Comparing PDS and Campus-Based Preservice Teacher Preparation

To date, the professional development school (PDS) preservice teacher preparation literature base is long on attitudinal analysis and short on comparative analysis of outcome variables. This article reports on a 2-year study comparing the lesson planning, teaching effectiveness, postlesson reflectivity, and content retention of professional teaching knowledge for teachers prepared at a PDS or campus-based program. The teaching outcome variables were rubric scored by experienced raters blind to participants' preparation program. Although the scores of PDS-prepared student teachers consistently trended higher than the campus-prepared cohort, no statistically significant differences were found. However, during the 1st year of teaching, PDS-prepared teachers scored significantly higher than campus-prepared teachers on teaching effectiveness. Potential explanations for the findings are provided.