Evidence-Sensitive Synthesis of Professional Development School Outcomes.

This synthesis report describes a thorough analysis of primary professional development school (PDS) research in an effort to reveal reasonable PDS outcome claims as well as the strength of evidence that is in place to support these claims. The authors found reasonable evidence that support five claims: 1) PDS experiences encourage greater professional confidence in teaching candidates, 2) PDS experiences improve preservice teachers' perceptions of themselves as eventual professionals, 3) PDS experiences result in teaching candidates with more demonstrable teaching skills, 4) PDS experiences encourage improved quality and/or frequency of formative assessment for teaching candidates, and 5) PDS experiences improve host teachers' teaching practice. The authors also identify a list of emerging outcomes, a discussion of the nature of PDS interventions and research, and recommendations for improving the evidentiary quality of future PDS research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]