Renewal efforts within the SMP and the member districts have focused on rethinking curriculum, instruction, and assessment with an emphasis on how students learn, and the development and use of assessment tools appropriate for new conceptions of teaching and learning. This focus for teacher learning is directly tied to student learning in Gorham, where a primary aim of the program is for each intern to develop a personal vision of teaching and learning. The site coordinators want interns to know their students and how they learn. The coordinators guide the prospective teachers' development by emphasizing the inclusion of student work in intern portfolios. In the schools studied, the focus on student learning is a dominant theme.
Teachers know each child and their learning needs.
Their love of teaching is apparent in their interactions with students, in staff meetings, among colleagues before and after school, and in their commitment to continuous learning, as evidenced by their participation in a wide variety of professional learning experiences. Even within the Benedum Project, the visions for teacher education in the College and for PDSs are related, but not integrated. The vision of the partnership organization is to make teacher education more intellectually sound, and to establish professional development schools that are good places for both K - 12 students, preservice teachers, and practicing teachers to learn. There is a small group of faculty, however, who have invested heavily in both branches of the dual agenda, working closely with schools on their development, as well as working with colleagues in the university to redesign teacher education. Within the PDSs, there is a clear focus on enhancing students' motivation to learn, toward developing lifelong learners.