Relationship
Thriving: How To Make A Long Distance
Partnership Work
Renee Kerzman, Lynn Mahlum, Ron Messelt, Dean Mollerud, and Lisa
Staiger, Minnesota State University Moorhead
Jeff McCanna, Aldine Independent School District
Working with our partner district in Aldine, Texas, we have devel-
oped a virtual field experience in which MSUM’s teacher education majors
work with one of their bilingual elementary classrooms. MSUM students
have the opportunity to observe and teach within this distant classroom,
including one hour of teaching/observation time and one hour of mentorship
discussion with the classroom teacher.
Sharing of resources is part of this entire partnership. Each semester
MSUM instructors travel to Aldine to visit classrooms and cooperating
teachers including MSUM alumni. These visits are critical in the relation-
ship-building between partners. This partnership includes Aldine’s teach-
ers and/or administration traveling to MSUM to interact with students and
recruit student teachers and classroom teachers. Aldine personnel make
campus presentations to seminar students about diversity, teaching in
diverse settings, and economic diversity with a focus on poverty. Students
learn the surprising positives of this classroom challenge and are inspired
about their future as teachers, including opportunities that a district like
Aldine offers. It opens their hearts and eyes to a larger world, and the real
world of education outside our tri-state area.
Continued partnership growth includes a new one-week immersion
opportunity with education candidates traveling to Aldine to experience
diverse classrooms and culture. Additional discussions for growth in-
clude offering graduate courses and professional development opportu-
nities.
Presentation topics will discuss this unique, innovative partnership:
1. Student teaching
2. Teacher retention/induction
3. Professional development
4. Interactive distance learning
5. One week field experience
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Keeping The Spirit Alive When The Torch Is
Handed Off
Denise Hill and Karen Paciotti, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and the Corpus Christi
Independent School District embrace a thriving Professional Develop-
ment School partnership. One PDS relationship includes Schanen Estates
Elementary which serves approximately 500 students, of which 72.3% are
Hispanic and 68.6% are economically disadvantaged. This PDS was
initiated and has been sustained by Dr. Denise Hill since Fall 2002.
Fall 2004 brought a new principal, assistant principal, and counselor.
Fall 2005 brought a new elementary school, Faye Webb Elementary. Its
principal was the assistant principal at Schanen Estates during the first two
years of its PDS partnership. Nine faculty members of Schanen Estates
transferred to Faye Webb, a faculty turnover of 68%. Since 2004, Schanen
Estates has experienced two principals, four assistant principals, and six
counselors.
The one constant at Schanen Estates since 2004 has been its PDS
relationship with TAMUCC. Through numerous programs imitated by the
PDS partnership, student achievement has continued to improve. And
today, ten of its twenty-five faculty members have served as PSTs at
Schanen Estates and have been on the other side of the PDS relationship.
Today, these ten breathe hope and leadership into the lives of the young
pre-service teachers.
The Faye Webb Elementary principal and faculty knew the value of
the PDS relationship as well and requested its own PDS partnership. Dr.
Karen Paciotti initiated the partnership in Fall 2007 and continues that
relationship today with innovative strategies in the classrooms. All PDS
programs and activities at Schanen Estates and Faye Webb will be
discussed.
Keys To Success: Essential Components For
Effective PDS Partnerships At Ohio University
Marcy Keifer Kennedy and Grace Essex, Ohio University
Michelle Chapman and Jenny Troutman, Chauncey Elementary School
Janet Idleman and Kate Faulkner, The Plains Elementary School
Melanie VonWahlde, West Elementary School
Katelyn Outcalt, East Elementary School
The purpose of this presentation is to investigate what it means to
be a Professional Development School at Ohio University and the relation-
ship between the key structural roles that attribute to sustaining success-
ful programming year after year.
The model to support the work of the PDS partnerships relies on
formally defined roles and responsibilities. These roles include the Teach-
ing Fellow, the Teacher Liaison from the PDS, the University Faculty
Coordinator, and the University Methods Instructor. The Teaching Fellow
is a licensed teacher who is completing a graduate degree. The Teaching
Fellow co-teaches with the Teacher Liaison to fulfill their graduate assis-
tant appointment. The Fellow is a valuable resource to help support the
work of the Teacher Liaison and University Faculty Coordinator as they
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work to provide classroom placements and mentoring for pre-service
teachers, engage in research projects, provide professional development
to the PDS staff, and help to facilitate programming for students in our
Professional Development Schools.
Informal roles are developed through the interactions of participants
as they plan and develop programming which benefits, rewards, and
recognizes all partners. Program attendees will be able to hear the perspec-
tive of all partners, including former PDS partnership students. The
program will also conclude with a question and answer session regarding
how the formal and informal resources are used to sustain our PDS
partnerships from year to year.
