Classroom management issues consistently surface as a prevailing concern for novice teachers. Yet when classroom management is incorporated into university teacher education undergraduate courses, it is often perceived as too theoretical or disconnected from the "real world" of classrooms. Embedding attention to classroom management issues in field-based experiences, such as student teaching, may be an optimal time to address preservice teachers' perceived needs in this area of learning to teach. This article describes a Professional Development School initiative that drew on expertise and resources available through the local chapter of the professional organization (union). Through collaboration and the leveraging of resources, initiatives such as this one provide rich avenues for enhancing the learning of preservice teachers.
Few in the field of preservice teacher education would disagree that classroom management issues consistently surface as a prevailing concern for novice teachers. As numerous research studies have documented (Brophy & Evertson, 1976; Doyle, 1986; Latz, 1992; Veenman, 1984), preservice teachers entering their student teaching experiences frequently report feeling inadequately prepared to effectively manage a classroom. Preservice teachers complain that they receive little to no specific instruction in classroom management, yet when classroom management is incorporated into university teacher education undergraduate courses, it is often perceived as too theoretical or disconnected from the "real world" of classrooms.
Extensive research has revealed that preservice and inservice teachers' frequently identify their experiences in the field as moments when most of their learning about teaching occurred (Danielson, Kuhlman, & Fluckiger, 1998; Feiman-Nemser, 1983, Feiman-Nemser & Buchmann, 1985; Fry & McKinney. 1997; Ross, & Smith, 1992). Additionally, preservice teachers often believe their university professors to be too far removed from or unaware of the realities of contemporary classrooms. Rather, "real" teachers are K-12 teachers, the teachers "in the trenches". Given this, embedding attention to classroom management issues in field-based experiences, such as student teaching, may be an optimal time to address preservice teachers' perceived needs in the area of classroom management.
This article describes an initiative that grew out of a Professional Development School (PDS) partnership and which draws on expertise and resources available through the local chapter of the professional organization (union). By looking to existing structures and resources already in place in the corporation to support preservice education, we were able to embed formal classroom management instruction taught by experienced classroom teachers within the student teaching experience. Relationships established through the Professional Development School initiative enabled a leveraging of resources available through the local union's Educational Research and Dissemination Division. This collaboration provided student teachers with opportunities to acquire research-based classroom management strategies while immersed in actual middle and high school contexts thus resulting in a powerful and effective blending of theory and practice.
The Alpha Professional Development School Initiative
Located in the midwest, Omega State University enrolls approximately 23,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Nationally recognized for its teacher preparation efforts, Omega has over the past decade established a Professional Development School network with 9 school corporations involving 14 elementary schools, 4 middle schools, and 6 high schools. In addition, Omega has also partnered with institutions such as a local cultural center, a child development center, and a Children's Museum.
In 1999, the Alpha Community School Corporation officially partnered its two high schools with Omega State University in a Professional Development School initiative. Located approximately thirty miles from the university, each high school enrolls between 1,300 and 1,500 students in grades 9-12. With approximately 42% minority representation, 65% of the student population qualifying for free or reduced breakfasts and lunches, and 35% identified as special needs, Alpha Community School Corporation's classrooms provide rich sites in which to train future teachers.
Aligned with the Holmes Partnership (1986) model of Professional Development School collaborations, the Alpha Professional Development School initiative chose to concentrate its initial efforts on revising the educational experiences provided for preservice teachers who complete their practicum and student teaching field experiences in their middle and high schools. Specifically, attention has been paid to crafting curricula and field experiences that enable preservice teachers to explicitly translate theory into practice.
Another aspect of the Alpha Professional Development School (PDS) initiative involves supporting the continuing professional development of inservice teachers. As part of this effort, the PDS university liaison collaborates with the directors of the Alpha Community School Corporation's Educational Research and Dissemination Division (ER&D) to offer Omega State University graduate credit for courses conducted by the ER&D office. This enables inservice teachers to acquire double the number of Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for licensure renewal than the ER&D courses would normally earn. In addition, teachers pursuing a Masters degree are frequently able to apply the ER&D courses to their graduate programs.
The PDS liaison serves as Instructor of Record, collaborating with the instructors of the various courses to design assignments which extend and enrich the learning of course participants while maintaining the rigor of graduate-level courses. It was through this work that the liaison became aware of the potential for utilizing the ER&D resources to benefit the preservice teachers' development, especially in the area of classroom management.
The Educational Research and Dissemination Initiative
According to the American Federation of Teachers Website (2003), the . . . Educational Research and Dissemination (ER&D) Program is a union-sponsored, research-based professional development program. It was created by the AFT through collaboration between practitioners and researchers to encourage classroom educators to improve their practice and their students' achievement by becoming users of research.
In addition, "courses offered . . . often do what years of undergraduate work have been unable to do . . . give teachers practical, hands-on experience in applying research to fit the needs of their own classrooms "(AFT, 2000, p. 7).
ER&D courses are taught on-site by experienced K-12 teachers trained in the course content and methodology by the American Federation of Teachers. Teachers enrolled in the courses are released from their classrooms (usually five days depending on the course) throughout the academic year. Cost of the program is shared between the Alpha branch of the American Federation of Teachers and the school corporation. The Alpha Federation of Teachers pays for the training of the coordinators and teacher instructors, provides stipends for the coordinators and supplies course materials. The school corporation provides facilities, release time for coordinators, and reimburses the substitute teachers needed to cover the classrooms of coordinators, teacher instructors, and participating teachers (E. Matthews, personal communication, Jan. 3, 2003).
The ER&D Division offers courses such as Foundations of Effective Teaching: Delivering Effective Instruction, Early Reading Intervention, and The School-Home Connection: Partnerships Supporting Student Learning (AFT, 2000, p. 8). Since the course in Managing AntiSocial Behavior course seemed to speak most directly to the pressing concerns of preservice teachers for support in effectively managing classrooms, the PDS liaison approached one of the Alpha ER&D coordinators to investigate the possibility of providing the course for the corporation's middle and high school preservice teachers.
Piloting the Initiative: Managing Anti-Social Behavior for Preservice Teachers
Student teachers were not required to participate in the initiative. Rather, they were offered the opportunity with no penalty or recrimination if they chose not to participate. Of the twelve secondary preservice teachers student teaching in the Alpha Community School Corporation in the Fall of 2002, all elected to attend the seminars. Attendance in subsequent semesters has remained at 100% of the preservice teachers completing their student teaching in Alpha Corporation's middle and high schools.
