Recent reports call for a structural transformation of teacher preparation programs with increased attention to quality field-based learning experiences for pre-service teachers. Ideally, this occurs in the context of robust university-school partnerships. The challenges lie in identifying such school sites and building meaningful, reciprocal…

A rural university and an urban school district developed a professional partnership that focused on promoting quality teaching by improving the skills, knowledge, and disposition of teachers. The major goals of this professional development initiative including the following objectives: first, establish a quality environment for teaching and…

Campus Mentors is a unique new partnership between a school district and a local university created to benefit both pre-service teachers and students at risk. The model is an on-campus alternative school targeting youth at risk. It is effective, cost-efficient, and mutually beneficial. Data collected over three years indicate a positive impact on…

This school-university partnership research explored how multicultural literature read-alouds impacted the pedagogical understandings of elementary pre-service teachers. The study explores the intersection of multicultural education, Professional Development School standards, and the achievement gaps of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD)…

Outreach and engagement that connects the Patton College at Ohio University with P-12 schools has been a strong tradition in the Southeastern Ohio/Appalachian region. In the mid-1980s, a partnership aligned with the Coalition of Essential Schools and 9 "Common Principles"' was one of the first. Alignment with 19…

Preparing in-service and pre-service teachers to effectively work with culturally diverse students is an ongoing challenge for schools and universities alike. This article reports on a University-Professional Development School (PDS) initiative designed to enhance an awareness of culturally responsive pedagogy. This article describes a yearlong…

Whether explicitly or implicitly, questioning and reformulating the purposes of public schools continues to be both a popular public and policy maker past time. Yet, few current definitions and assessments of school or teacher "quality" consider the social justice-oriented characteristics the authors of this article recognize as most important in…

An exploratory action research case study was conducted at Moanalua Middle School from 2006-2009 to examine the impact of Thinking Maps on student achievement. Thinking Maps are not just another set of graphic organizers but a set of eight of unique visual mind maps with each linked to a specific higher-order thinking pattern. This study tells the…

Although there is no common definition for teacher leadership, the concept is continually advanced as a key component for both the success of schools and professionalization of teachers. Many view teacher leadership as specific administrative roles while others view it as any opportunity in which teachers contribute to the decision-making process.…

An important feature of professional development school (PDS) work is encouraging collaborative reflective dialogue that guides a partnership toward actualizing the possibilities for and mission of a PDS. This article provides a case "illustration" of a fictitious, exemplary PDS and a "protocol" that in combination can be used by PDSs interested…

The PDS partnership between the Cleveland State University Master of Urban Secondary Teaching (MUST) program and the Cleveland School of Science and Medicine (CSSM) has an established history of preparing educators to teach in urban schools. Recently awarded the NAPDS Award for Exemplary Professional Development School Achievement, this…

The Brigham Young University-Public School Partnership (BYU-PSP) has been serving K-12 public schools in Utah for 29 years. The Partnership includes five school districts, BYU's David O. McKay School of Education, and the seven arts and sciences colleges at BYU that participate in preparing teachers. This article describes the structure of the…

From an informal discussion to being awarded the National Association for Professional Development School's Award for Exemplary Professional Development School Achievement, this article presents the story of the Timbercrest Elementary/University of Central Florida Professional Development School Partnership's journey. As the authors shared their…

Co-teaching in teacher preparation is viewed as a promising practice for fostering collaborative skills, increasing student participation, improving classroom instruction, and professional growth for all participants. Using focus group interviews as a unit of analysis, this article explores pre-service teachers' perceptions of co-teaching…

In the 2007-2008 academic year, with an emphasis on three of the nine "Essentials" of a Professional Development School as delineated in NAPDS' policy statement, "What It Means to Be a Professional Development School," the shared supervision model between a public college in the northeastern United States and a public…