You are enthusiastically invited . . .

to participate in the 2010 Professional Development Schools National Conference held in sunny Orlando, Florida.

Measuring Success:
Assessing the Impact of Professional Development Schools on the Educational Environment

As the University of South Carolina’s College of Education begins its second decade sponsoring the PDS National Conference, it is pleased to join the National Association for Professional Development Schools in inviting educators from across the P-20 educational continuum to share their successes in designing and carrying out the work of these invaluable school-university collaborations. The April 2008 NAPDS publication “What It Means to Be a Professional Development School” (www.napds.org/nine_essen. html) added clarity to the PDS initiative and served as an important focal point for discussions at the 2009 conference in Daytona Beach. For 2010, the Conference Planning Team borrowed heavily from the language of that document in formulating the conference strands and so encourages presenters to once again use the “Nine Essentials of PDS Work” outlined in that publication to craft proposals offering quantitative and qualitative evidence of how PDSs have had a positive impact upon aspiring educators, current educators, and the P-12 students they serve.

While the concurrent sessions generated by these proposals will serve as the heart of the conference, the Planning Team is once again designing a schedule of events which will allow for both the formal and informal exchange of ideas. Those events will include inspirational featured speakers at the general sessions, pre-conference workshops and facilitated discussions, special events for teacher candidates, opportunities for educators serving in similar roles to share their tricks of the trade, and, of course, time to relax in sunny Orlando! The overall goal of the event is to provide PDS educators not only a meaningful learning experience but also, in the words of a previous conference attendee, “a wonderful opportunity to share what I have been doing – gaining a pure sense of validity.”

As the Conference Planning Team puts together the final conference schedule in the coming months, we look forward to receiving proposals for two types of presentations: (1) Concurrent Sessions addressing any one of the four conference strands and (2) Poster Sessions offered by PDS teacher candidates. Specifics for both types of presentations are detailed in the accompanying proposal guidelines. We encourage you to submit your proposals as soon as possible since we once again anticipate a large response to this Call for Proposals – as well as another record-setting turnout in March.

The Professional Development Schools National Conference is sponored by: