Professional Development School

Professional Development Schools Network

For over 30 years, the Professional Development Schools (PDS) Network has been an integral part of the educator preparation unit at the University of South Carolina. With 24 active PDS sites and two PDS-District partnerships across seven South Carolina school districts, the USC PDS Network fosters vibrant partnerships that allow us to leverage expertise across our network to engage in important and impactful work. Click here for more information. 

Lower Richland Professional Development Schools (PDS), which includes Lower Richland High School and Hopkins Middle School, recently presented at the National Association of School-University Partnerships (NASUP) Conference in New Orleans. During the event, representatives from Hopkins Middle and Lower Richland High School showcased their collaborative efforts on vertical alignment through the (re)C.O.N. (Reclaiming Our Narrative) Scholars program, where students engage in research focused on land justice within the Lower Richland Community.

Additionally, they highlighted the professional development (PD) collaboration between Lower Richland High and Hopkins Middle Schools, where educators participated in a bus tour of the community and visited local businesses where their students live. The final part of their presentation focused on the innovative approach of using the local community such as the Congaree National Park as a classroom to enhance student engagement and foster personal connections to the curriculum