Experience Changes Perceptions: Arabic-Speaking Students’ Perceptions Regarding the PDS Model and Teacher Training

The professional development schools (PDS) model has evolved in its 30-year history. Originating from the Holmes Group (1986), the PDS framework was designed to be “a new institution”—one that broke down the divide between PK–12 schools that educate youth and schools of education that educate future teachers—through the development and implementation of genuine and mutually beneficial partnerships. Three decades later, the PDS model is increasingly relevant to its various school and university constituents. Hundreds of school-university partnerships across the United States follow the model, and PDS has been highlighted as an exemplary approach to teacher education. In this chapter, we make the case for PDS as an exemplary format to consider in “rethinking school-university partnerships.” To make this case, partnerships based at four universities that follow the PDS model are featured in vignettes, presenting PDSs-in-action: George Mason University, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, University of South Florida, and SUNY Buffalo State. Each represents a different region of the United States and different levels of development toward the PDS model. The vignettes highlight the unique strengths and mutually beneficial elements of each PDS partnership by focusing on one NAPDS nine essentials (Brindley et al., 2008).

Professional development schools (PDSs) have become an important component of preservice teacher preparation. Researchers investigating the effect of the PDS model on the principal stakeholders (preservice teachers, classroom teachers, students, and university faculty) have reported many positive effects. The role of the PDS in special education teacher preparation, however, appears to be less well defined. This article focuses on PDS participation of special education teacher preparation programs and addresses the apparent reluctance to embrace the PDS model.

The article presents in its first part the partnership model – PDS (Professional Development School) for teacher education that developed in the 1970s in the United States following criticism and re- search findings that indicated lack of satisfaction with the traditional teacher education programs. In its second part the article presents findings and discussion of a multi-year study conducted over seven years, from 2010 to 2016, in the first and up till now the only PDS partnership incorporated into teacher training program in research university in Israel. The multi-year study focused on stu- dent teachers’ evaluation of the contribution of the teacher training components of the university- school partnership model (PDS) to their learning of teaching: the practice teaching in the school and the school mentors; the groups of student colleagues as learning communities and their weekly meetings and the university coordinators. From the perception of the PDS partnership as a dynamic and developing process and from the approach of evidence-based practice, the importance of this multi year study lies in the identification of the essential strengths in the process of the practical experience expressed in the partnerships for their empowerment. In addition the importance of this research is in the identification of the essential weaknesses and challenges, for the purpose of en- quiry and learning in the learning communities who take part in the PDS partnerships, and the rais- ing of the necessary courses of action and changes. The importance of the research study in the in-ternational aspect lies in the presentation of an additional profile of partnership for the extension of the shared discussion about dilemmas and challenges that arise from the implementation of different partnerships in the training of teachers.

<p>Achieving educational goals is based on the skills and competence of teachers; therefore, professional development of teachers is important to policy and decision-makers. Worldwide, the percentage of teachers who leave the profession within their first years of teaching is high therefore, professional support is essential to ease on their integration. Previous research indicates a positive and significant correlation between teachers' self-efficacy and their attitudes toward the teaching profession. Our study included three hypotheses: 1) teachers' pedagogical applications serve as mediators for the relationship between teachers' self-efficacy and their attitudes toward the profession; 2) participating in a professional development school (PDS) training program interacts with teachers' self-efficacy in predicting their attitudes toward the profession; and, 3) participation in a PDS training program will positively affect the two variables. A close and open-ended questionnaire was replied by 300 novice teachers, some of whom participated in the PDS program and others who did not. Findings indicate that the relationship between teachers' sense of self-efficacy and their attitudes towards the teaching profession was partially mediated by: applying constructivist pedagogical practices; matching to differences between learners; collaboration between fellow teachers; accountability; planning and teaching management; and academy-community relationships. Participation in a PDS program was not found as a moderator variable for this relationship, but novice teachers who participated in this program had a significant higher sense of self-efficacy and more positive attitudes towards the teaching profession. Findings are important for designing novice teacher training programs with an emphasis on the implementation of specific pedagogical practices.</p>

The importance of professional development for teachers cannot be overstated. In recent years there has been much debate on how to raise standards in schools and it is now recognised by theorists, policy-makers and practitioners that the professional development of teachers is an important factor in this context.For professional development co-ordinators and senior management, knowledge and understanding of the nature of professional development roles and human resource management theories will provide a framework for practice.This book includes chapters on:*managing professional development in a human resources context*government policy*initial teacher training*the school development plan*appraisal*middle management*leadership skills.It will be of interest to co-ordinators of professional development in schools and across local education authorities, and to anyone who is part of a school's senior management team.

