The Boundary-Spanner in Professional Development Schools: In Search of Common Nomenclature

• In Event: The Foundations of Professional Development School Practice: Exploring Commonalities in Language and Action

Abstract

Teacher education is entering an exciting era for professional development schools (PDS). Reform efforts have called for increased school-university partnerships (AACTE, 2010; NCATE, 2010), which means that the PDS community may be well poised to offer insight into the necessary boundary-spanning roles and structures needed to support robust school-university partnerships. The purpose of this qualitative meta-analysis was to use the findings from thirteen empirical studies from the past 30 years to generate new knowledge about the boundary-spanner role in PDS. Findings revealed that terms for boundary-spanners are contextually-based and vary greatly. Implications offer a beginning framework to use when describing boundary-spanner roles in research and scholarship. The framework has the potential to foster a common understanding while preserving contextually-specific terminology.

Authors

• Rebecca West Burns, University of South Florida

• Wendy Baker, University of South Florida