Professional Development Schools
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- What are Professional Develoment Schools?
What are Professional Develoment Schools?
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Professional development schools (PDSs) are innovative institutions formed through partnerships between professional education programs and P-12 schools. PDS partnerships have a four-fold mission:
- the preparation of new teachers,
- faculty development,
- inquiry directed at the improvement of practice, and
- enhanced student achievement.
PDSs improve both the quality of teaching and student learning.
PDSs are often compared to teaching hospitals, which are also hybrid institutions created in the early twentieth century. As practicing professions, both teaching and medicine require a sound academic program and intense clinical preparation. The teaching hospital was designed to provide such clinical preparation for medical students and interns; PDSs serve the same function for teacher candidates and in-service faculty. Both settings provide support for professional learning in a real-world setting in which practice takes place.