Leadership Roles In A PDS School: Providing
Something For Everyone
Gregory H. Moore, South Harrison High School
The effectiveness of partnership work is directly correlated to the
degree of ownership professional and support staff and administrators
have in program design and implementation. Professional staff on site is
the expert in assessing school and personnel needs and how to best meet
them. An effective method to garner and sustain this commitment is to
include as many stakeholders as possible at the Professional Development
School level in a vast array of responsibilities. This presentation explores
how active participation by stakeholders can keep a Professional Devel-
opment School active, effective, and productive.
Because any successful collaborative program is characterized by
several elements, participants are afforded a wide variety of opportunities
playing to their strengths and talents. How then can current leaders
integrate a school’s resources, power, and responsibilities to efficiently
maximize student achievement in a PDS setting? This presentation an-
swers that question by discussion the following:
• Specific activities in assessing and delivering staff development
and in hosting and mentoring pre-service teachers
• Incentives to keep teachers actively involved and enthusiastic
• Growing new leaders
• Collaborating with higher education and community members
• Administrative support
• Benefits of having empowered stakeholders
Attendees to this presentation will also be invited to share informa-
tion about leadership roles and the division of power and resources within
their own partnership structures. Ideas and suggestions will be shared to
enhance leadership opportunities within individual schools and within
partnership collaborations.
Lessons Learned: Ten Years In PDS
Angelo R. Senese, East Stroudsburg University
The purpose of my presentation is to share with attendees the
successes and challenges faced with implementing and sustaining a
Professional Development School. I have the unique experience of being
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the principal of my school when East Stroudsburg University approached
me with the concept of a PDS ten years ago. The questions that needed to
be asked and answered and the logistics of operations were only a few of
the hurdles. Then as Assistant Superintendent and Superintendent, I
faced the challenges of sustaining the program. Now, I am a professor in
the PDS program and responsible for sustaining this relationship. The
lessons learned from these multiple perspectives provide a road map to
those facing PDS challenges.
Meeting The Challenge: Sustaining A
Secondary PDS
Donna Faith and Allison Weese, Middletown Middle School
Jo Ellen Smallwood and Ronald Ingram, Frostburg State University
Great excitement and energy come with building the relationships,
communication, and agreements necessary in establishing a secondary
Professional Development School. The challenge is in sustaining this
same energy and commitment by all parties - the university, the local school
system, and the individual secondary school - on a day-to-day basis.
Middletown Middle School strives on a daily basis to make its PDS more
than an agreement on paper, more than a teacher candidate placement,
more than a nice-sounding concept. This means that every student is
aware of the school’s affiliation with Frostburg. Every parent is aware of
the PDS commitment. The community recognizes the value of the PDS
partnership. Staff members participate in collaboratively planned profes-
sional development. University instruction is influenced by the reality of
the public education classroom.
In this session, PDS partners will share the strategies/activities that
Middletown Middle School has engaged in this school year to sustain and
enhance the positive PDS efforts recognized in the most recent NCATE
visit.
Mentors, Start Your Engines . . . Sustaining A
PDS Through Strong Mentoring
Mary Lange, Pekin School District 108
Jo Murphy, University of North Texas
Adrianne Ostermeier, Springfield School District 186
JoNancy Warren, Illinois State University
Are your mentors on the right track? Mentoring is a must skill for
anyone hosting a pre-service teacher in the classroom. The driving force
behind every confident and growing intern is the mentor. Just as interns
need developing skills and practices to become effective teachers, mentors
need fundamental techniques. Topics of conversation will include the
selection of mentors, mentor-intern relationships, assumptions and expec-
tations of the mentoring role, and co-teaching strategies. Participants will
engage in dialogue about various ideas on how to raise the bar for
mentoring. Whether you are a university liaison, school district site
coordinator, principal, or PDS director, this presentation will give you
concrete suggestions for enhancing your mentoring program.
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The presentation will also address essential number three, as there
is a critical and ongoing need for effective mentoring. Participatory
dialogue and information that can be put into place right away in your PDS
will be highlighted. A basic outline to develop your own mentoring
professional development that will be relative to all mentors, veterans to
novice, will be articulated. Mentoring as an ongoing theme for your PDS
should provide guided learning activities that suggest practice, reflection,
and feedback, and should be embedded in a series of professional
development activities with PDS participants (NAPDS Essential # 3). Learn
best practices of mentoring from two PDS sites that have collaborated for
this presentation. The presenters have come together from Texas and
Illinois representing two established PDS.
Multi-Tasking To The Max: Functions,
Frustrations, And Rewards Of First-Year PDS
Coordinators
Sherri Strawser, University of Nevada Las Vegas
Kimberly Izumo, Fremont Professional Development Middle School
In the Fall of 2008, the John C. Fremont Middle School was restruc-
tured and became the first middle school in the University of Nevada Las
Vegas/Clark County School District Professional Development School
partnership. Three principal goals guide the UNLV/CCSD PDS partner-
ship: 1) joint participation in teacher education, 2) sustained continuous
professional development for university and partnership school staff, and
3) joint participation in field-based research. The guidance and input from
the coordinators at the elementary schools in the UNLV/CCSD PDS
partnership has been exceptional; however, the middle school structure
creates different expectations and functions that the coordinators must
address.
