During the Summer of 2004, I was given the opportunity to work with the New York State Higher Education Support Center for Systems Change (HESC). I want to thank Dr. Mager and Melissa Price for this opportunity :)
Having completed work for them before during the Summer of 2003, I once again delved into the topic of collaboration. With this assignment, I was asked to compare the partnership rubric devised by HESC against standards for Professional Development Schools (PDS's) set by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). The findings of this inquiry are highlighted in the file below.
What I am finding most interesting about the topic of collaboration in the field of education is that collaboration is being sought on all ends - be it between schools of education and public schools or among and between peers in public schooling. However, the push to collaborate goes against the grain of "loose-coupling" which has and even today, continues to be the prevailing environment in the field of education. With this said, it is my contention that teacher preparatory programs may need to put greater emphasis on nurturing skills of collaboration to accomodate a changing modus operandi.
