Professional Development Schools and Student Learning and Achievement

• Published in: Teachers College record (1970) 2011-12, Vol.113 (14), p.403-431
• Main Authors: Wong, Pia Lindquist, Glass, Ronald David
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0161-4681; 1467-9620
• DOI: 10.1177/016146811111301407

It's a bright and sunny day at this particular elementary school, and a quick peek into classrooms reveals students busily at work, mindful of the teachers leading the day's instruction. But the typical picture conjured by this description gets disrupted with a more attentive look. These rooms are packed with people of various ages in clusters, all with their heads close together and intently working on something of interest. In some clusters, pupils and student teachers engage one another in sharply focused dialogues. In other clusters, teachers guide pupils through a series of scaffolding questions for the day's topic while the student teachers observe, in order to later discuss the lesson with the teacher and the university professor who collaboratively developed it. In yet other clusters, student teachers and pupils are paired off and are examining the pupils’ work to identify patterns of error and work on skill development.