In this session, presenters will share a snapshot of the multiple
functions of both the university and site-based coordinators during the
initial year of a PDS in a highly diverse, urban, Title I middle school. They
will discuss how the multiple roles of a coordinator (for example, PDS Site
Coordinator + Learning Strategist + New Teacher Mentor + Department
Chair) can be handled and the elements they have found to be essential in
sustaining and improving the partnership. Session attendees will be
encouraged to contribute their ideas and experiences with the presenters
to help us nourish and further this special partnership.
Notes On A Successful Urban High School
Partnership - What We Learned From The
Students And How It Shaped The Future
James Kilbane and Arthur Maloney, Pace University
Located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Pace University High
School is a partnership between Pace University’s School of Education,
the New York City Department of Education, and New Visions for Public
Schools.
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Now in its fifth year, the universal free lunch school has successfully
graduated its first class and in doing so has established a strong academic
record of accomplishment and built an extraordinary school community. In
its short history the school has received considerable recognition for
success with underachieving youngsters and been profiled in the presti-
gious Hemphill Guide (2007) as one of New York’s top urban public high
schools. In no small part we believe that the school’s success has resulted
from the Professional Development School partnership with Pace’s School
of Education. During this session our team will provide an examination of
the school’s journey through the eyes of the first graduating class, their
parents, and the teachers and professors who participated in the formation
of the school from its inception. Our research produced several insights
about the development of a new school including those regarding the
school-university relationship, the challenges inherent in such a partner-
ship, and the wealth of opportunities we see for on-going reciprocal
professional relationships.
As part of our presentation, our audience will have the opportunity
to examine first-person reflections from students and parents regarding the
evolution of the school. This interaction will provide a counterpoint to our
conclusions so that audience members may further reflect upon the
obstacles and opportunities of growing a Professional Development
School.
PB&J’S For P-16 Faculty
Kay Clawson and Mary Brown, West Liberty State College
Andy Garber, Warwood Middle School
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches for P-16 faculty sounds good,
but Preventing Burnout and Jumping Ship is what really needs to happen
for P-16 faculty in long term Professional Development School relation-
ships. Continuous PDS erodes enthusiasm if there is not relief or change
built into the relationship. The following questions will be discussed with
solutions offered during the presentation:
• What is the relationship between comfort foods and collabora-
tion between schools and the university system? This workshop
will discuss the pros and cons of working in a PDS for many years.
You will learn about different approaches within the same PDS
system. Information will be provided on how PDS collaboration
changes depending on whether it is an elementary or secondary
school.
• What are the ways to prevent burnout and jumping ship when a
colleague is tired of PDS? Attendees will learn how to prevent
burnout in a PDS. Each team member will share techniques used
to alleviate the feeling of being expected to participate and
unappreciated by the university and P-12 school system. Pre-
senters represent a faculty liaison who has worked with two
schools and five different principals, a P--12 administrator who
has worked in two schools with three liaisons and 75 different
teachers, and an administrative group who have worked together
for ten years.
PDS relationships are political and public. The participants need to
stay energized and involved to keep the collaboration vibrant. This
presentation will be a relaxing way to enjoy healthy PB&J’S.
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PDS Leaders: The Next Generation
Lyn Krenz, Asa Packer Elementary School
Stacy Leon, Governor Wolf Elementary School
Natalie Kvacky and Danielle Dos Santos, Donegan Elementary School
Dawn Roman, Lincoln Elementary School
For the past five years, the three PDS sites in the ESU-BASD PDS
have been fine-tuning their grass roots leadership, working out the
nuances of leading from the front lines of the PDS. This year, we have
experienced a loss of some of those front line leaders, two in school
changes and one temporarily out on maternity leave. Change theory did
not bode any good tidings, but with careful planning and upfront aware-
ness, this new generation is in full swing. This challenge, known to us back
in the spring, allowed us to give some further thought to the relationship
of the school and university liaisons, as well as the relationships that have
been created across the partnership and among the building liaisons. We
have nearly started fresh with these new liaisons and advisors, but have
adapted well. Given the mentoring from the one remaining liaison and those
who have just left but want to stay involved, there have not been too many
occasions where we have gotten lost in the woods. Part of this early
success came from selecting individuals who have otherwise been active
in the PDS and are eager to further its cause. New clubs are being formed,
new fundraisers and new ideas are cropping up to bring us all closer
together. These three sites are pacing their change and thinking through
ways to work together. Not always a straight line, but the path has been
set for this new generation of leaders.
