In this article, the author summarizes his efforts to design the Cultural Proficiency Continuum Dialogic Protocol (CPCDP), a tool purposed to assess and codify educators' cultural competence. The design and development of the CPCDP took place within four school-university partnerships (e.g., Professional Development School and Hybrid Partnership).…

The University of South Carolina Professional Development School (USC PDS) Network has been engaged in designing and redesigning school-university partnerships for more than 20 years with a focus on ensuring that school-based practice lies at the heart of candidate preparation. In 2012-2013, the USC PDS Network once again reexamined their program…

Student feedback collected through program evaluation of secondary education licensure and Master's program clinical experiences prompted us to conduct a collective self-study. We used a reflective framework for analysis and discussion of the shifts students in our courses made as they progressed from observers to practicing teachers. Along with…

The 2009 Professional Development Schools National Conference recognized the North Florida Urban Professional Development School Partnership for its outstanding work in an urban education context and so named it one of the three recipients of the first-ever National Association for Professional Development Schools Award for Exemplary Professional…

In recent years, increasing numbers of professional development programs have dealt with assessment literacy for teachers and/or administrators. Is assessment literacy merely a fashionable focus for today's professional developers or, in contrast, should it be regarded as a significant area of professional development interest for many years to…

The 2010 Professional Development Schools National Conference recognized the professional development school relationship between Towson University with its dual certification major and the Howard County Public School System for its outstanding collaborative accomplishments, naming the Towson-Waterloo-Ilchester-Bellows Spring PDS as a recipient of…

In most western countries, the problems of effective university-controlled and largely university-based initial teacher education (ITE) have been apparent for many decades: whatever is achieved in the university, the teaching practices and attitudes that student-teachers usually learn to adopt are those currently dominant in the schools. So it is…

In this article, we share how a professional development school (PDS) partnership between several elementary school sites within a district and an institution of higher education prepares special education teacher candidates. The following challenges are identified for PDS stakeholders: recruiting qualified special education mentor teachers,…

Periodic reexamination of existing professional development school forms is good practice to ascertain whether goals are being met. Such an assessment was sparked by a request from a superintendent in a 14-year-old professional development school structure at a public college in the Northeast. This assessment revealed that although the…

Knowledge of learners' assets beyond the traditional structure of school can provide preservice teachers with essential gateways to connecting learners with the content to be studied, and with forming beneficial social relationships that can enhance learning. This article describes ways that preservice teachers responded to community-based…

Describes the development of teacher education programs at Henderson State University (Arkansas). Through extensive collaboration with school districts in its primarily rural service area, the university has modified Goodlad's urban-focused model of the professional development school to fit rural circumstances. (SV)

Local school systems, Local Education Agencies [LEAs], and universities, Institutions of Higher Education [IHEs], work together in a variety of ways in the initial preparation and ongoing professional development of teachers, although it is difficult to ascertain the number of LEA/IHE partnerships. These relationships typically allow for a…

This paper reviews ways in which the University of Indianapolis (Indiana) utilized its professional development school (PDS) program as a vehicle for promoting inclusion of democratic ideals in the teacher education program. Three issues related to implementation of the PDS partnership are discussed: balance and shift of roles, direction and pace…

This article describes the efforts of the University of South Florida's Department of Special Education to change its approach to educating special education teachers, by making a total commitment to align its work with public schools in developing a network of Professional Development Schools to reflect a collaborative model of training and…

The Master Technology Teacher (MTT) initiative at the University of Alabama is a collaborative technology partnership among university secondary education faculty, inservice teachers, and preservice teachers. MTT is designed to provide, to the partners, resources and long term development for enhancement of classroom technology integration and the…