Collaborative Reform and Other Improbable Dreams: The Challenges of Professional Development Schools (SUNY series, Teacher Preparation and Development)

This book discusses a ten-year process of teacher education reform at a major public research university (The Ohio State University) and the challenges that ensued. The thirteen Professional Development Schools (PDSs) described are diverse, yet they share a focus on school/university collaboration, reform in teacher education, professional developments, and inquiry. The authors speak frankly about their history, outcomes, and hopes for the future. The message is that school/university collaboration is a potentially rich approach to reform, yet fraught with challenges, demands, and an uncertain future.

Contributors include Cynthia Dickens, Rhonda Dailey-Dickinson, Don Cramer, Marilyn Johnston, Patricia Enciso, Becky Kirschner, Theresa Rogers, Barbara Seidl, Francee Eldredge, Kathleen Ibom, Lisa Maloney, Mike Thomas, Patricia Brosnan, Diana Erchick, Holly Thronton, Sue Chase, Merry Merryfield, Steven Miller, Stanley Ray, Tim Dove, Todd Kenreich, Barbara Levak, Dan Hoffman, Anna Soter, Beth Carnate, George Newell, Steven Hoffman, Rachel Moots, Barbara Thomson, Eugenie Maxwell, Lizbeth Kelley, William Gathergood, Keith Hall, Michael Parsons, Sandra Stroot, Mary O'Sullivan, Deborah Tannehill, Deborah Wilburn Robinson, Gwendolyn Cartledge, John Cooper, Ralph Gardner III, Timothy Heron, William Heward, Richard Howell, Diana Sainato. Foreword by Nancy Zimpher and Introduction by Marilyn Johnston. Conclusion by Patti Brosnan, Don Cramer, Tim Dove, and Marilyn Johnston.

At The Ohio State University, Marilyn Johnston is Professor of Social Studies Education and author of Contradictions in Collaboration: New Thinking in School University Partnerships, Patti Brosnan is Associate Professor of Mathematics Education, Don Cramer is former PDS Principal and is currently Program Director for the Office of Professional Practices. Tim Dove is a middle school social studies teacher in Worthington, Ohio.