Present At The Creation: Building A High
School PDS Site
Marc Turner, Blythewood High School
Barbara Holbrook, University of South Carolina
Roy Blakeney, Dreher High School
Kimberly Scott, White Knoll High School
The success of PDS networks is often demonstrated through the
productive relationships established between the local university and area
elementary schools. However, high school sites are rarely mentioned in
successful PDS work. The multiple obstacles in implementing a compre-
hensive PDS program can be challenging due to the unique nature of
secondary education programs and the high school environment.
The high schools involved with the USC PDS in the Columbia, South
Carolina metropolitan area have pursued various initiatives to elevate their
Professional Development Schools beyond a site for intern training. In this
session, site personnel from three high schools will discuss their chal-
lenges in establishing PDS partnerships. Each school will discuss its
success in developing programs that meet the needs of interns, school
faculty, and the university. Finally, there will be an examination of the future
and whether elementary and high school PDS sites need separate models
to sustain effectiveness.
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Realizing/Nurturing A P-16 Partnership
Focused On Simultaneous Renewal: Programs
That Work
Dan Lowry, University of Missouri
The University of Missouri Partnership for Educational Renewal
(MPER) was initiated in 1994. Over the years, the partnership has grown
to include twenty-two partner districts (representing over 190,000 K-12
students), the University of Missouri College of Education, the Missouri
Department of Elementary & Secondary Education, and two community
colleges. Geographically, the partnership reaches from the west side of
Missouri to the east, a distance of over 250 miles.
With a dual emphasis on professional development and improving
student achievement, the programs that have been developed over the last
fifteen years have gained both national and international attention. These
programs were developed by our Operations Council and approved by the
Governing Board. Due to these programs that are focused on achieving our
objective of simultaneous renewal, there has been a great deal of interest
by other school districts to become a member of MPER. Presentations
regarding MPER partnership and programs have been made to numerous
organizations in states outside of Missouri, as well as requests from
Canada.
MPER Programs include:
• Teacher Release
• Senior Year On-Site Program (Elementary & Secondary) Field
Experiences
• MU Teaching Fellows Program
• Mental Health Leadership Academy
• Study Group Funding
• MPER-Funded Faculty Research
• Partnership Grants
MPER is unique in that the leadership for its organization is provided
by two Co-Executive Directors. Dr. Dan Lowry provides experience from
the K-12 sector of the partnership in that he has thirty-one years experience
in the public schools. Dr. Mike Pullis provides the higher education
perspective with twenty-nine years experience at the university.
Rebuilding The Engine: We Have A Whole
New Pit Crew - How Do We Get To Victory
Lane?
Melinda Walters, Celeste Granthum, Michelle Tharp, Lynne Mills, Carolyn
Corliss, Brooklyn Middleton, and Lakayla Johnson, Auburn University
Montgomery
Evelyn Boyd and Michelle Wheat, Wetumpka Intermediate School
Tina Stoddard and Misty Trussell, Wetumpka Elementary School
Since its inception, the Professional Development School model that
is the basis for the partnership between Auburn University Montgomery
and five nearby school systems has been the backbone of the teacher
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preparation program. In the past year the whole “pit crew” has changed.
Three new clinical professors were charged with coordinating a program
that was in need of reform and expansion. Systems had new superinten-
dents; schools had new principals; the leadership at the university level
had changed; and, most importantly, a large number of mentor teachers had
moved on to other positions. The need to “rebuild the engine” that
powered the Mentor Teacher Program and expand it to meet the growing
needs of the program has been the primary focus of the new crew.
Presenters will provide insight into the challenge of the process of
change and facilitate discussion on:
• gathering input from all stakeholders on needed revisions,
• educating school administrators on the value and benefits of the
program,
• establishing new lines of communication,
• recruitment and training of new mentor teachers,
• issues involved in the selection of pre-service teachers for the
program,
• matching certification requirements with scripted instructional
programs and testing demands,
• how resources are shared and generated, and
• specific ways to recognize individuals and institutions.
Resources, Roles, And Relationships For
Sustainability In The PDS
Karen Schafer, Towson University
You may be starting a PDS for the first time, or you may be
experiencing a drop from the initial level of enthusiasm and effectiveness.
In an interactive session, the focus will be on developing formal and
informal roles within the PDS leadership from the university and district
perspective, initiating and maintaining relationships and energy for the
partnership, sharing funding and financial support, on-going and embed-
ded professional development needs for improving student achievement,
and collaborating on priorities of the partnership. During this session,
resolutions for ongoing successful PDS partnerships will be offered from
the viewpoint of the presenter, as well as getting contributions from the
participants. Solutions will be specific, yet general enough to be applied
to a variety of PDS settings in order to maximize the collaboration and
sustainability which makes a PDS successful over time.
