The Use of Professional Development Schools to Inform Educators about the School-to-Work Initiative
Successful implementation of work-related education reforms in the United States requires educators to understand both reform principles and the ways in which work-based and school-based learning can be used to enhance curriculum and instruction. This document is part of ‘Teacher learning in the workplace and community’ which contains four educational briefs and five case studies that describe innovative teacher education and professional development programs that support school-to-work and related reforms.
Professional Development Schools (PDS) are intended to improve the education of preservice teachers through a collaborative partnership between schools and teacher education programs based in colleges or universities. The School-to-Work (STW) initiative was recently developed to improve and link school-based learning with students’ postsecondary goals. This educational brief contains examples of how the two reform initiatives can be integrated to achieve enhanced outcomes for both students and teachers. The author describes ways in which the elements of the STW initiative are aligned with the goals of a PDS to create a new teaching and learning model for teaching STW concepts to both preservice and inservice teachers.
Pribbenow, C. M. (1998, March). The use of professional development schools to inform educators about the School-to-Work initiative. In Teacher Learning in the Workplace and Community. Berkeley, CA: National Center for Research in Vocational Education.