Westfield Professional Development School Network

 

The Westfield Professional Development School (WPDS) Network was established in 2001 when it became clear that a new and more collaborative relationship was needed in order to improve the work being done both at the college and in the elementary schools of the district. The WPDS original elementary schools were Abner Gibbs, Franklin Avenue, Highland, Moseley, and Southampton Road.

• Long Description (View Here)
• Slide Show: Building a PDS Community (View Here)

Belief Statements[1]

1. The WPDS Network believes that teaching and learning are developmental processes that occur throughout one's professional career.

2. We believe teacher candidates should be mentored by practitioners who explicitly create nurturing classroom communities that support and encourage diversity. Further, teacher candidates need exposure to exemplary teaching in order to gain understandings, skills, strategies, and dispositions related to the teaching and learning process.

3. We believe the knowledge and skills that practitioners share are essential resources for the preparation of teacher candidates. We also believe that professional development opportunities for practitioners are enhanced when there is collaboration with college faculty on many different levels, such as curriculum planning, action research, and reform activities.

4. We believe college faculty should link practitioners=expertise to the construction and implementation of college courses in order to strengthen the pre-service program. Practitioners, college faculty, and teacher candidates should collaborate on the development of research-based activities to foster the creation, sharing and dissemination of knowledge, and to improve teaching at both the public school and the college levels.

 

^[1]  The belief statements were developed for the WPDS Network's Retreat on October 28, 2000. The beliefs statements were revised on April 13, 2004.