K-State PDS Foundational Beliefs, Premises, Vision and Goals

Premises | Vision | Goals

Premises

1. PDSs must be based on collaborative relationships between content specialists, education specialists, practitioners, community member, and local and state agencies. Institutions of teacher preparation and school teachers and administrators need to create new partnerships to improve teaching from kindergarten through college.
2. PDSs strengthen and integrate practical field experiences. They serve as sites to integrate theory from professional studies with practice in clinical settings where fieldwork is interspersed and aligned with course work. This allows novice teachers to construct a more holistic understanding of teaching within the naturally complex environment of the school.
3. PDSs are vehicles to extend the knowledge base in teacher education for collaborative inquiry into teaching and learning. Innovative practices, and site-based action research should be incorporated as regular features of these schools.
4. PDSs are centers of learning communities. Professional development is a long-term, continuous process and should, therefore, reflect the lifelong learning of educators. Rather than short-term skill building and one-day workshops these schools help build a growth-oriented ecology.
5. PDSs play a critical role in the professionalization of teaching. For education to improve, a more professional vision of teaching must be created. Teachers, faculty, and students need to be involved in new roles and differential responsibilities. They need to be empowered to be an integral part of goal setting, problem solving, curriculum development, instructional improvement, student assessment, organizational decision-making, teacher preparation, and staff development programs.

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Vision
The vision of the Kansas State University PDS Partnership is to collaboratively restructure the College of Education’s teacher preparation program while simultaneously reforming K-12 education for all students and educators. The fundamental purposes of this partnership are to capitalize on the collaborative inclinations, experiences, and needs of the many educational partners in our community to demonstrate how to help students achieve high academic standards and enhance the quality of teaching as a profession at all levels of schooling. Our vision has resulted in the development of the following goals.

1. Create a collaborative partnership between Kansas State University College of Education KSU College of Arts and Science, Manhattan-Ogden, Geary County, Riley County, Garden City, Dodge City, Ulysses School districts, and Kansas City School districts supported by the National Education Association, state and local agencies and community members to assume joint responsibility for the preservice and inservice professional development of K-12 educators and the systemic reform of education within the College of Education and partner school districts.
2. Establish elementary, middle and high school PDSs to create a collegial community of learners and develop model learning environments for all children and educators.
3. Develop and implement a standards-based professional development model and a continuous series of high quality preservice through inservice professional development opportunities that are aligned with national, state and local standards for educational improvements.
4. Enhance systemic K-12 reform in PDSs through the process of educational self-analysis and action research in order to educate each student to be a contributing citizen in a changing, diverse, society.
5. Provide educators content and pedagogical knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to effectively meet the challenging educational needs of all students.

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Goals
To promote the intellectual engagement and development of all PDS participants, partnering institutions share the following responsibilities:

The Preparation of New Teachers
Teacher preparation is an extremely complex process which must be viewed as a continuum of career long experiences which mold and shape the ever changing behaviors of the classroom teacher. Our PDS have permitted us to restructure our teacher preparation from this complex, holistic perspective as opposed to disjointed, incremental reform efforts. The PDS facilitate systematic field experiences within realistically complex environments. These experiences have become a unifying feature of our students’ education by integrating content and pedagogy and providing a sense of relevancy for their studies.

Continuing Professional Development
In the PDS, preservice and inservice education is viewed as an inseparable continuum. The aim is to learn and grow together as a community of learners. Professional development opportunities offered within PDS provide novice and experienced educators with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and resources to empower them to create teaching and learning environments to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student population. School based student teaching seminars, cooperating teacher meetings, faculty meeting, new teacher mentoring programs, and professional development opportunities offered through a variety of special projects allow novice and experienced teachers to reflect on their teaching and learning with peers, administrators, and university faculty.

Support of Children’s Learning
PDS symbolizes a commitment to improving career long teacher preparation while improving K-12 instruction. The large numbers of KSU students and faculty working with each PDS provides extra resources, people, and support to help all children reach high levels of academic excellence. In addition many enrichment activities have been provided to children and their parents though family math and science programs; math, science, and technology after school clubs; summer magnet schools; and tutoring programs. Student teaching seminars and cooperating teacher meetings and ongoing professional development activities provide opportunities for PDS participants to enhance their understanding of teaching and learning. Collaborative action research and classroom innovations provide opportunities for teachers, and university faculty to implement, assess, and revise instructional practices to enhance children’s learning.

Practice Based Inquiry
Ultimately, PDS should exemplify the most current and best practices education has to offer. Practice based inquiry has included action research projects and classroom innovations. This collaborative inquiry has involved pilot testing and field testing new curriculum, technology, innovative teaching, and assessment techniques. Action research projects have been conducted to examine student learning, effective instruction, teacher preparation, educational equity, parental attitudes, and school change. Examples of classroom innovations include: developing non routine mathematical problem solving curricula; thematic teaching; peer coaching; team teaching; multi-age classrooms; and, alternative assessment strategies including authentic assessment, portfolios, non graded report cards, and student lead parent conferences. Our intention is to explore how children learn, how teachers learn and how schools improve.

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