Abstract
A central commitment for professional development schools (PDSs) is to link preservice teacher preparation and in-service teacher professional development with improved learning outcomes for pupils. PDSs are expected to improve student achievement in two primary ways: (1) by enriching and intensifying the learning environment through professional development of in-service teachers and strategic use of PDS human resources (e.g., mentor teachers, university faculty members, and student teachers), and (2) by improving the preservice preparation of future teachers so that they enter the classroom better prepared to maximize student learning and development. In this chapter, the authors review the existing literature with a focus on three key areas: (1) the ways in which PDS models are structured to improve student learning, yielding a rich description of PDS interventions for student achievement; (2) the impact of PDSs on student learning and achievement, with a specific focus on publications that used rigorous research designs and/or captured student achievement with multiple measures; and (3) the extent to which PDSs have a differential impact on the learning of low-income and culturally and racially diverse students. (Contains 1 table and 1 note.)