Although the PDS movement is still relatively young, the research literature on Professional Development Schools is beginning to document the impact of high quality, focused professional development experiences for teachers on schools and students. Some encouraging examples of cases where this connection does seem to be in effect have now been reported (e.g., reviews by Abdal-Haqq, 1998; Byrd and McIntyre, 1999). For example, in 1996, Trachtman conducted a survey of 28 “highly developed” PDS sites for the Professional Development Schools Standards Project.3 Sixty-five percent of the responding sites indicated that preservice teachers affiliated with the sites in the PDS context spent more time in field-related experiences than teachers who were enrolled in more traditional teacher education programs. In PDS arrangements, preservice teachers usually are assigned to a teaching site in cohorts, a desirable practice according to other research. These cohorts work with school-based teams of teachers. Teacher teams have a variety of functions, including curriculum development, action research, creating performance assessments, and university teaching. These preservice teachers also assume building-wide responsibilities and other roles beyond their own classroom settings, thereby providing time for practicing teachers in the school to engage in other kinds of professional work.
More than 90 percent of the respondents reported that at least one preservice course was being taught directly at their school site. Further, at more than 50 percent of the sites, teachers from grades K-12 held adjunct or other similar kinds of college faculty appointments. At 60 percent of the sites, PDS classroom teachers participated in activities connected with the upgrading of university-level teacher education program renewal. Seventy-five percent of the sites surveyed indicated that the preservice teachers working with them also engaged in research about teaching practice. Finally, 89 percent of the respondents indicated that university and school faculty worked together to plan professional development activities (Houston et al., 1999).
According to anecdotal reports, graduates of PDS programs begin their professional careers with greater knowledge and more teaching skills than graduates of more traditional preservice programs. In addition, it has been observed that teachers trained in PDS environments have a greater understanding of the diversity and the nonacademic needs of students, are more committed to and self-confident about teaching, and are more likely to reach out to others and participate in school-wide activities (Houston et al., 1999).
Houston et al. (1999) also reported that in Texas, teacher candidates with PDS experience outperformed their peers by 15 to 34 percentage points in the state’s required examination for teacher licensure, although the study authors acknowledged that it is unclear whether the difference in performance was due to PDS experience per se or to the qualities of students attracted to PDS programs.
There also is isolated statistical and anecdotal evidence that a higher percentage of PDS graduates remain in teaching. For example, in a study of the Model Clinical Teaching Program (MCTP), a PDS partnership between East Carolina University faculty and cooperating teachers in the Pitt County, NC schools was formed that included a full year of internship along with extensive and ongoing staff development. Of 60 MCTP graduates whose careers were followed after having completed this program, 96 percent continued as classroom teachers five, and in some cases, six years after entering the profession compared with a national average of less than 60 percent. After seven years of piloting this program, East Carolina University has now adopted it for the senior year of all of its teacher preparation programs (Parmalee Hawk, personal communication). In addition, these kinds of programs also influence student performance on standardized tests. On the North Carolina state-mandated test of comprehension skills, “PDS schools performed better than most other schools in the district and were above average for the state as a whole. Minimal skill scores for the middle-school students were higher than they had ever been, and mathematics scores for third and fifth graders also improved (Apple, 1997).
In Maryland, state law requires all teacher education candidates to spend a full-year interning in a PDS. The University of Maryland (UMD) is actively engaged in Professional Development Schools in the state, and while a study has yet to be conducted regarding efficacy, anecdotally, school superintendents and participating teachers have indicated that the program makes a positive difference (Martin Johnson, 2000, personal correspondence). In UMD Professional Development Schools, clusters of schools act as the K-12 partners; i.e., five or six elementary or five or six secondary and middle schools “held together by the concept of reform and renewal.”
Source: http://books.nap.edu/
