A National Collaborative Research Agenda for Professional Development Schools and Similar School-University Partnerships

• In Event: Advancing School-University Partnerships and Professional Development Schools Through National Research

Abstract

The development of the research agenda was funded by a grant from the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and supported by Georgia State University. The research agenda was developed collaboratively by a group of scholars, researchers, and practitioners who met together over a period of nine months from January through September of 2022. The purpose of these meetings was to craft a research agenda designed to mobilize, guide, and support a collaborative and coordinated national effort to strengthen the quality and quantity of evidence related to Professional Development Schools (PDSs), and other School-University Partnerships (SUPs). We focus not only on PDSs in this agenda but also on those SUPs that have similar goals or purposes, such as the improvement of teacher preparation, the revitalization of on-going professional learning for teachers, a quality education for all students, and collaborative research. Henceforth, we use PDSs-SUPs to denote our focus.

The research agenda, which evolved from these meetings, presents a set of compelling research questions organized into four topic areas and two categories of questions as seen in the chart below. The four topic areas are: (1) the systems and structures that charac¬terize PDSs-SUPs, (2) equity and social justice, (3) the national teacher shortage, and (4) policy issues. The two categories of questions are differentiated by their focus on description or on outcomes and impact. These topic areas and categories of questions were not determined a priori; rather, they emerged from the suggestions and recommendations of the participants. Notes from discussions held during convenings along with follow-up written comments from the participants were reviewed by members of the planning team in a collaborative and iterative process. This review resulted in the topic areas and categories of questions presented in the research agenda.

Authors

• Janna Dresden, University of Georgia

• Rebecca West Burns, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania

• Linda A. Catelli, Queens College - CUNY

• Susan L. Ogletree, Georgia State University

• Gwendolyn T. Benson, Georgia State University

• Joseph R. Feinberg, Georgia State University

• William L. Curlette, Georgia State University