Educator preparation Programs nationwide seek evidence to meet accreditation standards for the impact of program completers on P-12 student learning and teaching effectiveness. The University of Evansville's School of Education conducted a systematic case study to identify any areas for improvement within the teacher preparation program. The…

As students prepare to enter college and the workforce, there has been a demand for them to be more independent, critical thinkers, innovative designers, and thoughtful collaborators. This preliminary study describes how a Professional Development School (PDS) partnership, between a middle school and a university, provides a more authentic…

This article reports results of research on whether there are clinical and statistically significant differences in the effectiveness of three pathways to teacher preparation on a single campus, Yosemite State, a member of the California State University (CSU) System as rated by graduates and employment supervisors. The independent variable is the…

This article reports findings to promote the best practices of a transformative teaching and learning environment, from a case study of a yearlong full-immersion secondary-level professional development school. The results support the idea that interns have a significant stake, an active professional community commitment, and a heightened…

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…

Investigating University-School Partnerships: A Volume in Professional Development School Research, the fourth book in the PDS Research Series developed by the same editors, includes a collection of organized papers that represent the best and latest examples of practitioner thinking, research, and program design and evaluation in the field at the…

Field experiences and clinical practice are considered the most important and most influential component of teacher preparation programs. The National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education Programs (NCATE) has established six standards to measure the effectiveness of teacher education programs; field experiences and clinical practice…

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if there was a difference in the internship experience between student interns placed in either an urban Professional Development School or an urban non-Professional Development School. Student interns from two urban universities who have partnerships with neighboring urban school districts…

This article describes a number of internal organizational initiatives within an urban teacher education program designed to foster inclusive, responsive practices by newly licensed general and special education teacher candidates. After implementing a merged preparation program for both special and general educators, we captured faculty and…

This paper reports initial results from an evaluation of the first 2 years of implementation of a Master's level teacher preparation program at Wheelock College (Massachusetts) for teachers of students with special needs (TSSN). An overview of the program notes that the intensive 14-month experience leads to a Master's degree in education and…

This book provides a platform for an array of educators to discuss the impact of professional development schools and other school-university partnerships on student learning. The 11 papers include: (1) "Using Research to Connect School-University Partnerships to Student Outcomes" (Lee Teitel); (2) "Making a Difference: A…