Prefessional Development School (PDS)

A Professional Development School (PDS) is a school that works in collaboration with a university to improve PK-16 teaching and learning.  Similar to teaching hospitals for physicians, Professional Development Schools are real-world environments for the improvement of professional practice for educators.  A PDS is where novice teachers learn to teach and where university and school faculty members together investigate questions of teaching and learning that arise in the school.

The College of Education and Human Development at the University of Maine and Maine School Administrative District #22 (Hampden, Newburgh, Winterport) have agreed to work together during the 2008-2009 school year in an effort to create and begin to pilot a PDS structure as a model for the creation of future PREP Professional Development Schools.

This is an exciting venture and we are looking forward to this collaborative effort and to investigating better ways of preparing teacher candidates for their work in the PK-12 schools.