SECTION I: CONTENT
A. Statement of the issue:
With the publication of A Nation at Risk in 1983 decrying the state of public
schools in America, education has been of growing interest to politicians, educators,
parents, and the overall citizenry (Berger & Neuhaus, 1977; Counts, 1934; Dewey,
1916/1966; Gallup, 1984; Goodlad, 1979; Gordon & Breivogel, 1976; Harris, Libresco,
& Parker, 1985; Tangle, 2003). All of these are stakeholders with a significant
investment in the success of the public school system.
The emerging question is whether professional development school partnerships
work as they are intended to and do they have an effect on the perceptions of classroom
teachers, instructional strategies of teacher candidates, and achievement of students
within instructional settings. Research has shown that, in comparison to traditional
teacher education programs, teacher preparation in Professional Development Schools is
more apt to demonstrate desired organizational characteristics (Abdal-Haqq, 1998;
Darling-Hammond, 1994; Petrie, 1995; Valli et al., 1997). Additionally, there is some
evidence that PDS-based teacher education produces teachers with greater confidence
and self-efficacy in teaching (Abdal-Haqq, 1998). Literature also suggests that teacher
candidates completing a PDS-based program are more likely to use the results of
reflection to vary their instruction and pedagogical practices based on the classroom
situation.
Toward the end of the twentieth century, there were constant pressures for schools
to change and improve in order to meet the demands of the business world. However, the
majority of society’s focus was on the K-12 schools and not on the reform of teacher
education programs. It was not until the late 1960s and early 1970s that a relationship
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Convention