Professional Learning Laboratory School Partnerships

Marylhurst Education Department creates Professional Learning Laboratory School Partnerships with Exemplary Schools

Fall Term 2009 marks the beginning of three Professional Learning Laboratory School Partnerships between the Maryhurst University Education Department, David Douglas High School, Scappoose High School and Oak Grove Elementary School in the North Clackamas School District.

The goal of these collaborative efforts between the Maryhurst MAT program and these three exemplary schools is to improve student learning and performance by improving the pre-service learning of our teacher candidates.

These partnerships are funded through grants from Marylhurst University and the Center for Teaching and Learning at the Oregon Education Association.

The partnership between Marylhurst and these successful schools will permit placement of a large cohort of pre-service teacher candidates in the same schools. Due to the unique nature of the two year program at Marylhurst, the candidates will be a mixture of first-year field experience candidates and second-year student teacher candidates.

As a result of the Marylhurst Mediated Entry program, MAT licensure candidates spend 30 hours per term in grade or content area aligned with their preferred teaching placement. In most cases, the first year field experience candidate returns to the same school for student teaching during the second year of the preparation program.

The Professional Learning Laboratory School (PLLS) will be the site where pre-service teacher licensure candidates begin to learn the challenging reality of classroom instruction. These PLLS sites will be where aspiring teachers start the process of transforming common-sense ideas about teaching and personal experiences of schooling into professional commitments and lay a strong foundation in subject matter knowledge for teaching.

Specifically, our new partnerships create a long–term relationship with a specific school, recognized for success in reducing any achievement gap commonly predicted by race or socio-economic class. Each of these schools demonstrates the ability to assist all children to achieve at levels not predicted by their economic class or racial background.

The nature of this PLLS–Marylhurst University partnership is that in exchange for accepting placement of significant numbers of pre-service licensure candidates, the school receives a critical mass of enthusiastic candidates with theoretical knowledge gained from their pre-service licensure courses.

The PLLS-Marylhurst University partnership is based on the recognition of a mutual self-interest. Each member of the partnership stands to gain strength from the partnership to accomplish its unique primary mission. For the PLLS it is educating K-12 students to a higher level; for Marylhurst it is preparing per-service teachers in a more effective manner.

The Marylhurst–PLLS program creates positive structures for long-term, job-embedded learning for aspiring teachers. In addition, the PLLS faculty members develop their teacher leader and mentoring skills while enhancing the professional practices of colleagues.

We welcome Marylhurst’s new partners, David Douglas High School, Scappoose High School and Oak Grove Elementary School. Together we are creating an important and innovative learning community.