Overview of the National Professional Development School Standards
For the complete text of the PDS Standards, visit http://www.ncate.org
and go to Standards
Standard I: Learning Community
The PDS is a learning-centered community that supports the integrated learning and development of P-12 students, candidates, and PDS partners through inquiry-based practice. PDS partners share a common vision of teaching and learning grounded in research and practitioner knowledge. They believe that adults and children learn best in the context of practice. Learning supported by this community results in change and improvement in individual practice and in the policies and practices of the partnering institutions.
The PDS partnership includes principal and supporting institutions and individuals. The PDS partners are members of the P-12 schools and professional preparation programs who agree to collaborate. The supporting PDS partner institutions include the university, the school district, and the teacher union or professional education association(s). Arts and Sciences faculty, other interested school and university faculty, family members, community members, and other affiliated schools are important PDS participants in the extended learning community.
Standard II: Accountability and Quality Assurance
PDS partners are accountable to themselves and to the public for upholding professional standards for teaching and learning. They define clear criteria at the institutional and individual levels for participation. PDS partners collaboratively develop assessments, collect information, and use results to systematically examine their practices and establish outcome goals for all P-12 students, candidates, faculty, and other professionals. The PDS partnership demonstrates impact at the local, state, and national level on policies and practices affecting its work.
Standard III: Collaboration
PDS partners and partner institutions systematically move from independent to interdependent practice by committing themselves and making a commitment to each other to engage in joint work focused on implementing the PDS mission. They collaboratively design roles and structures to support the PDS work ad individual and institutional parity. PDS partners use their shared work to improve outcomes for P-12 students, candidates, faculty, and other professionals. The PDS partnership systematically recognizes and celebrates their joint work and the contributions of each partner.
Standard IV: Diversity and Equity
PDS partners and candidates develop and demonstrate knowledge skill, and dispositions resulting in learning for all P-12 students. PDS partners ensure that the policies and practices of the PDS partner institutions result in equitable learning outcomes for all PDS participants. PDS partners include diverse participants and diverse learning communities for PDS work.
Standard V: Structures, Resources, and Roles
The PDS partnership uses its authority and resources to articulate its mission and establish governing structures that support the learning and development of P-12 students, candidates, faculty, and other professionals. The partner institutions ensure that structures, programs, and resource decisions support the partnership’s mission. They create new roles and modify existing roles for P-12 students, candidates, faculty, and other professionals, to achieve the PDS mission. The partnership effectively uses communication for coordination and linkage with the school district, university, and other constituencies and to inform the public, policy makers, and professional audiences of its work.
The U.S. Department of Education recognizes NCATE as the professional accrediting body for teacher preparation in the United States. Through NCATE, 33 national professional organizations representing those who teach in and operate P-12 schools and those who educate those teachers, as well as members of the public committed to quality in teaching and teacher preparation, work to improve the quality of education for our nation’s children.
