New initiatives in preservice teacher formal student teaching experiences seek to prepare high-quality educators commensurate with current demands of the profession. Professional development schools (PDS) provide more hours of clinical preparation for student teaching, with a qualified mentor teacher. This research study investigated the effectiveness of teacher candidates, measured by the differences in participants' scores on initial licensure examinations to determine if there was a difference in teacher candidates who were prepared through two separate methods: a PDS yearlong internship and a traditional 14-week student-teaching format. The study determined the extent to which students who were prepared through the PDS approach differed from those prepared through the traditional approach to teaching preparation at a Midwestern university. Praxis II standardized licensure examination score were compared with the Mann Whitney U, test and ANCOVA using data from four cohorts of PDS and non-PDS students. The median Praxis II score for the PDS group (Md = 167.0) was not significantly different (p = 0.178) to that of the non-PDS group (Md = 173.5). After controlling for gender, race, and GPA score using ANCOVA, the mean Praxis II score for the PDS group (M = 173.50) was only marginally significantly different (p = 0.040) to the non-PDS group (M = 166.65) with a small effect size (Eta Squared = 0.1). The conclusion was that PDS only has a limited effect on success in standardized licensure examinations. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]