From 2015 through 2019, the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) conducted a project that was intended to test the utility of Shared Shelf to the teaching and research needs of small colleges. Shared Shelf (now called JSTOR Forum) made it possible for a collection of material assembled by one faculty member--for example, butterfly specimens--to…

In this article, Jennifer, a PDS Liaison from the University of South Carolina, and Ashley, an art teacher at a PDS school, discuss a recent project that highlighted the exceptional instruction occurring at Pontiac Elementary School.

Registered Apprenticeship and secondary Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs share the common goal of providing students with hands-on training paired with technical, classroom instruction to prepare them for living wage, in-demand careers. When these systems are aligned, they can strengthen one another through a reciprocal relationship.…

Deaf education in the United States began in 1817 with the bilingual co-leadership of Laurent Clerc and Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. In 2018, Marianne Belsky and Nicole Sutliffe, a bilingual, deaf/hearing team, were officially appointed as co-leaders of the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center. In this article, Belsky and Sutliffe share the…

This case study examines how two Professional Development School partners, J.D. Lever Elementary School and the University of South Carolina Aiken, identify and ultimately select mentor teachers to work with teacher candidates. This article traces the evolution of this process, starting with selections premised mainly on established personal…

In this article, Susan Altman shares her experience of working as a library assistant at Forest Heights Elementary School in Columbia, South Carolina, while taking classes in the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) Program at the nearby University of South Carolina. She discusses getting acquainted with the students, faculty and…

This report describes partnerships between researchers and state early childhood agencies in Georgia, Oregon, and South Carolina. Two of these partnerships are with researchers who are external to the state agency, and one is with a research team inside the agency. The report provides examples of how partnerships have made use of administrative…

This article explores how four community college faculty leaders draw upon their past experiences and current motivation to brighten students' futures.

The Diocese of Charleston is composed of 32 schools, of which 26 are parish elementary, two parish PK through 12, and 4 diocesan secondary schools. Unlike many dioceses in the United States, the Diocese of Charleston is unique in that it encompasses the entire state of South Carolina. This poses a challenge not only geographically, but also in…

Average American students are seldom aware of child and human rights principles and their impact globally and locally. School counselors are one logical group of school specialists skilled to facilitate school-based, rights-based (i.e., child and human rights) initiatives to promote students' awareness. Moving beyond their professional comfort…

This article represents the 28 year history of Professional Development Schools at the University of South Carolina and explains how the network continues to grow and thrive, in part, by the application of a collaborative leadership model. Our goal in this article is to recognize and understand how our continued efforts, as professional…

What's in Our Waters Jr. (WOW Jr.) is an environmental outreach program designed to teach fourth grade elementary students about watershed protection. This program is unique because of the partnership that brings together students, teachers, scientists, and water resource professionals to promote science education and environmental stewardship in…

Rural school districts throughout the country face increasing challenges with recruiting and retaining beginning teachers due to job demands that include a lack of mentoring, lower salaries than their urban and suburban counterparts, geographic isolation, requirements to take on additional nonteaching duties, and teaching assignments that include…

University-school partnerships can be a powerful mechanism for educator professional learning, but they have varying degrees of success. In South Carolina's School District 5 of Lexington and Richland Counties, superintendent Christina Melton wanted to make sure her district's partnership with the University of South Carolina would strategically…

In fall 2020, the U.S. Department of Education awarded the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) a $2.5 million grant, in partnership with the University of South Carolina (UofSC) and the Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity (BranchED). The aim of the three-year Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grant is to build…