The views of university faculty and public school personnel toward collaborative research in the second year of a professional development schools (PDS) partnership were compared by means of a survey and a structured interview. Although participants were involved in a collaborative partnership, they subscribed to a traditional, rather than a collaborative, conception of educational research. Whether a collaborative model of research can flourish in a PDS depends on participants’ ability (a) to develop a common mindset about what collaborative research is and how it relates to practice and (b) to achieve a positive balance of its costs and benefits. It is important in the early stages of a PDS to identify whether school and university faculty have different views about research so they can develop a common research perspective that will enable collaboration to flourish over the long term.

The reemergence of the professional development school movement in North America may mark the beginning of a paradigm shift in clinical teacher education. Conceptual and structural obstacles to student teacher learning in practicums that must be addressed if the professional development school is to achieve its goals are discussed. The conceptual barriers result from inadequate conceptions of reflection that neglect teachers' practical theories, values, the social conditions of schooling, and the social aspects of reflection. The structural barriers include the placement of student teachers in single classrooms rather than schools, the selection of placements, supervisory relations, and the lack of multicultural placements. Professional development schools offer an opportunity to overcome these obstacles by altering the power and role relationships in the practicum.

The major aim of this research was to investigate the environment of a secondary school as it began to become a professional development school. Using the theoretical dynamic of technical cultures, open systems theory, and organisational learning as background, the use of quantitative and qualitative data describes the practical dynamic of a learning environment at the initial stage of becoming a professional development school. This article uncovers instructors' perceptions of teaching and learning in a secondary context, offers a framework to investigate the school's teaching and learning environment, and suggests ways to use such investigation to understand the evolution potential of learning communities.

We examine the work of one professional development school by studying the question, "What characteristics support change in a professional development school?" We suggest six guiding principles: (a) Role shifts of members of the school's steering group need careful nurturing; (b) the nature, direction, and pace of change need to evolve from the school community participants; (c) school community strengths need to serve as the foundation for change; (d) the expectation of continual growth needs to be established in the school community; (e) a balance needs to be struck between supporting and challenging professional development efforts; (f) the school community needs to acknowledge and embrace the complexities of curriculum and instruction.

The purpose of this case study was to analyze the way the Professional Development School (PDS) model was institutionalized at a large research university in the mid-west. Data was gathered through interviews with key players (Professors, Administrators and Master teachers), document analysis and critical discourse analysis of the surrounding texts. Texts included research produced through the PDS, foundational literature such as Holmes Group documents and scholarly literature about PDS. This article presents the themes and foundational concepts that emerged from the data and suggests a number of interesting conclusions. Overall, it is clear that PDS is a very complicated reform model and that there is a tendency to valorize institutional efforts and results. Also, the origin of the reform model indicates a top-down implementation that involves an exclusivist gendered model of professionalization and suggests that only ‘good teachers’ were invited and that failure occurred but was not well documented.

Professional Development Schools (PDSs) are collaborative ventures between schools and teacher training institutions. We identify the characteristics of a school that lead to successful PDS collaboration, relating them to Teitel’s model (2003) that merges the principal standards of collaboration with the stages necessary for developing a PDS. We then describe an external evaluation of a PDS in action in Israel, noting that it took several years to achieve some of the objectives; others have still not been met. Finally, we describe the school’s characteristics that contributed to its success as a PDS.

In this retrospective case study, the author describes the process of initiating a new partnership between the Master of Education in Teaching (MET) program at the University of Hawaii and a public elementary school, which would service as the field site for the student cohort in this two-year field-intensive certification program. Included in the article are descriptions of the context of the new partner school, components and characteristics of the MET professional development school (PDS) model, and the major themes and issues that arose in the first year of establishing this new PDS -MET style

A Professional Development School (PDS) serves as a quality-teaching model. It is a vehicle that generates professional understanding through conversations among university professors, teachers, and teacher candidates. The author illustrates a pilot PDS program that exemplifies the many benefits of transforming the teaching model into a successful collaboration and the lessons learned by PDS participants. The partnership explores classroom culture, collaboration agendas, and quality efforts for building a conceptual framework for mathematics and science teaching and learning with fifth graders.

