In keeping with the tradition set forth in volumes 1-4, this fifth volume, Creating Visions for University- School Partnerships: A Volume in Professional Development School Research, continues to exemplify current thinking of practitioners and researchers in the field. The range of authors from the Prek-16 arena illustrates the ways in which professional development schools generate possible solutions to the complex problems facing educators. The diversity of their work represents perspectives of classroom teachers, preservice teachers, school leaders, and university faculty who grapple with identifying “ways of knowing” and “ways of doing” that enhance educational outcomes for Prek-12 students while also serving to transform the profession. The volume’s contents of 19 chapters divided into four areas: (1) Clinically Rich Practices (2) PDS Stakeholders’ Perspectives (3) Enriching Content Area Instruction (4) Family Engagement, gives us a more vivid picture of the work that partnerships are doing to fulfill the PDS promise for improving teaching and learning at every level.

Rich clinical preparation combined with progressive experiences in professional development school (PDS) settings are proposed to bring about systemic and impactful transformation of educator preparation and professional growth in order to improve and enhance P-12 student learning. In this book, diverse authors describe their efforts to forge PDS partnerships to develop and deliver high quality training and practical experiences for candidates, and simultaneously provide professional development for experienced practitioners in ways that mirror recommendations found in authoritative reports and literature. The authors’ collective wisdom is vividly captured in the multi-voiced chapters that are collaborations between cooperating teachers, school administrators, county and district level administrators, university supervisors, and instructional faculty. The contexts authors write about are recognizable, and the accomplishments they experienced and challenges faced will resonate with institutions courageously undertaking change or renewal. The book will be invaluable to school and university faculty and administrators as they transition to a partnering model of clinical preparation for teacher candidates: it will help stakeholders decide if their schools and institutions are ready to commit to a partnership, and highlight the benefits they stand to gain, but realistically address challenges that may be faced by administrators and faculties as well as teacher candidates in the PDS enterprise.

How to Help Your School Thrive Without Breaking the Bank will help you improve your school without investing in externally developed, expensive, and time-consuming reform programs or initiatives. It's packed with replicable strategies and practical tools that educators in any school can incorporate to transform the culture and improve student achievement and professional practice. You'll learn how to * Hone your own leadership and grow new leaders among your staff; * Develop a vision and a mission for your school; * Promote excellence among both staff and students; * Make the most of your time and facilitate effective meetings; and * Mine and use data with purpose. For most schools, times are tough and money is tight—but school leaders must still focus on how to steadily improve student achievement. Academic performance will improve in the long term only if your school has a healthy culture marked by integrity, a strong work ethic, collaboration, and reflective risk taking. Strengthening those foundational elements will help you sustain positive change in your school, even in difficult economic times. The good news is that you already have the resources you need to help your school thrive. This book will help you to maximize them.

This book provides illustrations of urban school-university partnerships recognized by the Shirley Schwartz Award of Council of Great City Schools. The authors share their work by blending practitioner and researcher voices to offer other school and university based educators, policy makers, and foundation leadership potential solutions to the complex problem of preparing educators and enhancing teaching within urban schools. In each chapter, the authors describe their urban partnership story, the greatest challenges they faced, how they responded to those challenges, and evidence of impact. Given that each partnership is unique, the authors conclude each chapter by offering a set of questions for discussion. This book serves as an excellent resource for educators interested in establishing urban school-university partnerships that improve educator quality, strengthen the pipeline of urban educators, and expand Pk-12 students’ learning experiences. The book is divided into three sections: (1) Teacher Candidate Preparation, (2) Teacher Professional Development, and (3) Principal Development.

Professional Development Schools are complex and comprehensive school university partnerships focusing on professional development of new teachers and veteran teachers while providing high quality education to P-12 students. The chapters of this book contain the stories of 8 highly successful and nationally recognized professional development schools. Each story provides the reader with practical ideas, procedures and policies that can be implemented by the reader to begin new partnerships or help improve and sustain existing partnerships. Each chapter discusses the rich clinical preparation combined with progressive experiences in PDSs that have made the partnership successful. The diverse authors from several different states describe their efforts to forge PDS partnerships to develop and deliver high quality teacher preparations, practical experiences for teacher candidates, and simultaneously provide professional development for experienced practitioners. The book will be a valuable resource to school and university faculty and administrators as they transition to a partnering model of clinical preparation for teacher candidates: it will help stakeholders decide if their schools and institutions are ready to commit to a partnership, and highlight the benefits they stand to gain. The book also realistically addresses challenges in a way the reader can prepare for to reduce obstacles in establishing and sustaining PDSs.

Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.

As with any industry, the education sector goes through frequent changes due to modern technological advancements. It is every educator’s duty to keep up with these shifting requirements and alter their teaching style to best fit the needs of their classroom. Pre-Service and In-Service Teacher Education: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications explores the current state of pre-service teacher programs as well as continuing education initiatives for in-service educators. It also emphasizes the growing role of technology in teacher skill development and training as well as key pedagogical developments and methods. Highlighting a range of topics such as teacher preparation programs, teaching standards, and fieldwork and practicum experiences, this multi-volume book is designed for pre-service teachers, teacher educators, researchers, professionals, and academics in the education field.