Chapter 2: Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practice with Professional Development Schools: A Department of Special education’s evolving Journey

Research pertaining to professional development schools (PDSs) is situated predominately in the broader general education context (Prater & Sileo, 2002; Rose, 2002; Sapon-Shevin, 1990). The literature that exists on special education and PDSs mainly addresses the integration of general and special education. Additional studies examining the role of special education in reform efforts and special education initiatives within PDSs are needed. This chapter describes such an initiative. It is a follow-up to an article published in Teacher Education Quarterly (Allsopp et al., 2006) in which we examined the impact of a collaborative effort between our university and one of our PDSs designed to strengthen the linkages pre-service teachers in special education made between their university classes and related field experiences.