American Professional Development Schools-Experience And Enlightenment

Professional Development Schools (abbr. PDSs), occurred in the late of 1980's in the United States, have gained widespread acceptance by personalities of various circles and approval of national organizations, and have been regarded as "outstanding character of teacher education". PDS is a form of school, at which pre-service teacher education, in-service teacher education and school renew are developing simultaneously. The goals of PDS are to play exemplary role for pre-service teachers, encourage in-service teacher professional development, and promote "school- university collaborate research." Through the establishment of PDS, both the collaboration between schools and university .and the collaboration of all parts in educational department are reinforced.In this thesis, the motivation of setting up, practical basis, prospects, characters, manner of managing and practicing of PDS are studied. By giving a survey of PDS in the US, this thesis put forward some proposals for our nations' teacher education. The main structure of the thesis is as following:In the first part, the motive factor of PDSs' establishment is discussed. The demand of the movement of schools' reconstruct, the malpractice of traditional teacher education, and the new trend of teacher professional development are the three main points.In the second part, the practical basis of PDSs is analyzed.In the third part, the core-character, the principles of founding, the process of establishment, and the manner of managing and practicing are demonstrated.A "Case Study" is given in the forth part, focusing on its procedure of founding.In the fifth part, the PDSs' distinguish feature and remarkable effect is generally discussed.Finally, give some implications for teacher education reform in China, by drawing lessons from PDSs'experience.