Roles And Responsibilities: An Eriksonian
Perspective
Patricia Pinciotti, Linda K. Rogers, and Andrew Whitehead, East Stroudsburg
University
Lyn Krenz, Asa Parker Elementary School
The East Stroudsburg University Apprentice II semester in a PDS
site involves all partners, teacher candidates, site liaisons, mentor teach-
ers, and university faculty working together in a variety of roles that
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support communication, common understandings, inquiry, and profes-
sional growth. Moving to scale in 2003 we required the Apprentice II
semester and student teaching in a PDS for all elementary education
students. The sheer growth in numbers of teacher candidates, mentor
teachers, and faculty demanded clear expectations for all partners. Roles
and responsibilities were developed and revised jointly by ESU faculty and
site liaisons. Variations in PDS experiences and the rate individual sites
embraced inquiry and engaged in professional development opportunities
created a range of stages evident in our day-to-day PDS work. Recent
growth in the program and individual PDS sites have raised the level of
discussion to issues beyond roles and responsibilities to concerns about
autonomy and collaboration within and across PDS sites. With this in
mind, there appears to be a series of developmental stages that accompany
the growth and change in the PDS relationship. Just as Erikson views life
in development stages, with a continuum of dichotomies at each stage,
PDS relationships appear to demonstrate similar developmental stages as
they grow and flourish.
This presentation will examine the historical transitions within PDS
relationships through lenses akin to Erikson’s Life-Span Approach. Pre-
senters will discuss how examining the past transitions will help shape
future challenges and changes for PDS partners as newly mandated
certification programs are put into place.
Running On Empty But Trying To Stay In The
Race: How To Provide Adequate Funding And
Faculty Support For PDS Work At A Small
University
Lynne Mills, Carolyn Corliss, Melinda Walters, Celeste Granthum, and
Michelle Tharpe, Auburn University Montgomery
This presentation focuses on how the faculty and administration at
a small southern university logistically moved toward a PDS model in their
teacher education program despite initial problems associated with a lack
of funding and a lack of faculty support from the university at large. The
presenters describe the trials and tribulations of the history of the move-
ment at their university, giving hope and encouragement to faculty
members at other small universities with similar problems.
Site-Based Clinical Coordination: So What?
Pamela Pitrolo, Watson Elementary School
Carol Muniz, Morgantown High School
In the Benedum Collaborative, an almost 20-year-old school/univer-
sity partnership in West Virginia, PDSs play a critical role in the clinical
experiences in West Virginia University’s five-year teacher education
program. PDS teacher leaders serve as site-based teacher education
coordinators who oversee placement of pre-service teachers for their
1000+ hours of clinical experiences. These PDS coordinators place stu-
dents with appropriate host teachers, coordinate assessments, observe
and give feedback to all pre-service teachers, organize and provide
professional development experiences for host teachers and pre-service
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teachers, and collaborate with PDS teacher education coordinators in
other PDSs that partner with WVU. Organizing clinical coordination in a
site-based model is a hallmark of the work of the Benedum Collaborative.
This model empowers teachers to become true teacher leaders in teacher
education.
In this presentation, two PDS teacher education coordinators will
share their reflections on site-based coordination. They challenged them-
selves to ask the “so what?” question. After several years living the role
of PDS teacher education coordinators, they wanted to find out if a site-
based clinical coordinator model made a difference for pre-service teach-
ers, for PDS faculty, and for the teachers serving in the role of teacher
education coordinator. This reflection will be in the format of a digital story
they created about their experiences. The story will explore the impact a
site-based coordination model has on pre-service teachers, on PDS
faculty, and on the coordinators themselves. They will also discuss the
impact conducting this reflective study has had on their own growth as
teacher leaders.
Striving For The Checkered Flag To Sustain
Successful PDS: Cautions, Red Flags, And
Open Straight-Aways
Leah Gleason, Virginia McGinnis, and Jeanne Faieta, Edinboro University of
Pennsylvania
Patricia Joint Lipchik, Patricia Shea, and Dawn Blair, Pfeiffer Burleigh
School
Creating and sustaining a PDS partnership is analogous to a road
race. Sometimes you take the lead, while other times mishaps occur
including unanticipated pit stops and accidents. The partnership might
also be hampered by changing teams. This presentation using race jargon
will discuss challenges and rewards of running and sustaining a PDS
partnership in an urban school setting at the elementary, middle, and high
school levels. Presenters will provide a glimpse into this three-year
initiative including white flags (starting the partnership), yellow flags
(challenges in sustaining, faculty awareness and involvement, school
reorganization, and community visibility), red flags (limited administrative
support, lack of communications, funding) and green flags (success and
ongoing projects and activities). Presenters will also address the over-
reaching goals of the partnership of increasing student achievement in an
urban setting and developing pre-service teachers’ skills. These goals will
enable our students to finish in the winner’s circle.
Sustaining A PDS For 18 Years Because We
Believe . . . Success For All!
