In 2012, SUNY Cortland’s School of Education established a Professional Development School (PDS) to develop formal partnerships with regional childcare centers and public schools to support meaningful and authentic approaches to preparing tomorrow’s teachers while simultaneously promoting current teachers’ professional development and enhancing p-12 students’ learning outcomes.
The Professional Development School (PDS) partnership between the School of Education and participating schools necessitates collaboration among college faculty, P-12 school administrators and teachers, and teacher candidates to promote:
Our PDS is designed to provide teacher candidates with one-on-one mentoring opportunities with inservice teachers and childcare center providers so prospective teachers can become comfortable and competent working in professional environments, understanding school culture and facilitating student learning.
As a member of the National Association for Professional Development Schools, (NAPDS), the School of Education and participating PDS schools and childcare centers are committed continuous improvement of faculty and pre-service teachers through inquiry-based initiatives. Our work is aligned to the NAPDS 9 Essentials and our PDS activities are designed to work toward reaching the essentials (NAPDS, 2018):
All three departments in the School of Education currently maintain 20 PDS partnerships throughout the central New York area.