Responses of First-Year Participants in a Middle School Professional Development Schools Partnership

The sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction of university and public school participants in a middle school Professional Development Schools (PDS) partnership were investigated. Of the 86 participants in 12 collaborative inquiry partnership groups, 66 completed a 22-item questionnaire at the end of their 1st year of PDS participation. Results indicated that satisfaction appeared to outweigh dissatisfaction and that members of co-led (a university and a school leader) groups were more satisfied with group leadership and with the PDS experience overall than were members of singly led groups. A number of sources of satisfaction and barriers to satisfaction were identified. Implications of the results for the long-term viability of the PDS model are discussed.