Parthenia Satterwhite, Tracee Walker, Mary Jade Haney, Shondra Morris,
Claire Montgomery, and Marisa Rease, Horrell Hill Elementary
Educational reform efforts constantly urge teacher education insti-
tutions to expose general and special educators to field-based experiences
(Darling-Hammond, 1996; Goodlad, 1984, 1990; Holmes Group, 1986, 1990,
1995). Horrell Hill Elementary School and the University of South Carolina
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answered this professional responsibility in 1990. This collaborative
process has been sustained for eighteen years and momentum is still going
strong. Since implementation, maintenance and sustaining power has
been a reflective and labor-intensive process on a continuum for university
and school faculty. Presenters will share celebrations, challenges, and
successes of effectively keeping a PDS moving forward. The principal,
university liaison, clinical adjunct, and teacher leaders will share the
partnership structure and qualitative data from various levels of collabo-
rative projects implemented in response to reflective practices.
Sustaining An Elementary Education/Special
Education Professional Development School
When Key Personnel Change
Debi Gartland and Kim Durkan, Towson University
Erin Sloan, Waterloo Elementary School
In our Elementary Education/Special Education (EESE) Professional
Development School, we have had numerous changes in key personnel
over the past five years, including: the College Dean, the Institution of
Higher Education (IHE) Department Chair, the IHE PDS Liaison, University
Supervisors, the local school system PDS Coordinator and representa-
tives, principals and assistant principals, school-based site liaisons, and,
of course, mentors. In this session, Towson University PDS faculty
members and a school-based PDS site liaison will describe our unique dual-
certification, undergraduate PDS, as well as describe the various chal-
lenges we’ve encountered when key personnel have changed. We will also
describe strategies and successes that have enabled us to continue to
effectively run our PDS on a day-to-day basis and to sustain it over time.
Also, we will describe how our EESE PDS is aligned with PDS Essential #8
in that both university faculty and P-12 faculty have clearly defined formal
roles and well-articulated informal roles, allowing participants from both
entities to participate on a regular basis to fulfill the mission of the EESE
PDS. It should be also noted that we will encourage a lively discussion and
exchange of ideas with audience members. As a result of attending our
presentation, session participants will leave with peace of mind and
effective strategies they can employ when they face key personnel
changes in their PDS.
Sustaining An Elementary Science Methods
And Student Teaching PDS
David Henry and Phil Gullo, Buffalo State College
Karen MacGamwell, William Street School
The William Street School/Buffalo State College PDS is a flourishing
partnership hinging on the roles played by college and school faculty. Our
PDS partnership has two main components: (1) an elementary science and
math methods course taught on-site and (2) student teaching cohorts.
Karen MacGamwell has been principal at William Street School (WSS), a
school of 1500 students in grades 4-8, since the school opened in 1998.
After two of her teachers participated in a summer training offered by Dr.
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David Henry, she invited him to come work with the teachers at WSS. This
administrative support has been critical in sustaining this partnership. Dr.
Henry works at William Street School two days every week teaching the
math/science methods course, supervising the practicum, and partnering
with teachers in developing science instruction. WSS teachers are directly
involved in his science education grant activities and action research,
furthering the grant activities and sustaining the partnership. Phil Gullo
supervises a cohort of student teachers at WSS each semester. A majority
of the pre-service teachers “loop” from the methods course to the student
teacher cohort. Mr. Gullo is involved with the pre-service teachers during
the methods course, conducting seminars and observing their teaching.
This allows him to build relationships with these students and thought-
fully place them with cooperating teachers during student teaching. In our
presentation, we will discuss the characteristics of this partnership that
make it effective and sustainable, focusing on the administrative support,
our action research, integrated professional development, and looping the
methods students and the student teachers.
Sustaining And Increasing PDS Partnerships In
Rural Settings
Teresa Jayroe, Rebecca Robichaux, and Margaret Pope, Mississippi State
University
Sustaining a PDS relationship begins with collaboration that is
valued by all entities. Mutual respect, trust, and collegiality are necessary
for a collaborative partnership to grow and succeed. University faculty in
a rural setting determined the need to foster collaborative partnerships
with school districts over six years ago. To develop these partnerships,
university faculty met with school district administrators to discuss
quality teacher preparation. Administrators from the school districts were
sincerely interested in the development of professional partnerships to
support quality faculty and to enhance student achievement.
School district administrators and classroom teachers worked with
university faculty to define this professional partnership, including the
roles of all participants and the structure of the classroom experiences.
Classroom teachers became integral components of this partnership
through meetings, working with pre-service teachers, and collaborating
with university supervisors. Pre-service teachers and university faculty
work with classroom teachers and administrators to enhance the learning
communities in each district.
To garner input from pre-service teachers, they complete exit sur-
veys and reflective essays about the effectiveness of the collaboration. In
addition, classroom teachers complete exit surveys and evaluations. Data
gathered from exit surveys, reflective essays, and evaluations from pre-
service and classroom teachers will be shared at this session.
