California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Cal Poly Pomona is working with local schools in a transformation of its teacher preparation design that places professional development schools at the center of the student teaching experience. The encouragement for creating professional development schools was brought to the College of Education by local schools, and the specific designs for the professional development schools have been developed in close partnership with the teachers and principals in neighboring school districts. These educators were interested in the PDS as a vehicle for significantly enhancing the education of their students and the experience of their teachers. School and university faculty at the PDS sites work as partners and together engage with new teachers in inquiry around central issues of teaching and learning. The professional development schools are viewed as community sites that are instrumental in teacher education.

For example, Collegewood Professional Development School, established at Collegewood Elementary, partners Cal Poly Pomona and the Walnut Valley Unified School District. The partnership helps prepare and train new teachers for the profession as well as provide increased staff development and new learning for Collegewood’s staff, notes Dr. Kent Bechler, superintendent of Walnut Valley Unified School District.

Not only does the partnership give aspiring new teachers the opportunity to gain practical experience from master teachers in a safe and supportive learning environment, but the master teachers have expressed enthusiasm for sharing their knowledge and experiences with new teachers in an environment of collaborative learning, says Dr. Susan Brown, principal of Collegewood Elementary School. “And our students are the greatest beneficiaries,” she adds, “because they have the opportunity of interacting with our teachers and with new teachers and to learn from different instructional styles and approaches.”

CSU Dominguez Hills

The Professional Development School has been a dramatic innovation in the field of pre-service teacher preparation for urban schools since its first cohort began in August 1999. A collaboration among three partners—California State University, Dominguez Hills; the Los Angeles Educational Partnership; and the Los Angeles Unified School District—the program is an accelerated, alternative, field-based program designed to prepare working noncredentialed teachers to obtain a preliminary credential in one year and to implement effective teaching practices in their classrooms. The complete teacher preparation program is held at one of the local school sites. Both school site experts and university faculty engage in the teaching of university courses in the program. The program is directed by operations, steering, and advisory committees composed of appropriate membership from each of the partneringn agencies. Reform elements are accomplished by both the school district and the university.

CSU Sacramento

Two CSU Sacramento departments and over 20 faculty members are involved in the Equity Network of 12 Professional Development Schools in five local Sacramento area districts. The network uses participatory governance, with major stakeholders represented in PDS Steering Committees at each site as well as on the networkwide Governance Council in which school, district, university, and community partner representatives review PDS work plans and program evaluation data.

The participating schools and districts report the Equity Network provides an enhanced learning experience for all participants including teachers, students, parents, and CSU Sacramento students and faculty. “Our collaborative partnership with CSUS has had a far-reaching impact on the quality of education that we deliver to our children,” remarks Charlotte Chadwick, Bidwell Elementary School principal. Through participation in the Equity Network, Bidwell Elementary teachers improve their teaching practices and gain strategies that enhance their professionalism. For example, the school’s “Curriculum Mornings” has teachers reviewing lesson plans, giving feedback, observing, and writing comments about the lessons that are aligned with the California Standards for the Teaching Profession.

A major benefit of the network is that it offers participating schools’ students additional adult tutoring, social mentoring, and more individualized instruction from university students who have a passion for working with Title 1 students, according to Pam Costa, director, elementary schools, San Juan Unified School District. In addition, special events, such as family learning nights in science and mathematics for parents and students, augment the educational experience. Further, PDS offers school districts “an opportunity to hire first-year teachers who have been trained in key learning interventions and core academic programs and who have demonstrated superior commitment to student achievement,” Costa points out.