UNCW Chancellor Aswani Volety, regional school superintendents and other district leaders joined Watson College of Education Interim Dean Carol McNulty, PDS Director Somer Lewis, Director of Professional Experiences Cindy Wiseman, faculty, partnership teachers and WCE student interns at a Professional Development System (PDS) Partnership Celebration at the Watson College on April 30.
There was a lot to celebrate this year! WCE’s school-university agreements with partnership school districts and schools were renewed this spring for a period of three years through 2027; UNCW’s PDS received the 2024 Exemplary PDS Award from the National Association of School-University Partnerships (NASUP) in March; and 129 Watson College students successfully completed internships in PDS partnership schools in April.
The PDS school-university partnership at UNCW’s Watson College of Education was created in 1993 to provide classroom learning opportunities for future teachers. Today, PDS spans 11 school districts, a university laboratory school and two public charter schools in Southeastern North Carolina and includes a network of more than 2,000 teachers that work collaboratively to support teacher education students and the needs of teachers, schools and districts in the region.
WCE’s PDS partners are: Brunswick County Schools, Carteret County Schools, Clinton City Schools, Columbus County Schools, Duplin County Schools, Jones County Schools, New Hanover County Schools, Onslow County Schools, Pender County Schools, Sampson County Schools, Whiteville City Schools, Cape Fear Center for Inquiry, D.C. Virgo Preparatory Academy and Island Montessori School.
The NASUP Award, presented in March, recognized UNCW’s PDS for creating and sustaining genuine collaborative partnerships with Pre-K-12 schools. This is the second time UNCW’s PDS Partnership has been honored as one of the nation’s best examples of innovative partnerships with public schools. UNCW first won NASUP’s Exemplary PDS award in 2014.
At the PDS Celebration event, special recognition was given to Southeast Area Technical High School and Isaac Bear Early College High School, both named on the PDS NASUP Award along with the Watson College of Education. SEA-Tech Principal Edie Skipper ’13 Ed.D., a four-time UNCW graduate, and Isaac Bear PDS Site Coordinator Danielle Talbert ’08M were on hand to receive the awards.
Watson College interns and their partnership teachers were also celebrated. Each year, WCE’s Office of Professional Experiences works with Watson faculty and site coordinators in WCE’s PDS partnership schools to coordinate thousands of field experiences and hundreds of internships for Watson College students. The placements give WCE students the opportunity to experience a variety of supportive, professional settings during their educational journey, while gradually assuming the responsibilities of a classroom teacher.
“We are proud of the ways our partnership has continued to grow in both depth and breadth from year to year,” Lewis said. “Of course, our PDS is committed to growing our next generation of teachers and school leaders; however, we are equally committed to the retention of our school partners, to supporting mutually beneficial collaborations in research, and to the success of P-12 students across the state. We could not do this work without our school partners and are tremendously thankful for their longstanding collaboration.”
For more information on WCE’s PDS Partnerships, please visit the PDS website.
For more information on the PDS NASUP Award, and WCE’s partnerships with SEA-Tech and IBEC, please see recent Watson Chronicle stories:
This article has the following tags: Watson College of Education Accomplishments Educators Engagement