UofSC Professional Development Schools Network

04/26/2023

It’s a big day for the College of Education! U.S. News and World Report ranked us in the top 15 percent of graduate education programs nationally, improving 47 spots on last years ranking. 🎉 Last night Capstone was glowing garnet to celebrate great rankings across campus! Learn more here: https://www.sc.edu/uofsc/posts/2023/04/usnews-graduate-rankings-imba.php #.ZEkK6aTMLDt

03/27/2023

The annual conference for the National Association for Professional Development Schools was held in Jacksonville, Florida last week.

The USC PDS Network was affiliated with 17 presentations at the conference. The presentations, many of which were collaborations between USC faculty and staff and the P12 teachers and administrators, captured the work being done throughout the USC PDS Network. The presentations included topics such as teacher retention, professional learning, and teacher education and showcased innovation at elementary, middle, secondary, and district levels.

The USC PDS Network was also represented at NAPDS through leadership positions such as serving as an elected member of the executive board, volunteering for various committees, and working as journal editors.

Thank you to the USC PDS Network presenters and attendees for your participation and work!

Thank you to NAPDS for a wonderful conference!

03/24/2023

Congratulations to Dr. Aisja Jones!

Dr. Jones received the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the National Association of Professional Development Schools at the annual conference in Jacksonville, FL.

A USC PDS Fellow, Dr. Jones’ dissertation was titled “Evaluating the Impact of Reciprocal Teaching Embedded Within a Web 2.0 Tool upon Fifth-Grade Students’ Reading During Integrated Readers’ Workshop at a Professional Development School.”

11/14/2022

The 6th Annual PDS-SERVE Conference was held at Georgia State University in Atlanta on Saturday, November 12, 2022.

The USC PDS Network had five presentations demonstrating the work being conducted in elementary, middle, and high schools in the network, the research of the USC PDS Fellows, and collaboration across institutions.

Of note, PDS-SERVE has changed its name to Southeastern Association of School-University Partnerships (SASUP). We look forward to the 2023 SASUP Conference!

09/20/2022

Mark your calendars! The Inquiry Matters Conference is returning to an in-person format on April 22, 2023.

The UofSC PDS Network is pleased to work in partnership with Richland School Districts One and Two and the Center for Educational Partnerships to offer this free opportunity for professional growth.

If you have any questions, contact Dr. Heidi Mills - [email protected]

We look forward to seeing you in April.

09/15/2022

What is the importance of school-university partnerships during a time of teacher shortages?

The University of South Carolina College of Education’s Dr. Kristin Harbour and Dr. Christie Martin, along with UNC Charlotte’s Dr. Drew Polly and Dr. Madelyn W. Colonnese, recently explored this question and more while serving as guest editors for the 2022 themed issue of PDS Partners titled “Leveraging School-University Partnerships for Student Learning and Teacher Inquiry.”

To read the journal and learn more, follow the link below.

https://napds.org/2022-themed-issue-leveraging-school-university-partnerships-for-student-learning-and-teacher-inquiry/

02/11/2022

Day 1 of complete. UofSC is blowing the Windy City away!

07/27/2020

So proud to announce that our very own Michelle Myers is the keynote speaker for the PDS-SERVE virtual conference to be held on October 24, 2020! Michelle will share her research and experiences with PDS colleagues across the southeast.

07/13/2020

Congratulations to our colleagues at Irmo Middle on their published story about PDS work. Check out the story entitled Creating Opportunity for All Mathematics Learners Through Implementation of Small-Group Instruction at https://napds.org/category/stories-from-the-field/.

All of our schools have important stories to tell. Consider submitting yours to NAPDS!

Stories from the Field features brief descriptions (up to 500 words) of successes, challenges, and unique activities/experiences currently taking place in PDS partnerships. Submissions should be co-written by at least one K-12 person and one college/university person and include two .jpg photos that...

07/06/2020

In our final summer installment of “Meet the Fellows,” we’d like to introduce you to the following scholarly practitioners:

· Brooke Biery, a science teacher at Dutch Fork High in Lex-Rich 5, is “so very grateful and excited to work with the PDS network!!” A student in the Curriculum Studies concentration, Brooke sees being a Fellow as a chance to deconstruct “social and systematic barriers for students who are on the margins of our educational system. Working within the PDS Network means growing professionally, bettering my practice, and being able to share it with others through a well-established, innovative, and forward-thinking structure." Her dissertation will focus on demographic disparities in grade-level courses.

· Kat Degar, a digital integration specialist at CrossRoads Intermediate in Lex-Rich 5, recently joined the Learning Design and Technologies program to discover how to “facilitate more instructional technology use in the classroom.” Kat feels “very blessed” to be a PDS Fellow, adding, “It is an honor to be able to represent my district with the work I am doing. I am learning so much and feel like it is helping me grow as a professional.”

· Kimberly Smalls, a 4th-grade teacher at Killian Elementary in Richland 2, believes, “Being a PDS Fellow bolsters my credibility as an educational leader and affords me the opportunity to network with others.” As a student in the Learning Design and Technologies program, Kimberly intends to examine the use of the flipped classroom model, which has not received much scholarly attention at the elementary level. Studying this innovative practice will enhance Kimberly’s ability to teach through technology and share with other educators