Commitment to Change and Action

Abstract

Professional Development School (PDS) partnerships in Race to the Top (RttT) states, as well as those in other states that have instituted education reforms and new legislation, are now in a unique position to promote their partnerships as transformative models of change and action. This chapter presents a successful, longitudinal, and holistically grounded PDS partnership and its research aimed at instituting integrative change for the purpose of improving student learning and achievement. Although small in size, the partnership has at its roots the audacious goal of changing and improving P-12 education integrated with professional education (13-20), with a vision of a new P-20 system of education directed at learning and simultaneous renewal of institutions. Academic and administrative leaders come together in this chapter to present the partnership's holistic nature and essential transformative practices, its empirical and practical work, lessons learned, and future directions for new career ladders for educators along with new research to influence state policy.