This fall, Kennedy McCoy learned to love math. Megan Brewer learned to be a better teacher.

And teachers in the Pine-Richland School District learned the benefits of collaborating with Slippery Rock University as a professional development school.

Through the university program, Slippery Rock elementary education students gain extended teaching experience in one of four school districts: Pine-Richland, Sharon City, Slippery Rock Area and one elementary school in Pittsburgh Public Schools.

Although all education majors must spend several weeks as student teachers, observing and assisting in the classroom, professional development schools offer more intensive in-school experiences, said Claudia Balach, a Slippery Rock assistant professor who leads the program.

"It's a learning community akin to a teaching hospital," Dr. Balach said of the program, which has been implemented at other state universities in Pennsylvania but not as extensively as at Slippery Rock.

Dr. Balach began working on the project in 2004. Pine-Richland began the collaboration in the fall of that year with an after-school program in which Slippery Rock students came to Wexford Elementary School once a week to help pupils who were struggling with math.

Last summer, the Slippery Rock students helped to organize and teach a reading camp for students who needed extra help. Then this fall, 30 Slippery Rock students helped in all three of Pine-Richland's elementary schools, assisting teachers with science classes and providing after-school math tutoring. About 25 of those students will return as student teachers in the spring or fall semesters of 2006, Dr. Balach said.

"This is a great partnership," said Pine-Richland Superintendent James Manley.

Kennedy McCoy's parents could not agree more.

They watched their daughter struggle with math when she started third grade this year.

"She was very solid in every other subject," said Kennedy's father, Dennis McCoy, of Richland.

Then the McCoys heard about the after-school program, which was offered to pupils whose standardized test scores showed a need for additional help. They signed Kennedy up, and she didn't mind a bit.

"I knew there would be snacks," she said.

Once a week, Kennedy got personal attention from Slippery Rock student Megan Brewer, and before long, her father said, she began to understand math and even enjoy it.

"It's like the light clicked on," Mr. McCoy said. "She's been pretty consistent with bringing home higher grades."

Dr. Balach said about 150 Slippery Rock students participate in the program, and the list is growing. Demand is also growing among local school districts whose officials have contacted her about becoming a professional development school.

Dr. Balach said she is hesitant to expand too rapidly, although programs within existing schools will continue to grow. Slippery Rock students could serve other purposes in the schools, too.

For example, Lauren Wilson, 25, of Mercer, who earned her elementary education degree in May, spent this fall in a post-baccalaureate field experience program in which she volunteered two days a week at Wexford Elementary School, helping a group of five teachers in various capacities.

Miss Wilson will student teach at Pine-Richland next semester and hopes one day to land a permanent job there.

If and when that happens, she is certain she will be fully prepared as a result of her work through the professional development school program.

"I'm ready for teaching," she said.