Abdal-Haqq Resources in PDS

Abdal-Haqq, I. (1998). Professional development schools: Weighing the evidence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Chapter 3: Finding Time, Finding Money

• Finding Time
  • PDS requires immense time commitments from all stakeholders (university faculty, district personnel, and interns). The time commitment can deter participation.
  • Interns can free up time for professional development activities for teachers. (What about time for professional development activities for interns with mentors? What about co-teaching and the elbow-to-elbow model of learning and apprenticeship?)
  • "Compared to traditional practicums, field-based programs in PDSs are generally longer and involve more interaction between the student and college and school personnel. Low-income students, mature students with families, and others who must work may find these demands burdensome (p. 49)."
  • Inequality issues: "Similarly, PDS literature does not indicate that there is widespread attention to the needs of working teacher education students or those whose domestic situations limit the amount of time they can devote to fieldwork or to a certification program. Resolution of the time problem has implications for PDS commitment to equity, given that junior faculty in universities, many of whom are female, are disproportionately represented in field-based work and that many low-income and working-class teacher education students are from racial or ethnic minority groups (p. 49)."

• Financing
  • Starting a PDS requires additional financial investment (like any business or start-up company). After that, funding can be found through the reallocation of funds from both parties. 
  • To ensure survival, PDSs need to be seen as an integral component rather than a tangential part.