In an effort to better serve the school districts within its service area and the unique credential candidate population, California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) implemented an accelerated alternative certification program based upon the Professional Development School (PDS) model hereinafter referred to as SPED PDS. During the…

Much has been written about how K-12 teachers and university faculty come to understand their roles within Professional Development Schools (PDSs). However, there is not a clear body of research that addresses the role of graduate students who represent a valuable force in PDSs. This paper aims to explore the dynamics of relationship building in a…

A long-standing goal for many teacher preparation programs is to link theory to practice (i.e., "linkages") for teacher candidates through close university-school partnerships. Essentially, the professional development schools (PDS) models were established to bridge this gap of theory and practice and to provide an environment in which…

Professional Development Schools (PDSs) can potentially affect the quality of teaching and learning of students in Grades K-16. The authors describe the collaborations among teacher education, arts and science, and K-12 classroom teacher faculties involved in a 5-year PDS partnership at Kansas State University. A 15-member language arts team…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report a work-based learning innovation developed in response to the skills agenda affecting post-registration continuing professional development for nurses. Design/methodology/approach: The experience of learners, mentors and assessors using the "Skills Bank" are illustrated as part of an…

For this study I explored an elementary classroom with particular focus on how discursive practices became cultural resources for learners in formulating identities as individuals and group members. Through a Vygotskian perspective on development and learning, I focused on how using developing resources became consequential for both the collective…

School-university partnerships are a fundamental link to strengthen teacher education reform. The formation of new partnerships in which academic faculty and in-service teachers assume expanded roles holds promise as a primary avenue toward developing content and contextual expertise of preservice music teachers and strengthening pre-K-12…

In spite of the relatively long history of formalized music teacher preparation in the United States, surprisingly little research has focused on the question of how teachers learn to teach music. The authors of this article have proposed a theory of situated learning, building on the idea of apprenticeship. Several models of music teacher…

To transform and revitalize education and to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to instruct and prepare all American students for the next century, teacher education and professional development have been designated as one of the National Education Goals (added to the original six in 1994). The goal suggests that practicing teachers are key…

This digest examines the spread of mentoring in the United States, obstacles to realizing the potential of mentoring as a vehicle of reform, needed research, and selected issues of policy and practice. While the education community understands that mentors have a positive effect on teacher retention, the question of what mentors should do, what…

This paper summarizes ongoing theoretical work and the findings of a recent research project in nursing and midwifery education to understand the problems encountered with using scientific knowledge in actual health care practice and to address these problems with educational program redesign. Case studies and mini-studies are used to investigate…

This paper describes an ongoing case study of how a group of teachers are becoming researchers and what this means for their classrooms and the professional development school where they work. A collaborative teacher development program was implemented in Dickinson Elementary School of Albuquerque (New Mexico) which serves a mobile and mixed…

A partner school simultaneously provides: (1) an exemplary education for a segment of K-12 children, (2) internships and other educational experiences for prospective teachers and administrators, and (3) continuing education for members of the profession. School districts and institutions of higher education are jointly responsible for governance…

Collaborations between universities and schools can yield many benefits for both partners, but even in the best collaborations, some problems cannot be resolved easily. This paper describes the experiences over several years of one university-school collaboration, exploring the nature of collaborations that attempt to both restructure schools and…

This book describes a recent trend in the school restructuring movement--the professional-development school. These schools are committed to the acquisition and sharing of knowledge among all members of the educational community and depend on research-practitioner collaboration. In nine chapters, contributors explain the function, structure, and…