Chapter 10: Using the Researcher–Practitioner Partnership to Build Family–School Partnerships in a Rural High School

In teacher education, the notion of partnerships often refers to cooperative relationships among schools and universities to ensure teacher candidates have high quality preparation in school-based clinical experiences. Absent from traditional models of teacher preparation, however, is an emphasis on collaboration with the broader community in the education of prospective teachers. Any efforts to engage the community in the education of prospective teachers require teacher educators to consider new possibilities, a third space in teacher preparation. This chapter presents a reflective inquiry of third space partnerships as community-based approach to teacher education. In a rural Appalachian Ohio context, the development and design third space partnerships privileged the knowledge and expertise of community members and engaged teacher candidates in the community through service learning. For practitioners, this chapter provides background on the development or third space partnerships, a conceptual framework for learning, descriptions of third space partnerships for teacher education in rural communities, and principles of design. In addition, the chapter offers a critical appraisal of the opportunities and challenges of third space partnerships from the experiences of teacher candidates and community partners and discusses implications for developing sustainable partnerships.