Professional development schools and special education: A promising partnership?

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).

The number of students who are English language learners (ELL) is increasing significantly across the United States. As this number increases, so does the number of students who are ELL and being identified as having disabilities. The intersection of English language instruction and special education is an emerging field of scholarship, and it is important that special education teacher preparation programs incorporate theoretical frameworks and evidence-based practice for students who are ELL into their teacher preparation programs. Indeed, there are several topics and techniques that can be incorporated into special education teacher preparation coursework that have natural connections to topics typically addressed. This article provides a framework to support the inclusion of these strategies as well as specific examples of activities that could be incorporated in coursework to strengthen the preparation of special educators to meet the needs of students who are ELL.

An urban university (along with their 23 professional development schools [PDSs]) collaboratively identified a research initiative to build capacity for inclusive practice through the redesign of their dual licensure internship sequence. The research initiative resulted in an innovative restructuring of the dual internship sequence to support inclusive practices in collaboration with special and general education clinical teachers, as well as newly designed internship “Essential Experience” guidelines to support implementation of the internships.

During their studies, education students are required to engage practice-based experience in a collaborative model: Professional Development School (PDS), where there are many options for building professional and personal development processes. Through this experience, students formulate professional identity and perceptions about teaching. This study sought to examine the impact of this experience model on Arabic-speaking education students attending a Hebrew speaking college. The effect of the practice-based experience was examined on both the concept of teaching as a profession, the process of teaching instruction and social and cultural aspects. The findings of the study showed that PDS practice-based experience directly and indirectly contributes to the way students perceive teaching, the role of the teacher, the education system, as well as the importance of the practical experience in the teaching training process. However, there was no significant contribution of PDS practice-based experience to students’ perceptions of multicultural aspects of campus life.

Special education teacher preparation programs vary in their usage of practices (e.g., modeling and performance feedback) that have consistently been shown to effectively coach pre-service teachers to sustain high-quality implementation of teaching practices. Research even suggests that some pre-service special education teachers may not receive any of these coaching practices during their field experiences. In this article, we describe a feasible multimedia coaching option for teacher educators and teacher candidates to use to streamline the observation and coaching process using effective coaching practices and improved consistency. Specifically, this multimedia tool can be used to document pre-service teacher practice, generate feedback, deliver targeted instruction, and provide the opportunity for structured self-reflection.

Integrating or infusing topics across a teacher preparation program is often seen as being desirable. This article describes an evaluation process that was used to assess the degree to which all core courses in an initial teacher preparation program integrated special education, technology, and issues of cultural diversity into a general education curriculum. The participatory utilization-focused evaluation process is described in detail. This process allowed the faculty to become more focused and purposeful about their work, safely examine their instructional content and practices, clarify the program across multiple sections of courses, and use the evaluation as a springboard for conversations about program foundations and philosophical debates.

This study examined the effectiveness of implementing professional development on a volunteer basis at a professional development school (PDS) and points out the many ways in which the PDS structure supports growth for teachers, preservice teachers, students, and even university faculty. The specific professional development was focused on types of academic tasks. It specifically encouraged the instructional participants to change their way of teaching to consist of more challenging academic tasks to help improve student understanding and achievement. The results show that by having teachers take time to examine their own practices and increasing the number of high-challenge tasks in the classroom, students were more motivated during the activities, and they understood the content better. Preservice teachers who work in the school also benefited from the partnership and professional development because they were taught the same material in their university classrooms. Throughout the study, it is clear that the PDS partnership is a positive model for students who are reaping the benefits of teachers taking the initiative to change their instruction in order to become more effective for children’s learning.

The Professional Development School (PDS) partnership creates a unique environment in which the elementary education experiences for pre-service teachers (PSTs) can be enhanced through specialized approaches to traditional practicum courses taken during an education licensure program. However, over time, as both parties settle into their predetermined roles, these experiences may become stagnant and less impactful as school needs change, but the courses do not. The PDS partnership between a Midwest university and local school district provides the opportunity for distinctive platforms through innovative teaching approaches for both university and elementary faculty, as well as, for elementary education PSTs. Working specifically with a local elementary school, the authors collaboratively sought to develop a mutually beneficial approach that would purposefully place PSTs within the school while increasing consistency in the placement. The intent was to allow classroom teachers to better utilize the PSTs during their field experience hours, in addition to providing PSTs with more hands-on, minds-on learning opportunities. The decision to turn the courses into an extended learning immersive experience was determined early on in the planning process, along with the associated courses. This partnership began in Fall 2019 as a nine-hour block that included courses in instructional and behavioral engagement, literacy practices, and elementary science methods. Throughout the semester, feedback was periodically collected from participating faculty and PSTs in an effort to keep the immersive courses meeting the needs of the PSTs. Additional information was collected from diverse elementary student data within the PDS and from the principal.

