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includes becoming more collaborative, supporting innovative practices, and engaging
everyone in inquiry as a regular practice for reflection. Adding university students as
“Interns” to eight different classrooms, their classroom teachers as “Mentors”, and
their school-university supervisor as a “Professional Development Associate (PDA)”
into a school’s culture allows multiple opportunities for them to work across the
school in various ways. We began to see the collaborative, innovative, and inquiry-
based nature of our school change.
Donnan Stoicovy is Beginning in 1997, Park Forest Elementary School, a 530-student Kindergarten–
a retired member of Grade 5 school with 22 classroom teachers, was one of 8 elementary schools partnered
Alpha Gamma Chapter with Pennsylvania State University (PSU) through the efforts of the State College
in Pennsylvania State
Organization. She recently Area School District’s (SCASD) superintendents—first William Oppdenhoff, then
worked at State College Patricia Best—and PSU’s Dean, David Monk, along with PSU faculty members Dr.
Friends School and was Nancy Dana and Dr. Jim Nolan. We established our partnership to be a community
involved with the State of elementary schools with a commitment to engage three PDAs—two paid for by
College Area School District PSU and one paid for by SCASD—to support supervision for interns and to be
and the Pennsylvania State the liaisons between the university and the school district. We required that PDAs
University Professional
Development School be SCASD teachers who would be released from their teaching positions for 3
partnership. She years. The PDAs’ support of interns also included teaching some of the senior-
has served National level course work. Additionally, PSU included PhD graduate students as PDAs.
Association for Professional Our interns had a year-long experience, using the SCASD calendar, with multiple
Development Schools teaching opportunities through partner classrooms with other teachers at our school
(NAPDS) for 3 years on its in addition to their assigned mentor teacher.
Board of Directors and in
its 3-year presidential term. Our eight Penn State interns became a tight-knit group, sharing not only their
dmstoicovy@gmail.com fall course classes but also sharing in some of the school’s cross-curricular and
extracurricular experiences. They eagerly shared aspects of what they were learning,
including technologies, with their mentor teachers who might not have utilized
those technologies. They readily collaborated with each other and encouraged more
collaboration among their teachers. They engaged in inquiry that led to reflecting
upon practices in their classrooms with their mentor teacher. The interns’ dedication,
creativity, and inspiration within our school became a catalyst for school culture
change.
PDS work has often been described as a way of having an intern work at the
elbow of a professional educator—similar to the way a medical intern works with
Dr. Drew Polly is Professor an experienced physician. Although one may think that interns learned the most in
in the Department of
Reading and Elementary that collaboration, learning went both ways and was sometimes more beneficial for
Education in the Cato the professional mentor teacher; for example, technology was definitely one area
College of Education where interns led the way with their mentor teachers. Adding the PDA created a
and Program Director “three-legged stool” that provided support for our interns. We found interns brought
of Graduate Certificate/ with them a pure desire to learn and a willingness to share what they had learned;
License, Elementary they would often update their mentor teacher in pedagogy, content, and practice.
School Mathematics
Coordinator, Elementary Many times, they shared an eagerness to question practices, were innovative in their
Education Strand of classrooms, and were willing to work with others in the school to experience as
Doctoral Program in much as possible. The presence of interns enhanced the collaboration within the
Curriculum and Instruction classrooms and within the school.
at University of North When there were multiple interns in our schools, it was observed that they not
Carolina at Charlotte. He is only created their own community within our school community but also interacted
the co-editor of the NAPDS
publication, PDS Partners. with other teachers, children, families, support staff, and leaders in the school. When
drew.polly@uncc.edu that happened, everyone benefited. The culture began to change to become one of
collaboration, creativity, and connection. Classrooms were no longer “silos” for

8 The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin: International Journal for Professional Educators