Chapter 8: Making A Difference in Teacher Development and High Quality Teaching

Unlike ever before, the challenge of equipping today’s public educators with professional development opportunities that can be coupled with job-embedded skills is imperative. Educators prefer to engage in professional learning that positively impacts teacher preparation, decreases teacher attrition, and above all, increases PK–12 student achievement. That is, educators want a variety of effective models that provide intentional results as the outcome. The Professional Development Schools Network (PDSN) partnerships afforded university-school professional learning experiences that were relevant, ongoing, sustained, and job-embedded. PDSN offered many venues for the university to collaborate with the teachers and leaders from our fifteen professional development schools and partnering school districts.