Early Childhood Education PDS Partnerships

Early Childhood Education PDS Partnerships

There are currently five Early Childhood Professional Development School (PDS) Partnerships housed within the Athens City School District and the Federal Hocking Local School District: the Amesville Elementary ECE PDS Partnership, the Morrison-Gordon Elementary ECE PDS Partnership, the East Elementary ECE PDS Partnership, The Plains Elementary ECE PDS Partnership, and the West Elementary ECE PDS Partnership. Each PDS has approximately 12-15 candidates who are placed prior to the beginning of their junior year. The candidates spend two full days a week in the school, with one day being a “homeroom” classroom where they will spend the entire year, and the other day being a placement that changes each quarter so that the candidates gain experience in a variety of early childhood classrooms. With two full days each week, seminars after school, and other school activities that our candidates engage in like open houses, parent teacher conference, and other school wide events, our early childhood candidates at Ohio University spend over 500 hours in the school during their junior year methods courses. This is all done prior to their Professional Internship (student teaching) experience.

Early Childhood PDS Partnership candidates are given many opportunities in each of the ECE PDS classrooms to plan, teach, assess, and differentiate instruction during the year. These experiences give candidates a strong foundation as they enter their professional internship (student teaching) and future teaching careers.

The candidates receive mentoring and guidance from a variety of different people throughout the year. Each PDS Partnership has a Faculty Coordinator who coordinates the work on the university end and a Teacher Liaison who works with the programming in the schools. The candidates are also given the opportunity to be mentored by four different classroom teachers. These rotating placements not only give the candidates experience with four different grade levels in the primary grades but also four different teaching styles and four different groups of children.

Candidates also engage in a variety of projects during their junior year that help to make a difference for local PDS children. Candidates are making an impact by participating in a variety of activities such as providing additional support to struggling children in their placement classrooms, providing small group interventions, and tutoring programs. These are all done under the direction of the Faculty Coordinators and the Teacher Liaisons.

For more information contact:
Marcy Keifer Kennedy
Director, Center for Professional Development School Partnerships
McCracken Hall 119B
740.593.9989
keiferm1@ohio.edu