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PDS Expands to New Schools - January 14th 2010
In the fall 2009 semester, the UNI PDS welcomed several new schools to the project. New PDS schools include Southdale Elementary in Cedar Falls, and Kingsley Elementary, Irving Elementary, and Expo High School in Waterloo. In the spring 2010 semester, we look forward to the addition of Orange and McKinstry Elementaries in Waterloo and Lincoln Elementary in Cedar Falls.



UNI PDS to share out work at the NAPDS National Conference - January 14th 2010
Several of the innovations developed as part of the UNI PDS will be shared at the National Association for Professional Development Schools National Conference in March. UNI PDS personnel will be describing the mutual benefit of the Mentoring Preservice Teachers courses and explaining how the development of the Interactions Matrix framework served to expand interactions and increase autonomy in field experiences. In addition, the conference offers UNI an opportunity to network with and learn from leaders other successful PDS models across the nation and to inspire new developments in our own PDS.



New Era, New Director- August 14th 2009
The pilot phase of the UNI PDS ended in the spring of 2009 with all partners and stakeholders committed to institutionalizing our model. The PDS Governing Board will move forward with the creation of a formal Articulation Agreement in the fall semester, and additional schools will be invited to participate. Becky Wilson Hawbaker has been named the new Director of the PDS with the departure of founding PDS Director John Henning, who is now the Chair of the Department of Teacher Education at Ohio University. Hawbaker played several key roles in the pilot stage of the PDS and is also the Coordinator of Field Experiences at UNI.



Welcome to the second year of PDS at UNI! - September 3rd 2008
Thanks to all of the field experience students, teachers, administrators, supervisors, and professors who helped make the first year so successful. Several new initiatives have been planned in order to build on the first year’s accomplishments, as described below. (Read more)



Mentoring Preservice Teachers - February 19th 2008
As part of the Professional Development School Pilot Study, a one graduate credit course called "Mentoring Preservice Teachers" (200:133g) is being offered to Cedar Falls and Waterloo teachers involved with the pilot. Fifty-three teachers have enrolled in the course, which meets at AEA 267 on January 28th, February 11th, March 10th, March 24th, and April 21st from 4-7pm. Topics include creating expectations, giving feedback, co-teaching with field experience students, collecting action research data with field experience students, and evaluating field experience students. The first two sessions have drawn heavily on the expertise of Price Laboratory School teachers, including Becky Hawbaker, Amy Lockhart, Megan Balong, Leasha Henriksen, Kim Miller, and Mary Doyle. Participating teachers enrolled in the course are from Cedar Falls High School; Central and Hoover Middle Schools; Hansen, Edison, McKinstry, Cunningham, Longfellow,and Poyner elementary schools; the Price Laboratory School, and the UNI Child Development Center.



Second Semester - Feruary 12th 2008
For the second semester the Professional Development School pilot study has placed 99 students, including 76 Level I students and 23 Level II students. There are 84 students placed at the four pilot schools, including 65 Level I students and 19 Level II students. There are also another 15 students placed with a masters degree cohort in the Professional Development for Teachers MAE program, including 11 Level I students and 4 Level II students. For this semester, each of the four pilot schools conducted an orientation for the field experience students they hosted. As part of the orientation, students were welcomed by the principal and the site coordinators, each of whom gave a brief talk on professional behavior, school policies, and their expectations for the field experience. Afterwards, students took a tour of the building and had a chance to meet their teachers. All of these sessions were very well done and received.



Growth - January 21st 2008
With one semester completed, the PDS pilot study is gaining momentum. The infrastructure both within the pilot schools and the university has become stronger, the number of professors participating in the PDS has increased, the number of participating K-12 teachers has increased, and the number of students placed within the pilot has increased. In the second semester, the pilot will focus on extending professional development opportunities for Waterloo and Cedar Falls teachers by piloting new graduate coursework and exploring grant opportunities. Creating these opportunities is a key element for improving UNI field experiences while simultaneously “giving back” to both schools and the community.



Placement - October 12th 2007
The PDS pilot study has met its initial goal of placing 60-90 students in the Waterloo and Cedar Falls Schools. There are 28 Level I and 25 Level II placements in the four designated pilot schools of Edison Elementary, Hansen Elementary, Central Middle, and Cedar Falls High School. In addition, students from the Level III field experiences are currently being supervised in a number of schools other than the four pilot schools. These include 18 students from Dr. Jihwa Noh’s Level III methods course “The Teaching of Middle School/Junior High Mathematics,” who have been placed at Central, Bunger, Logan, Holmes, Price Laboratory School, New Hartford-Dike, and St. Edwards. During the week of October 15-19th, approximately 10 students from Lynne Ensworth’s Level III Elementary Classroom Management course will also be supervised as part of the pilot. These students have been placed in Orchard Hill, Poyner, Cedar Heights, and Kingsley elementary schools.



References - September 17th 2007
One goal of the pilot study is to share references related to professional development schools and teacher education. Accordingly, there is a list of references available in this website. Additionally, you may find several books and other readings on reserve in the IRTS lab. (See list below.) For instance, there are four reviews of the literature on professional development schools, beginning in 1990 and continuing through 2005. You can also find two NCATE publications on the standards and assessment of professional development schools, a report by a previous committee on professional development schools (Johnson & Traw, 2002), and several recent books on teacher education. (Read more)



Initial Meetings - September 4th 2007
Soon after the pilot was approved, a series of meetings were held between representatives of UNI, Cedar Falls Community Schools, and Waterloo Community Schools. One of the first tasks of this group was to begin involving the initial participants in the pilot. These participants include teachers from two Cedar Falls schools; Cedar Falls High School (Dr. Rich Powers, Principal) and Hansen Elementary (Dr. Tony Reid, Principal); and teachers from two Waterloo schools; Central Middle (Marla Padget, Principal) and Edison (Bruce Potter, Principal). They also include UNI students from Dr. Radhi Al-Mabuk’s 200:030 class for the Level I experience and from Dr. John Henning’s 200:148 class for the Level II experience. These UNI students are currently being placed in Level I and Level II field experiences in the four schools named above. (Read more)



Pilot Study Supervisors Selected - August 20th 2007
The PDS pilot study began with some intensive preparations during the summer. One of the primary questions the pilot study addresses is “What value can additional supervision provide for early UNI field experiences?” Therefore, one of the first tasks of the pilot study was to select highly qualified field experience supervisors to carry out the pilot initiatives. These supervisors currently include Jim Kelly, Carolyn Schellhardt, Vicki Cornett, Helen Melichar, Darlene Cooney, and Lynn Doyle from Office of Student Field Experiences and Becky Hawbaker from the Malcolm Price Laboratory School. They have been engaged in lengthy discussions since mid-July for the purpose of clarifying the role of a supervisor during an early field experience. While much progress has been made in this regard, the supervisors experience in the field is expected to enrich this discussion considerably. Some of the materials that have been developed by the supervisors can be viewed on this website.