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One of the three major conceptual themes of the unit’s framework regards the development of candidates’ professionalism. As we expect initial and advanced program candidates to engage in collaborative practice and problem solving, we attempt as a program and faculty to model such activity with our traditional as well as PDS partner schools and districts.
Traditional Partner Districts. Traditional partner districts and unit personnel work together at three levels. First, at a leadership level, partner district superintendents in the Superintendent’s Circle and the unit head and associates share knowledge and information via regular meetings throughout the academic year. At the next level, district staff interact with unit professionals to bring district and university resources together for the benefit of teacher candidates. As an example, partner district personnel and their technology coordinators collaborate with unit faculty and staff to enable professional education classes and partner district classrooms to connect via interactive video conferencing. The partnerships promote district personnel and unit faculty to integrate expertise in a manner that enables candidates to construct working knowledge of classroom practices that follow from general-case theoretical propositions and evidence-based conclusions drawn from the research literature, consistent with the conceptual framework of the unit. In candidates’ introduction to the practice of special education in the schools, for example, professional literature and in-class discussions of the mechanics as well as the pros and cons of cochlear implant technology is anchored in live video conferences or actual field experiences in classrooms where students using that technology are functioning successfully, socially as well as academically. The third level of collaboration occurs at the classroom level, where the clinical supervisor(s), the university supervisor(s), and the candidate work closely to plan, implement, and evaluate the performance of the candidate. This tripartite team provides the aspiring professional the opportunity and support to flourish.
The Professional Development School (PDS) Alliance. The PDS Alliance features a long-standing collaborative partnership among four local school districts and the SOE. The four PDS districts (and seven individual schools) are: Lawrence (Central Junior High School, Pinckney Elementary School), Shawnee Mission (South Park Elementary School), Kansas City (J.C. Harmon High School, Argentine Middle School, New Stanley Elementary School), and DeSoto (Starside Elementary School). This partnership continues to draw its vision from the original Holmes Partnership goals of (a) improving pre-service preparation, (b) providing relevant professional development for K-12 professionals, (c) modeling exemplary practices, (d) providing sustained and applied scholarly inquiry, and (e) addressing issues of equity for children and youth in poverty. Unit and PDS faculty produce specific course themes and emphases collaboratively as shown in the syllabus for the Collaborative Class, retrievable from: http://www.soe.ku.edu/pds/docs/CCLassSyllabus.pdf. PDS teachers also provide seminars regarding issues and practices of particular relevance to participating teacher candidates. These would certainly include but not be limited to understanding: (a) district assessments pursuant to the No Child Left Behind Act, (b) the full functioning of a school and non-curricular as well as curricular roles of the teacher, (c) how student assistance teams operate, and (d) ways in which secondary science and mathematics teachers can integrate instructional units while maintaining compliance with required curriculum standards.
Perhaps the most productive of all of the collaborative work done on behalf of the teacher candidates who participate in the PDS Alliance is the conduct of on-site action research projects. Consistent with our conceptual framework, educational action research refers to systematic inquiry into educational practice that features observing and recording teaching behavior and pupil response, and reflecting on how the results might influence future teaching endeavors. If done carefully and thoughtfully, action research can improve an individual's teaching. Moreover, when multiple teachers at a single school collaborate in the conduct of action research, it has the potential to enhance the overall quality of practice in the school, thus enhancing professional development. The gateway site, “Action Research Network” enables users (candidates, unit faculty, PDS faculty) to engage in specific research projects. This tool is retrievable at: http://actionresearch.altec.org/.
In a similar vein, unit faculty and both traditional and PDS partner faculty collaboratively design, implement, and evaluate field experience and clinical practice regimens in an interdependent fashion, i.e. design and implementation are dependent in large measure on regular evaluations such as the unit’s KU Employer Survey http://soe.ku.edu/ncate/exhibits/employer-survey.doc and Summative Assessment http://soe.ku.edu/ncate/exhibits/summative-assessment/. For example, about seven years ago, based on consistent feedback from former candidates and their employers (both principals and superintendents), the current Collaborative Class model was adopted in order to integrate professional education coursework for PDS candidates and anchor that coursework in their field-based contexts.
The unit and its school partners, both PDS and traditional, jointly determine specific placements of student teaching, internship, and advanced clinical practice placements. While candidate placements are managed logistically by the Field Experience Office, actual sites evolve in time as best practices sites thanks to long-term collaborative relationships and on-going efforts at the three levels of partnership discussed above. Perhaps most instrumental, however, is the level involving the university faculty and partner school faculty as placements are initiated, maintained, and then summatively evaluated. The unit relies on partner school faculty who function in this regard as clinical supervisors. Further information with respect to the selection, role and involvement of clinical supervisors can be retrieved at: http://www.soe.ku.edu/fieldexp/supervisors.php. Clinical supervisors of advanced program candidate field experiences also are required to meet rigorous standards and enjoy the trust of both the partner district and the university.
