Professional Development Schools

The University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV)/Clark County School District (CCSD) Professional Development School (PDS) Partnership is a collaboration between the College of Education at UNLV and the CCSD. The primary aim of the PDS Partnership is to work toward continuous teacher education improvement and reform in order to promote increased P-12 student learning. Three principal goals of the PDS Partnership are:

to participate jointly in teacher education,
to sustain continuous professional development for university and partnership school staff, and
to participate jointly in field-based research.

Current Partnership Sites

Paradise or Petersen Professional Development Schools Cohort Program

Elementary Teaching Majors: Interested in knowing more about the Paradise/Petersen Elementary Schools Cohort Program for Fall 2009?

Come to CEB 141 (Gayle Zeiter Literacy Dev. Center) Open House 2:30 – 4:30p.m. Thursday Nov. 20
Free food, drinks and Information!!!!

The following requirements need to be completed before the start of the Professional Development School cohort program in Fall 2009:

College of Education Core Requirements

EDU 210 Nevada School Law
EPY 303 Educational Psychology
EPY 451 Foundations of Ed. Assessment
EPY 452 Counseling Education
EDU 280 Valuing Cultural Diversity
EDSP 411 Students with Disabilities in General Education Settings

Elementary Methods and Materials Requirements

EDU 201 Intro to Elementary Education
EDU 214E Preparing Teachers to Use Technology
PED 337 Movement Experiences for Children
EDEL 331 Teaching Elementary School Art OR MUS 453 Music Skills for Classroom Teachers
EDRL 471 Language Acquisition, Development & Learning
HED 424 Teaching Elementary School Health
EDRL 401 Children's Lit. Elementary School Curriculum

Complete and pass the Praxis I (PPST).
Required pre-cohort classes may be taken over any of three 2009 summer sessions.
Apply online at the College of Education Field Experience website for Practicum 1 for Fall 2009 and get fingerprinted during Spring 2009, by posted deadlines (go to http://education.unlv.edu/ofe/ for full details).
Fill out a PDS application (available in the Gayle Zeiter Literacy Development Center or the Advising Center).
Make an appointment (call 702-895-1537) and take the application to the College of Education Advising Center for review and approval.
Applications will begin to be processed in February 2009 and interviews scheduled during the month of March/April 2009.
Block 1 (P-1), Block 2 (P-2), and Block 3 (Student-teaching) courses will taken as part of the cohort program.

Download the Paradise or Petersen Professional Development Schools Cohort Program Application in PDF format. Application deadline for the program beginning Fall 2009 is March 31, 2009

What are PDF Files?

NAPDS Releases Policy Statement on Professional Development School

The National Association for Professional Development Schools released a policy statement, "What It Means to Be a Professional Development School," at its annual meeting April 12, 2008.

"The purpose of the statement is to share with the educational community the NAPDS's articulation of the term, 'Professional Development School,'" said President Dr. Elliot Lessen. "This statement is not intended to be either an evaluation or a critique of the phenomenal work that has punctuated PDSs over the past 20 years but, rather, the association's recognition that there is a tendency for the term 'PDS' to be used as a catch-all for various models of school-university partnership work that may or may not be best described as PDS."

At an August 2007 summit, the association gathered educators from across the P-20 continuum, along with leaders from national education organizations, to hammer out Nine Essentials which define the PDS mission. The NAPDS encourages all those working in school-university relationships to embrace the Nine Essentials of PDS work communicated in this statement. The essentials are written in tangible, rather than abstract, language and represent practical goals toward which PDS work should be directed.

The nine required essentials of a PDS

A comprehensive mission that is broader in its outreach and scope than the mission of any partner and that furthers the education profession and its responsibility to advance equity within schools and, by potential extension, the broader community;
A school–university culture committed to the preparation of future educators that embraces their active engagement in the school community;
Ongoing and reciprocal professional development for all participants guided by need;
A shared commitment to innovative and reflective practice by all participants;
Engagement in and public sharing of the results of deliberate investigations of practice by respective participants;
An articulation agreement developed by the respective participants delineating the roles and responsibilities of all involved;
A structure that allows all participants a forum for ongoing governance, reflection, and collaboration;
Work by college/university faculty and P–12 faculty in formal roles across institutional settings; and
Dedicated and shared resources and formal rewards and recognition structures.

Facility Use

CCSD students and faculty may utilize the Bennett Professional Development Building by scheduling such through the appropriate UNLV contact.
University faculty may utilize Professional Development Schools by scheduling such through the appropriate COE department or the PDS Coordinator.

Placement of UNLV students in field-based assignments at PDS sites

Clark County School District agrees to host UNLV students in field-based assignments related to joint teacher education, professional development, and research-based activities and programs agreed upon in the annual Strategic Plan developed by the Coordinating Council. Clark County School District agrees that PDSs will be exclusively reserved for UNLV student placements. Exceptions may be brought before the appropriate PDS Coordinating Council.