Professional Development Schools and Preservice Teacher Stress

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Abstract
Educational reforms offer a variety of ideas with potential for improving schools. Inasmuch as research has consistently identified the field experience component (Conant, 1963), especially the influence of the public school teacher, (Glickman & Bey, 1990)) as the most influential force in preservice teacher education, institutional emphasis has shifted toward improving the activities of preservice teachers in the public schools. Historically, these public school activities have been fragmented; the public schools accept preservice teacher education students although public school teachers have limited input into the design of the teacher education program of the institution and the public school activities of preservice teachers. Institutions of higher education are interested in short-term solutions to the problem of preservice teacher education and may ignore their responsibility to be partners in educational reform that promotes higher quality field experiences while improving the public schools. Professional Development Schools (PDSs) have been developed as instruments of reform in teacher education. The authors describe a research project that compared the changes in stress scores of preservice teachers involved in a pilot PDS with the changes in stress scores of preservice teachers in a traditional teacher preparation program. The study found a statistically significant increase in stress during the culminating field experience for those preservice teachers in the pilot PDS program.