Comparing PDS and Campus-Based Preservice Teacher Preparation Is PDS-Based Preparation Really Better?

• Published in: Journal of teacher education Vol. 56; no. 1; pp. 46 - 56
• Main Authors: Ridley, D. Scott, Hurwitz, Sally, Hackett, Mary Ruth Davis, Miller, Kari Knutson
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks, CA SAGE Publications 01-01-2005; American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education; Corwin Press, Inc; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Comparative Analysis; Comparative studies; Education; Educational personnel; Educational sciences; Elementary school teachers; Elementary school teaching; Knowledge Base for Teaching; Lesson plans; Methods; Partnerships in Education; Performance evaluation; Planning; Preservice Teacher Education; Professional development; Professional Development Schools; Program Effectiveness; Scores; Student Teachers; Study and teaching; Teacher education; Teacher Effectiveness; Teachers; Teaching; United States; teacher preparation; professional development schools; evaluation of new teacher effectiveness; Efficiency; Student Teacher; Training program; Comparative analysis; Professional development; Teachers training; Recruitment
• ISSN: 0022-4871; 1552-7816
• DOI: 10.1177/0022487104272098

To date, the professional development school (PDS) preservice teacher preparation literature base is long on attitudinal analysis and short on comparative analysis of outcome variables. This article reports on a 2-year study comparing the lesson planning, teaching effectiveness, postlesson reflectivity, and content retention of professional teaching knowledge for teachers prepared at a PDS or campus-based program. The teaching outcome variables were rubric scored by experienced raters blind to participants' preparation program. Although the scores of PDS-prepared student teachers consistently trended higher than the campus-prepared cohort, no statistically significant differences were found. However, during the 1st year of teaching, PDS-prepared teachers scored significantly higher than campus-prepared teachers on teaching effectiveness. Potential explanations for the findings are provided.