ABSTRACT
Professional Development School (PDS) partnerships have become an accepted teacher preparation strategy, but establishing and maintaining these partnerships takes time and effort. The purpose of this study was to identify and prioritize the most important issues, concerns, and strategies related to:

• Establishing PDS parnerships
• Maintaining PDS partnership
• Involving K-12 and university faculty in the partnerships

Two panels of PDS experts, one from university teacher preparation programs and a second from their K-12 school partners were selected.

Using a Delphi technique, the panels identified, then prioritized, the issues, concerns, and strategies. After three rounds of surveys, the two panels came to a moderate level of consensus, with the K-12 panel reaching a higher level of consensus than the university panel. Statements related to collaboration, communication, trust, and relationships were ranked as most important by both panels. In the final section, we draw conclusions about what the Delphi revealed and its implications for potential PDS partners.

Click below to see the results of the last two rounds of the study.

Delphi Tables

Duffield, J. A., & Cates, W. M. (in press). Establishing and maintaining professional development schools: A Delphi Study, School-University Partnerships.