Design Partners

The development of PDS2 is a collaborative effort of the Center for Urban School Improvement at the University of Chicago, Literacy Collaborative at The Ohio State University and Lesley University, and Teachscape, a leading provider of web-based professional development. A team of cooperating classroom teachers, literacy coaches, and nationally recognized literacy educators are developing, field testing, and refining content for the system. We released an initial version of the system to a limited number of schools in the fall of 2005. This trial activity is allowing us to examine use of the tool within different school contexts and to refine the tool based on use. The next phase of development will expand the multimedia database and integrate PDS2 with STEPTool to create the STEP Assessment Suite. Additional development plans for the system are to expand the content from literacy instruction for grades K-3 to grades 4-8 and to develop a version for mathematics.

Contact:
, Center for Urban School Improvement, University of Chicago
Pat Scharer, Literacy Collaborative, The Ohio State University