According to the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), A Professional Development School (PDS) is defined as:

"A Professional Development School (PDS) is a collaboratively planned and implemented partnership for the academic and clinical preparation of interns and the continuous professional development of both school system and institution of higher education (IHE) faculty. The focus of the PDS partnership is improved student performance through research-based teaching and learning. A PDS may involve a single or multiple schools, school systems and IHEs and may take many forms to reflect specific partnership activities and approaches to improving both teacher education and PreK-12 schools."

The Department of Special Education has established PDS networks in the three age-based areas of Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary/Middle Special Education.

Each of these partnerships with school systems consists of networks of multiple school sites. PDS Coordinators for each of the three special education PDSs facilitate all preservice and inservice activities within their respective partnerships, including collaboration with their general education counterparts whenever possible.

All special education networks include students with a wide range of disabilities, as well as appropriate models of inclusive education and collaboration between general educators and special educators.

Additional information regarding Maryland's Professional Development School Network can be found at: http://cte.jhu.edu/PDS/index.cfm.