Professional Development Schools: Establishing Alliances to Bridge the Gap between Universities and Schools

This article narrates the way a Professional Development School (PDS) got started. PDSs refer to alliances among educational institutions that join forces and resources to provide community members high quality services and products. Two stages are depicted. The first one deals with the setting up of human and material resources, identifying ways of collaboration among institutions and defining the roles of every partner involved. The second stage has to do with the implementation of the proposal per se, the obstacles faced and the action plans to carry on with the implementation. Partial findings and outcomes of this PDS-in-progress are shared with the hope of promoting the PDS concept in our community by means of establishing more partnerships, receiving feedback from experienced peers, and establishing networks.