Chapter 11: Project Pace: Blurring the Lines Between Teacher Preparation and Induction

Project PACE brings together a local school district and teacher education preparers in partnership to fill a gap along the continuum of teacher development and induction. The partnership is unique in that the partners work together to stem the teacher attrition tide while simultaneously supporting preservice and new teacher development. Through a community of practice model (Lave & Wenger, 1991) the partnership blurs lines between the longstanding silos of preparation and induction and unites the collective capacity of teacher education faculty and school district mentors to attain co-constructed goals: Strengthening the university-district preparation and induction, supporting embedded and responsive professional development, and increasing teacher retention through improving teacher self-efficacy and minimizing teacher isolation. The chapter details the history of the partnership, its development based upon co-constructed needs, initial findings, and suggestions for others who wish to initiate a similar model in their own context.