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Nearly three years ago Dean Sally A. White charged a task force of college faculty to “develop a cross-program Integrated Professional Development School (IPDS) that links programs within the COE with diverse student populations in the community.” This fall that charge becomes reality with the first IPDS partner, Farmersville Elementary School. Together, faculty, professionals-in-training, already-certified professionals, staff, and public school students create a community of learners whose varied interests and concerns advance teaching, learning, and personal and professional growth.
Traditionally, professional development schools are partnerships between teacher preparation programs and P-12 schools. The College of Education is going one step further in creating an Integrated Professional Development School that will involve all the programs in the College. This innovative initiative will enhance professional preparation of candidates, including educational technologists, counselors, school psychologists, and administrators, as well as special and general educators. It will also further faculty development for professionals in the school, foster inquiry directed at the improvement of practice, and identify the most promising educational practices aimed at enhancing student learning.
For years, educators in both schools and universities have pointed to a gap between research and practice and to the poor articulation between professional preparation and the real world of school reform. They have sought ways for P–12 and professional education to work together for mutual benefit. An IPDS spreads benefits across multiple programs in the College and applies it to multiple needs in the school.
The IPDS partnership creates a two-way flow of learning and growth. This, in turn, produces educational professionals informed about best practices and enriched by access to some of the best researchers in their fields; researchers who are connected to the everyday challenges faced by those working in school settings and by their students; and professionals-in-training exposed to the school environment on a regular basis and thus better prepared once they start their own careers. The ultimate beneficiaries, however, are the students in P-12 classrooms.
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