Professional Development Schools: A Study of Change From the University Perspective

ABSTRACT

Teacher education is under considerable scrutiny, and as often happens with critique, changes are imminent. Levine's Educating School Teachers (2006) recently suggested several important changes for teacher education programs, including redesigning the teacher education curricula based on a model of professional development schools (PDSs). As university faculty, we were interested in documenting any changes within higher education that were a result of a PDS reform effort. Consequently, and in response to Levine's challenge, we set out to study the impact of PDSs, as perceived by university personnel involved with a PDS program. To begin our study, we reviewed the extant research on changes resulting from PDS work. We then considered Bronfenbrenner's (1979) theory of ecological influence to provide a framework for understanding the various perspectives provided by participants in differing roles at the university.