Connecting Communities of Practice Through Professional Development School Activities

Abstract

This analysis of professional development school projects across multiple sites began as a discussion in the Teacher Education Research Study Group (TERSG) at the 1996 annual meeting of the National Reading Conference. Teacher educators interested in literacy shared their collaborative projects and examined their professional development school (PDS) activities at four universities. Participants were interested in challenging the traditions of conventional teacher preparation programs, specifically the contexts in which programs that pushed against orthodoxy were formed, the governance structures by which they operated, and the benefits and challenges of the collaboration between two disparate cultures. Although projects demonstrated idiosyncratic responses to varying contextual conditions, the results of our separate efforts were surprisingly similar. We believe that the ongoing challenge of reforming teacher education will benefit from an analysis of our experiences. The professional development school (PDS) concept is intended to connect theory and practice in education so they reciprocally inform each other. Teachers in collaborating schools help preservice teachers learn the profession. Preservice teachers, in turn, bring new ideas, viewpoints, and practices into classrooms. Through the PDS process, school and classroom practices and teacher preparation can change and evolve. PDSs have been established to move toward a concept of preservice training with simultaneous renewal of schooling and the education of educators through the bumping together of university and school cultures (Goodlad, 1993). Osguthorpe, Harris, Harris, and Black, (1995) chart the struggle for a common or shared perspective when prospective partners engage in collaboration. The collaborations we describe focus on two overarching goals: strengthening the preparation of teachers and renewing K-12 education. We agree with Osguthorpe et al. (1995) when they argue that only when partners are committed to these goals and working together as equals can true collaboration occur. For the goals of the PDS for student interns and school reform to be met, there must be a concerted effort on the part of the participants to make changes in both schools and the universities. Project Descriptions The four projects we describe are PDS projects of various sizes, in differing locales, with assorted funding and governance structures, and at several stages of longevity. The goals of each project, however, are quite similar. Purdue University Calumet Purdue University Calumet (PUC) is a large commuter campus in northwestern Indiana, adjacent to the Illinois border (Bergeron, 1997). The student population is nontraditional and reflects the cultural diversity of the urban Midwest. PUC's School of Education enrolls approximately 450 undergraduate students each semester. This population includes older adults, often first-generation college students bringing varied experiences to the classroom. The PDS partnerships were initially developed to meet the dual demands of increased enrollment in the elementary education program and growing concerns for offering multiple field experiences prior to student teaching. Presently, preservice teachers have extensive field experiences related to five methods courses, including reading and language arts, that are mandatory prior to student teaching. The university was challenged to acquire appropriate numbers of classrooms for these multiple placements and to find sites that would ensure quality experiences for the preservice teachers in diverse settings appropriately reflecting the demographics of the campus's multiracial, multicultural communities. The PDS partnerships were informally initiated in fall 1994 with five interested school-based administrators; the partnerships presently include eight school districts and a total of 21 elementary schools. Each district and school determines its own level of involvement with the partnerships. …