Page 19 - The Architecture of Professional Development

Evalua ng the Architecture of Professional Development

Evalua on has a long history in educa on. Teachers and administrators rou nely use a variety of
formal and informal assessment measures to plan, monitor, adjust, and make judgments in their
professional work. Given the importance of evalua on in educa onal prac ce, it is somewhat
surprising that when discussions in schools turn to evalua on it is o en, “seen as an unwelcome and
unnecessary intrusion into the important work that needs to be done” (Guskey, 2000, p. 2). Nega ves
a tudes toward formal evalua on can be explained in part by mandates and policies that use
evalua on measures as an accountability tool, one that is generally out of the control or influence of
prac oners. As jus fied as such a tudes may be, it seems reasonable that policymakers,
researchers, and prac oners would want to assess whether or not the billions of dollars invested in
professional development in schools annually (e.g., me, money, materials, and personnel) have any
impact.

There are four key organizers that guide professional development evalua on:
purpose—what do we want to know? value —why is this assessment informa on important? meth‐
od—how do we go about gathering, analyzing, and interpre ng data? and, u lity—how will these as‐
sessment data be used?

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