The role of any teacher education program in the field of special education has been to prepare its graduates to become successful classroom teachers. Teacher education programs have constantly searched for the best available practices to educate future teachers. Historically, textbooks have been the predominant form of information dissemination within the university culture. The use of textbooks, bound by structure and limited by content, has narrowed the knowledge base that teacher education graduates bring to their role as practitioners. The purpose of this paper is to promote the increased use of literature in preservice special education teacher preparation programs to better prepare educators to serve individual learners with special education needs.

Advancing teacher candidates’ overall competence through use of valid teacher observation systems should be an essential element of teacher preparation. Yet, the field of special education has not provided observation protocols designed specifically for preservice teachers that are founded in theoretical perspectives and research on effective instruction for students with learning and other high-incidence disabilities (SWDs). To address this need, a group of researchers in special education teacher preparation and measurement developed the Preservice Observation Instrument for Special Education (POISE). The POISE is an observation system rooted in effective special education practices that support the growth of preservice teachers who will serve SWD across instructional settings. The purpose of this article is to report on the development and psychometric properties of the POISE. Specifically, we employed Kane’s argument-based validity approach to frame each stage in the development process of the POISE. We conducted two phases of content validation activities, development activities, and a pilot study to assess the degree to which scores from POISE provided evidence for the scoring, generalizability, and extrapolation inferences. In the end, the POISE represents a promising observation instrument for the development of special education teacher candidates.

Values are the building blocks of a society; they create societies and contain their characteristics. Accordingly, the teaching of values is very important for a society. The role of teachers in the teaching of values is large. In the 2019 curriculum for Turkish language classes, such values are also referred to as ten root values. Therefore, it is necessary for teachers and pre-service teachers to know the ten root values in the Turkish language teaching programme in terms of teaching values. In this study, the views of pre-service Turkish teachers and pre-service classroom teachers on root values were analysed. The study group consisted of a total of 60 pre-service teachers from Turkish education (30) and classroom education (30) programmes who were studying at a public university in the second semester of the 2021-2022 academic year. A semi-structured interview form consisting of five open-ended questions was administered to these pre-service teachers and the obtained data were analysed with content analysis. When the results of the research were evaluated, it was concluded that pre-service Turkish and classroom education teachers considered values to be basic elements. Pre-service teachers described the role of values in education as supportive, while pre-service Turkish teachers also described the concept as necessary and pre-service classroom teachers described it as a way of raising useful individuals. It was concluded that both groups viewed root values as the values people should have, and the values they viewed as priorities were love and justice. Both groups suggested that empathy be added to the root values. Despite some differences, Turkish and classroom education pre-service teachers generally shared the same views on values and root values.

The purpose of this study was to provide evidence-based information about future special education teachers’ perceptions of their preparation for using assistive technology (AT), and the field status with respect to the use of AT. Content analysis was conducted in order to analyze the data from 15 semi-structured interviews and a focus group consisting of 8 participants. The results indicate that overall, the participants were dissatisfied with their preparation programs and the field status regarding the use of AT. Furthermore, the participants reported barriers and ethical considerations regarding the use of AT. Implications and recommendations are provided both for the research community and for decision-makers for special education teacher preparation programs and in the field.

Increasingly, children and youth with HIV/AIDS develop characteristics that will require special education and related services. Subsequently, special education teacher preparation programs, in order to remain current, must respond to this new need. The purpose of this study is to examine current textbooks typically used in introductory courses for teachers preparing to work with students with disabilities, and determine the quantitative extent of HIV/AIDS content. Eleven textbooks were reviewed for inclusion of any of five HIV/AIDS content categories. The five categories comprised Individualized Education Plans (IEP) and program planning; skills for relating to children with HIV/AIDS; the prevention and transmission of HIV/AIDS; drug abuse prevention; and prevalence and background information about HIV/AIDS. Only three of 11 texts addressed all categories. Implications for exceptional student teacher preparation about HIV/AIDS are discussed.

The paper contributes to the existing literature in assessing the quality of the Special Education Teacher Preparation Program in light of the standards of the Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (CAEP).The study sample consisted of (48) faculty members, of whom (28) were males and (20) females, and the questionnaire was used to collect data. the results showed that the degree of evaluating the quality of the special education teacher preparation program in the universities of the northern governorates in Jordan in the light of the standards of the Accreditation Council for Teacher Education (CAEP) was medium, and the results showed that there were statistically significant differences according to the gender variable in favor of females. And the academic rank in favor of the lower ranks, The study recommended the need to review the experiences of other countries in the field of preparing programs for special education teachers according to other international standards and evaluate them according to the latest developments in this field.

Changing legal requirements, economic demands, accountability, and student demographics focus the need for reform among personnel preparation programs. Although redesign efforts in general and special education teacher preparation programs have increased, little evidence from research describes enhancement initiatives. In this article, the authors report the findings of an investigation of contextual variables related to reforming teacher preparation as reported by project personnel at Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) who were awarded 325T priority grants by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) during a 5-year period. This study employed a sequential mixed-methods design, which included (a) the administration of a survey to all project directors and (b) interviews with a purposive sample of project directors. From the analysis, results and future implications are included.