Six years later, this PDS partnership is thriving because all partici-
pants are continually part of the decision-making process. The positive
relationship and learning experiences with the original partnership district
have enabled the university to begin partnerships with other districts.
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The “3 Cs” Of A Successful PDS Partnership
Kathy Ullrich, Stevenson University
Kristin Conley and Erica Lyons, Homestead Wakefield Elementary School
This 10-year partnership thrives on commitment, communication,
and collaboration focusing on student achievement and teacher prepara-
tion. A formal agreement exists between the county and university, but
daily operations of the PDS are a function of the “Xs.” At the start of each
year, the principal communicates with the interns to share his expectations
for the year. His commitment continues as he visits their classrooms,
engages them in extracurricular activities, and supports them through the
hiring process. Interns reciprocate by collaborating with teachers to
conduct action research in support of student achievement. The interns’
commitment to student success is visible in after-school tutoring programs
and school-wide events that they plan and conduct each year. Teachers
throughout the school collaborate to offer professional development
workshops to help prepare the interns for the profession.
The university’s commitment is strong. It allocates a university
faculty member to the PDS to enhance communication and collaboration
with teachers and administrators. The university secures grants to fund
school initiatives that address student achievement and to provide sti-
pends to recognize the work of teachers. There is an annual PDS confer-
ence on campus for teachers and administrators, and substitute funding
is provided. Topics such as action research, mentoring, or NCATE are
addressed; time is always scheduled to solicit feedback about the program
from the teachers. This open communication has led to changes in the
overall education program. Currently, seven university graduates teach in
the PDS - this is a testament to the success of this partnership.
The “Draft”: Collaboration Of Three Teacher
Prep Programs And Their Partner Schools
Lynn Mahlum and Renee Kerzman, Minnesota State University Moorhead
Kim Overton, North Dakota State University
Recruiting and retaining quality field placements is a common
concern for most teacher preparation programs. The collective efforts of
three teacher preparation programs have solved this problem through the
use of the “Draft”. Two universities and one private college are competi-
tors in a community with a population of approximately 130,000. They have
collaboratively built partnerships with local schools, private and public,
within a 60 mile radius. As a result, relationships among the institutions are
strong; partnerships with school districts are no longer competitive, but
collaborative.
The “Draft” is over a decade long and has evolved from a paper pencil
survey process to utilizing a more sophisticated electronic survey data
collection method, which is a shared resource for all three institutions.
PreK-12 partner schools find that the student teaching placement process
is smooth and efficient. They are not overwhelmed with contacts from three
different institutions and are much more likely to agree to accept a student
teacher. To maintain the integrity of these relationships, formal and
informal roles are essential. The constituents involved must be willing to
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openly communicate, share data and other resources, and follow the rules
of “the game.”
In the spirit of “teamwork,” the three teacher preparation programs
have taken a potentially competitive and difficult placement process and
made it a collaborative team effort. This session will provide play by play
details of the “Draft!”
The Many Interfaces Of The Ellicott City
Triad’s PDS
Ann M. Eustis, Towson University
Mary Peterson and Dolores Walsh, Waverly Elementary School
Rachel Breslow, Hollifield Station Elementary School
This elementary undergraduate PDS partnership, now in its ninth
year, reaps the benefits of a true spirit of collaboration. Classroom teachers
are challenged to try on new roles and sometimes create their own new
roles. What has resulted is a win/win for all, but especially for the university
faculty who previously have felt the demands and challenges impossible
to attain. New initiatives tried over the last two years will be highlighted
in this presentation, such as having former interns (who are now our
mentors) design and conduct intern seminars about portfolio development
and the use of technology in the classroom. This year, because of the help
of these classroom teachers, the partnership is piloting the use of elec-
tronic portfolios and has developed its own website. In addition, these site-
based leaders have helped redesign the interns’ portfolio review process
and assumed leadership roles as the facilitators of site-specific action
research projects. Recognition efforts have ranged from awarding small
mini-grants and stipends to providing internship hours for masters’ work
in instructional technology. The university has provided additional tech-
nical support and has purchased materials and software. In addition, the
school system and the university provide small stipends for mentors and
site liaisons.
The PDS Site Coordinator: The Link Between
The Partner School And The University
Paul G. Caron, University of Southern Maine
The University of Southern Maine’s CLASS (Collaborative Learn-
ing And School Success) PDS program is a development program for future
teachers. Like most Professional Development Schools, it provides stu-
dent teachers and mentors a Site Coordinator who monitors and evaluates
the program at the partner school sites in Auburn, Maine. The CLASS Site
Coordinator, however, is unique in that she is an employee of both the
Auburn School Department and the university.
