Department of
Educational Studies

Vision

The shared vision for the Professional Development Collaborative between St. Mary’s College of Maryland and St. Mary’s County Public Schools is to support PreK – 12 student achievement through collaborative sites of inquiry that promote continuous professional development for novice, as well as experienced, educators with particular emphasis on reflective practice, relationship-building skills, and a research orientation toward teaching.

Mission

The Professional Development Collaborative represents a partnership of learners engaged in lifelong professional development. This collaboration between the school system and the teacher education program enables all participants to develop their intellectual and personal potential for a lifetime of learning, resulting in responsible, productive participation in a diverse and dynamic world.  Further, the Professional Development Collaborative embraces the Mission of the St. Mary’s County Public Schools:

Outcomes

St. Mary’s College of Maryland and St. Mary’s County Public Schools will work collaboratively to:

• Foster a disposition toward, and skills in, reflection, relationship building, and research for all parties so that teachers are more purposeful and intentional in their work.
• Promote high expectations for teaching and curriculum development in response to school improvement plans, as well as state and system initiatives, policy changes, and other requirements.
• Maintain constant dialogue to maximize the use of resources and minimize duplication of efforts in the on-going, continuous professional development of educators.
• Heighten awareness of, and appreciation for, the art and craft of teaching. Work to enhance the status of the profession by sustaining the passion of experienced teachers, thereby retaining high quality educators.
• Provide true service learning opportunities for college students as a way to enhance their understanding of the education system and their campus-based course work, and as a way to collaborate to meet the needs of the Pre-K-12 students and their teachers. 
• Communicate the results of shared endeavors with the local community and within the larger community of professional educators.

Rationale

St. Mary’s County continues to experience rapid population growth along with economic and social change.  Military base consolidations  across the country and expanding operations have brought thousands of workers and their families to the Patuxent River Naval Air  Warfare Center.  The St. Mary’s County Public School system, which currently serves approximately 17,000 students at 27 sites, is  addressing increased demands on its resources as it serves the corresponding influx of children while continuing to meet the needs of the  existing rural and suburban neighborhoods.  Serving a diverse population, the school system is committed to providing rigorous content  and promoting high achievement for all students.  St. Mary’s County Public School System, therefore, provides an ideal site for the  professional education of prospective teachers from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.  

St. Mary’s College is a small undergraduate, liberal arts institution, designated as the “Public Honors College” within the University ofMaryland System. Because of its size, the college enables its students to work closely with faculty, and encourages diverse patterns of  teaching and learning.  As the only four-year institution of higher education in the community, the college is committed to serving as  many schools as possible through the service learning and field experience opportunities available to its students.

The professional development collaborative provides opportunities that benefit teachers and children throughout the county.  The collaborative model allows the flexibility to serve multiple sites as well as the opportunity to create more traditional professional  development school arrangements as the partnership evolves.  Through extensive field experiences in a variety of courses, future  teachers will contribute to, and learn from, classrooms in diverse settings.  In addition, they will have an intensive and extended clinical  experience during the year-long sequence of methods courses and a semester-long internship.

Through the professional development collaborative, many teachers and professional staff of the St. Mary’s County Public Schools will become partners in the education of their future colleagues and will have, at the same time, opportunities to engage in professional  development themselves.   Thus, both the public school system and the state’s “Public Honors College” will be able to cooperate in  serving an historically rural area undergoing a fundamental change and will, in the process, be better positioned to achieve their specific educational goals.

Professional Development School (PDS) Standards

The chart below was developed by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) to set the expectations for and guide the collaboration between Maryland institutes of higher education and the school systems in which their teaching interns are placed.  These five standards, along with the four components of each, form the basis for the partnership between the Master of Arts in Teaching Program at St. Mary's College of Maryland and the Professional Development School sites in the St. Mary's County Public School System. Click here to view the PDF.