The Professional Development Schools Handbook: Starting, Sustaining, and Assessing Partnerships That Improve Student Learning

"This book will help PDS partners keep their focus on students′ needs―the core of PDS work, as they take this journey together. It provides concrete suggestions for what PDS partners can do in developing, implementing, and assessing their partnerships, which are framed by the standards and grounded in core concepts."
―From the Foreword by Marsha Levine
Senior Consultant for Professional Development Schools
National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, Washington, DC

"Teitel′s insights are incredibly on target with the issues faced by school and university staff who are now deeply engaged in PDSs. They and others like them across the country will greatly benefit from the work of the author."
Virginia Pilato, Director of Teacher Quality
Maryland State Department of Education, Baltimore, MD

As Professional Development Schools (PDS) become more prevalent, educators already involved with a PDS continually seek insight into how it can be improved, and those interested in starting a PDS are in need of specific guidance on how to get it right from the beginning. This manual is an invaluable resource to fulfill these goals and more.

Structured around the five Standards for Professional Development Schools that were developed by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education, the easy-to-use book provides practical strategies for initializing, maximizing, and evaluating PDSs.

The five chapters dedicated to a particular standard comprehensively yet succinctly covers:

• A straightforward description with practical examples of what the standard looks like at various developmental stages
• Real-life issues, challenges, and resolutions associated with each standard, from the early stages of partnership development through implementation and sustainability
• "Quick-check" self-assessment models
• A hands-on toolkit, including specific examples, proven suggestions, worksheets, planning and discussion points
• Extensive resources, including web sites and other texts

In addition to these indispensable features, the book offers a how-to chapter on next steps for further refining and strengthening your PDS.

Lee Teitel is Associate Professor of Masters and Doctoral level programs in Educational Leadership at the University of Massachusetts. Teitel has been a researcher, writer, consultant, speaker, and professional development school advocate since 1989. His work focuses on PDS start-up, institutionalization, and impact issues; new leadership roles in PDSs for teachers and principals; and the development and implementation of national standards for PDSs. He has led workshops and presentations at AACTE and AERA and written numerous articles and monographs on these topics, including two PDS literature reviews and a handbook for the NCATE PDS Standards Project and booklets on governance and documenting PDS impacts for AACTE.