The relationship between the partner schools and the university is
enhanced due to the role of the Site Coordinator. University faculty work
together with the Site Coordinator to provide teachers current research in
the pedagogy and in content areas. Because the Site Coordinator is
employed by both systems, she creates an important relationship between
the two: she provides information, knowledge and data; she works directly
with the student teachers in helping them apply their content knowledge
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with appropriate pedagogical methods; and she shares the resources of
both educational communities to improve the practice of effective teaching
on the part of students, mentors, and university faculty.
The presentation focuses on the development of this type of Site
Coordinator and how other PDS programs can improve their association
between the university and the local school district. It will also examine the
nature of a dual-contract position and the responsibilities of the position
and how this improves teacher education.
The Use Of Paraprofessionals To Support
Inclusive Education
Dustin B. Mancl and Caren Rasmussen, Paradise Professional Development
School
Paradise Professional Development School is located on the campus
of the University of Nevada Las Vegas. As part of a large urban school
district, Paradise PDS serves students from a wide range of backgrounds
and educational experiences. Like many schools, Paradise PDS is chal-
lenged to support all students in inclusive settings where general educa-
tion curriculum is taught by highly qualified educators in their respected
fields.
The future and trend of providing instruction to students with
disabilities within the general education setting has expanded with the
support of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act
(IDEA, 2004) and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, 2001). IDEA
mandates all students with disabilities have access to the general educa-
tion curriculum. NCLB mandates all students to perform proficiently in
grade level curriculum by 2014. As a result, special education departments
within a school are challenged to provide high quality instruction in
inclusive settings. Another challenge that most schools face is the limited
resources of paraprofessionals to support instruction within the general
education classroom.
Paradise PDS has implemented various techniques of educating
students with disabilities within inclusive settings. With the use of
paraprofessionals, federal mandates and student needs are being met.
Strategies of lesson planning and implementation, along with instructional
models while using paraprofessionals within the general education class-
room, will be discussed. Theories behind the methodology will be pre-
sented to support current practices utilized at Paradise PDS. A variety of
data collection procedures to demonstrate student success will also be
reviewed.
Using Technology To Support Communication
In Professional Development Schools
Oliver Dreon Jr., Nanette Dietrich, Ellen Long, Marcia Nell, and Doyin
Coker-Kolo, Millersville University
Vital to the sustainability of a PDS is the group’s ability to collaborate
and communicate within the PDS. In our group, we have maximized
communication using several emergent technologies. In this session, we
will present these simple (and free) web-based tools that our group uses
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to function, gather data, schedule activities and meetings, and create joint
documents. A PDS may be spread across many schools and many
buildings. How does a PDS promote and sustain a sense of community
when mentors, interns, and university faculty may be geographically
distant from one another? We have found the web to be a creative space
for our community to gather and contribute despite our geographical
separation. In this session, we will share several resources that are shared
across our partnership to foster interaction between all of the stakeholders
within our group. These tools include:
• Wikis: Did you get that email I sent you? In a wiki, community
members collaborate in a jointly-created web space to share
critical resources and ideas.
• Google Documents: Who has the latest version of the memoran-
dum of understanding? With Google Documents, community
members collaborate to write documents, create presentations,
and gather data.
• Doodle: When can you meet next week? With Doodle, community
members can easily coordinate multiple schedules and effec-
tively plan meetings.
What To Do When The Money Runs Out: A
PDS’s Attempt To Institutionalize And Sustain
The Work Of The Partnership After Three
Years Of External Funding
Sara Duffy, Louisa May Alcott Elementary School
Rachel Gemo, St. Benedict Elementary School
Sharon Damore, Katherine Kapustka, Catherine Larsen, and Barbara
Rieckhoff, DePaul University
As with numerous grant-funded initiatives, this PDS network en-
tered the 2008-09 academic year with uncertainty and faced a difficult time
of transition and challenges to sustainability without the financial support
of an external grant. Although institutionalization and sustainability were
pioneering goals, after three years of external funding toward which the
participants have made progress, PDS work was not yet fully integrated
into the existing work of all university and P-12 school partners and
participants. The work required continued support and participation from
all stakeholders in order to provide leadership, forward thinking, and
analysis, as well as facilitation of essential communication and collabora-
tive work in the service of teaching and learning for all constituents.
Through a process using the Nine Essentials developed by NAPDS, the
PDS faculty began a conversation, planning process, prioritization and
transition with schools of education administration, faculty and P-12
school leadership to continue this valued work.
In this session, the presenters will share highlights of this pivotal
academic year: shared commitments, timelines, transitional events, struc-
tures, research briefs (public sharing), reallocation of school of education
resources, faculty and P-12 personnel volunteering to continue once-
compensated work, and communications among and between partners in
the PDS network. The presenters will talk about the importance of organiz-
ing PDS work around the Nine Essentials when budget pressures create
question of value in continuing this high quality, intensive work with
teacher candidates and current educators in the field.
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