RC-SUP Overview & History

For over three decades the Rowan University Professional Development School (PDS) Network served as innovative institutions formed through partnerships between colleges of schools of education and P-12 schools.  

Doctors Marion Rilling and Carol Sharp are responsible for bringing Professional Development Schools to Rowan University. They visited PDS sites that were partnered with Michigan State University in the early 1990s and wanted to implement the program at Rowan University. The College of Education (CED) began the first PDS partnership in 1991 at Cooper’s Poynt Family School in Camden, New Jersey with extensive involvement from Dr. Sharp, former Dean of the CED. From 1991 to 2001, additional schools were added to the Rowan PDS Network.

Over the course of three decades, the Rowan PDS network included numerous schools in Burlington, Camden, Cumberland and Gloucester counties in New Jersey.  Below is a list of former PDS partnerships.

• 1991Cooper’s Poynt Family School, Camden NJ
• 1992 Johnston Elementary School
• 1994 Johnson Elementary School
• 2001 Gateway High School
• 2010 West Avenue School, Bridgeton, NJ
• 2012 Cherry Street School, Bridgeton, NJ
• 2012 Quarter Mile Lane School, Bridgeton, NJ
• 2015 Thomas E. Bowe School, Glassboro, NJ
• 2016 Dorothy L. Bullock Elementary, Glassboro, NJ
• 2017 J. Harvey Rodgers School, Glassboro, NJ
• 2017 West Deptford Middle School, West Deptford, NJ
• 2018 Glassboro High School, Glassboro, NJ
• 2018 Horace Mann, Cherry Hill, NJ
• 2019 D’Ippolito, Vineland, NJ
• 2019 Sewell School, Manuta, NJ

During its 30 plus years, the mission of the PDS Network was to provide professional preparation of teacher candidates, faculty development, inquiry directed at the improvement of practice, and enhanced student learning. Known as the non-negotiables of PDS work, the mission was implemented through Professors-In-Residence, a Rowan faculty assigned to a P-12 school.  

In 2023, what is now known as the National Association of School-University Partnerships (NASUP), the membership voted to expand its vision to include other school-university partnerships.   As a result, the Rowan College of Education School-University Partnerships (RC-SUP) Network was created to be more aligned with the national organization’s 2023 rebranding.  

While there can be many approaches to SUPs, RC-SUP Network has been created to help schools and universities meet their mutually designed missions and goals.  More specifically RC-SUP aims to:

• Provide training and professional development experiences aligned to district needs and best practices to improve P-12 educational outcomes for all students. (Learning Partnerships)
• Use a creative problem-solving approach to identify and address areas that will support student and school success (Learning Partnerships)
• Engage in reciprocal research where research informs practice and school-based practices inform research efforts/projects. (Research Practice Partnership)
• Provide high-quality field placements and experiences for clinical interns that allow pre-service teachers opportunities to put knowledge into practice. (Placement Partnerships)
• Better align the efforts of CED and school districts to prepare pre-service educators for the realities of the classroom/role of educational professionals. (District Office Partnerships)
• Provide support (e.g., field-based support, information and resources, responsive professional development experiences) to address the recruitment and retention needs of school districts (District Office Partnerships)
• Enhance the knowledge, skills and dispositions of school learners and/or school personnel (Pipeline Partnership)
  • Teacher Preparation Academy (High School Students)
  • Career Preparation Academy (Paraprofessional)
  • School Personnel Academy (Nursing, Counselors)
  • Educational Leaders Academy (Teacher Leader, School Leaders, District Leader)
  • Coaching/Mentoring Partnership (NJCTY Mentors)

In addition to these aims, RC-SUP has also identified category definitions that are listed in the graphic organizer of types of SUPs found on the main RC-SUP webpage.  The intent of defining the categories is to further help schools and universities meet their mutually designed missions and goals.