Professional Development Schools
The Baylor School of Education has Professional Development School campuses in Midway ISD and Waco ISD. These campuses host Baylor teacher-education students at various levels of preparation.
Baylor teacher candidates begin their field work in area schools during the freshman year and spend significant and progressively more time on school campuses. During the junior year, teacher candidates serve in PDS campuses every day as Teaching Associates. As seniors, Baylor teacher candidates are in schools full-time on a daily basis to observe, assist, practice, and teach. This clinical approach prepares teachers with almost two full years of experience in classrooms — in a co-teach situation with the classroom mentor during the senior year — before graduation and job placement.
Cooperating teachers and clinical instructors, who are experienced classroom teachers, benefit from teacher candidates’ presence in the classroom and learn new teaching techniques and technology from their Baylor students. Students in the district benefit from all parts of the partnerships — having more time one-on-one with instructors, experiencing different teaching styles, and learning from new, creative lessons.
Baylor Professional Development Schools:
Elementary:
- Bell’s Hill Elementary, Waco ISD
- Castleman Creek Elementary, Midway ISD
- Hewitt Elementary*, Midway ISD
- Hillcrest Professional Development School,** Waco ISD
- Spring Valley Elementary, Midway ISD
Middle Grades:
Secondary Level:
*Hewitt Elementary is the PDS for first-year experience
**Hillcrest PDS is the SOE’s original PDS campus