Chapter 3: Are New Teachers Prepared in a PDS-Based Certification Program Really Better?

The Professional Development School (PDS) model has received attention over the past decade as a method of teacher preparation with promise for improving the quality of new teachers. Little performance-based evidence exists, however, comparing the teaching effectiveness of new PDS-prepared and traditionally prepared teachers. Even less research exists on the comparative student achievement outcomes of these teachers. Using performance-based indicators, the current study examined the teaching effectiveness of first- and second-year teachers. Results reveal that in the first year, PDS-prepared teachers outperformed traditionally prepared teachers in lesson planning and videotaped teaching effectiveness. Furthermore, examining differences in their students’ academic achievement outcomes using Sanders’s value-added method of analysis, this study found that the NCE reading gain scores of students taught by PDS-prepared first-year teachers were significantly higher. On the other hand, the NCE math gain scores of students taught by PDS-prepared second-year teachers were significantly lower. The possibility is raised that the gap between PDS and other new teachers closes after the first year of teaching.