Team-Based Curriculum Deliberation in a School-University Partnership: How Far Does It Go?

The purpose of this study was to describe and assess the collaborative process of curriculum design and implementation that evolved in the context of a school-university partnership. Research questions driving this study were: (1) why do mentor teachers and university faculty in a school-university partnership choose to become involved in a process of developing a classroom learning environment syllabus?; (2) how does this process emerge and become modified?; and (3) what impact does this evolving process have on children, preservice teachers, mentor teachers, and university faculty? The Professional Development School (PDS) classroom learning environment team consisted of 14 members: 2 teacher educators, 11 elementary school mentor teachers from 4 PDS school sites, and a curriculum coordinator. The first part of the paper portrays the contexts of this PDS community. Included in this section are descriptions of the campus-based classroom management syllabus that was taught by a faculty member, and the PDS classroom learning environments syllabus as taught by a team of mentor teachers and university faculty. The second part of the paper describes the process that developed as the university faculty and mentor teachers engaged in curriculum design, co-teaching, and assessment. The final section draws a set of assertions concerning the process and impact of such curriculum generation by a team of university faculty and elementary school teachers. Findings and assertions from this study highlight the contributions that a collaboratively planned and implemented syllabus can make towards the professional development of PDS interns, mentor teachers, and university faculty. The paper also points out important attributes that must be present in the process of curriculum planning to make the collaborative process successful. Appendixes contain syllabi for two PDS intern classes. (Contains 32 references.) (Author/SLD)