Establishing Partnership Spaces - Reflections of Educational Leaders on Founding Professional Development Schools

Oct 15, 2026

This qualitative study uses in-depth interviews to explore how school leaders perceive the development and maintenance of school-university partnerships as hybrid spaces in rural school districts. Grounded in the professional development school (PDS) model, it focuses on administrators and leaders who previously served as teachers before becoming principals, superintendents, or district directors. Categorically aggregated data were coded and analyzed to generate five themes: early partnership development and value, rural context, school-community culture, teacher perception and participation, and key considerations for initiating partnerships.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Study Purpose and Rationale

PDS model foundation and partnership as hybrid spaces

Research Design and Participants

Data collection and analysis approach

Findings Themes

Early partnerships, rural context, and school-community culture

Teacher participation and initiation considerations

Establishing Partnership Spaces: Reflections of Educational Leaders on Founding Professional Development Schools Charles L. Lowery Ohio University Michael E. Hess Ohio University Sara L. Hartman Ohio University Christopher Kennedy Ohio University Imran Mazid Eastern New Mexico University This qualitative study used in-depth interviews to investigate the perceptions of school leaders about developing and maintaining school-university partnerships with a local regional university in rural school districts. The professional development school (PDS) model provides meaningful learning experiences for teacher candidates by providing sustained and embedded field experiences in an authentic teaching environment. Participants were current and/or former administrators in the local/regional school-university partnership. All participants were former teachers who later became principals, superintendents, and/or district directors who were well prepared to inform the research questions. Data collected were categorically aggregated and analyzed using coding that resulted five themes: 1) development and value of early partnerships, 2) rural context, 3) school-community culture, 4) teacher perception and participation, and 5) important considerations of initiating the partnership. Keywords: hybrid spaces, professional development schools, rural schools, school leadership, school-university partnerships ICPEL Education Leadership Review, Vol. 19, No. 1– December, 2018 ISSN: 1532-0723 © 2018 International Council of Professors of Educational Leadership Professional development schools (PDS) create a unique partnership between local PK-12 schools and the university community (NAPDS, 2008) . According to Carpenter and Sherretz (2012), “A professional development school is a learning organization focused on the learning of school students, novice and veteran teachers and university faculty”(p. 91) . Such school-university partnerships involve local/regional school leaders, university faculty and administrators, and educator candidates. In many ways, these partnerships find grounding in the philosophy that professional development schools “are real public schools selected and joined in partnership with the university for their innovative spirit and serious intent to improve the quality of learning for educators and students” (Holmes Group, 1995, p. 3) . Zeichner, Payne, and Bayko (2015) conceptualized this as a hybrid space and “advocate for the creation of new hybrid spaces in university teacher education where academic, schoolbased, and community-based knowledge come together in less hierarchical and haphazard ways to support teacher learning”(p. 124) . This study examines the experiences of six school leaders involved in establishing partnership as hybrid spaces in cooperation with a regional college of education in a rural Appalachian region of a Midwest state. First developed in the mid-1980s, these initial partnerships have continued until the present. Collaborations have been developed and sustained through the university’s center for Professional Development School partnerships, and include licensure programs in Early Childhood, Middle Childhood, Adolescent-to-Young Adult, and Intervention Specialist programs. Founding leaders in the university and local schools did not follow a single model, neither in structure nor in the framework of mission/purpose. Rather, structures and frameworks have evolved in line with the interests and preferences of university faculty and school-based educator leaders. As Nettleton and Barnett (2016) noted, “Each partnership reflects the social-historical context of the university and community” (p. 21) . Participants in this study provided insights and shared their perceptions ofthe PDS model in the context of the spaces that emerged from those original collaborations. Rationale The PDS model is founded on a belief in strong collaborative relationships between school and univ

FAQs

What is the main focus of this study?

The study investigates school leaders’ perceptions of how school-university partnerships are developed and maintained, specifically as hybrid spaces in rural districts.

How were the study data collected and analyzed?

Data came from in-depth interviews and were categorically aggregated, then analyzed using coding to produce five themes.

Which key themes emerged from the analysis?

The five themes cover early partnership development and value, rural context, school-community culture, teacher perception and participation, and considerations for initiating the partnership.

Oct 15, 2026

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