Purpose: Underperformance of secondary school students in Mathematics is a great concern to all stakeholders in education sector. Efforts have been made by many researchers to arrest this situation, but it seems unresolved. Therefore, this study examined discipline and professional development as prognosticators of student’s academic achievement in mathematics. The study was led by four hypotheses and relevant literatures were reviewed.
 Methodology: Survey research design was used, and the population comprised all secondary schools in South-West Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique was employed: Simple random sampling technique was used to select three (3) out of the six (6) states in South-West, five (5) Local Government Area (LGA) from each state and from each LGA ten (10) schools and 10 students from each school was selected. In all 3 states, 15 LGA, 150 schools and 1500 students were used. Also, purposive sampling method was used to select two (2) teachers of Mathematics from each school. Thus, a total of three hundred (300) teachers of Mathematics were used for the study. Data collection was done by using Discipline and Professional Development Questionnaire (DPDQ) and Mathematics Achievement Test(MAT) with reliability coefficients of 0.82 and 0.86 respectively and content and face validity of the instruments was established by expert in test construction.
 Findings: The findings clearly revealed discipline and professional development as prognosticators of secondary school students’achievement in mathematics. It can be concluded that the two predictor variables are effective in improving students’academic achievement in Mathematics.
 Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: This investigation has generated baseline data about the importance of discipline and professional development in schools. It was recommended that eenlightenment programmes should be organized on what should constitute the disciplinary measures to take in schools to improve students’ achievement in Mathematics. When correcting misbehaviour educators should focus on strategies for developing self-discipline and for preventing misbehaviour. There should be regular training and re-training programmes for teachers in schools so as to provide a basis for their own personal improvement with regards to knowledge in their areas of study and, by extension, improvement on the performances of their students. A relevant theory is the Glasser Theory of Classroom Management is based on the principles that the classroom environment and curriculum should create a safe place for learning by meeting the needs for belonging, power, fun and freedom (William 2009) . Glasser also stressed helping the students achieve success by teaching them to make appropriate behavioural choices. According to Glasser, behaviour is a matter of choice. A student's behaviour stems from the choices he or she makes. It's the teacher's responsibility to help the students make good choices, which would result in good behaviour.The Glasser Theory states that teachers should stress student responsibility, establish rules that lead to success, accept no excuses, call for value judgments, suggest suitable alternatives, invoke responsible consequences, be persistent, and carry out continual review. The benefit Glasser believed that students will have is that they will be provided with a choice in deciding the curriculum and classroom rules. This will help the students take ownership of the learning process, leading to increased enthusiasm, confidence and participation.
 Teachers employing the Glasser Theory may need to deviate from the classical classroom structure in order to achieve success. Glasser favours having the students work together in small groups. This fosters a sense of belonging, motivates the students to work for the group, and reduces theirdependence on the teacher. When divided into smaller groups, stronger students will help the weaker students, improving relationships and classroom harmony.The Glasser Theory alone won't eliminate all classroom behavioural problems however. Glasser suggests that the teacher organizes the classroom the best way possible to meet students' needs and then intervene with the supplied strategies to improve behaviour (William, 2009). Even when the theory is followed, Glasser concedes up to 25 percent of students may remain unproductive. This theory therefore cannot be the best for this study. Kohn’s theory of classroom management emphasises curiosity and cooperation above all else. This is true throughout Kohn’s discussions on standards, standardized testing, homework, and classroom management. Kohn believes that the students’ curiosity should govern what is taught inside the classroom

PurposeIn 2022, the Baltimore professional development school (PDS) partner schools, John Ruhruh Elementary/Middle School (JREMS) and Notre Dame of Maryland University (NDMU) received funds through a Maryland Educational Emergency Revitalization (MEER) grant to determine (a) to what extent additional resources and professional development would increase JREMS teachers’ efficacy in technology integration and (b) to what extent NDMU professional development in the form of workshops and self-paced computer science modules would result in greater use of technology in the JREMS K-8 classrooms. Results indicated a statistically significant improvement in both teacher comfort with technology and integrated use of technology in instruction.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data were collected on teacher-stated comfort with technology before and after grant implementation. Teachers’ use of technology was also measured by unannounced classroom visits by administration before and after the grant implementation and through artifacts teachers submitted during NDMU professional development modules.FindingsResults showing significant increases in self-efficacy with technology along with teacher integration of technology exemplify the benefits of a PDS partnership.Originality/valueThis initiative was original in its approach to teacher development by replacing required teacher professional development with an invitation to participate and an incentive for participation (a personal MacBook) that met the stated needs of teachers. Teacher motivation was strong because teammates in a strong PDS partnership provided the necessary supports to induce changes in teacher self-efficacy.