Page 20 - The Architecture of Professional Development

Purpose

When applied to the architecture of professional development, credible assessment requires being
clear about what we want to know (purpose). There are various approaches used to ar culate the
purpose of professional development evalua on. One is a standards‐based approach. An example is a
self‐assessment instrument developed by the Na onal Staff Development Council used in local school
districts across the United States. It asks respondents to react to descrip ons of a ributes across
three dimensions of professional development—content, context, and processes (NSDC, 1995). The
general purpose of this self‐assessment evalua on is to give respondents, individually and collec vely,
feedback regarding a school’s capacity for and implementa on of high quality professional
development. A second approach used to clarify the purpose of the evalua on, is to focus on specific
dimensions of professional development including its design, delivery, context, content, and outcomes
each requiring different types of data and methods (Bredeson, 2002). Building on the work of other
evalua on scholars, Guskey (2000) provides a third approach for clarifying the purpose of professional
development evalua on. He proposes a framework with five cri cal levels: 1) par cipant reac on, 2)
par cipant learning, 3) organiza onal support/change, 4) par cipant use of new knowledge and skills,
and, 5) student learning outcomes. Lastly, the essen al components of architecture (func on,
structure, and beauty) could be used to describe the purpose of the professional development
evalua on. For example, an evalua on of func on would examine how clients’ needs are being met.
An evalua on of structure would focus on the design, content, and context of professional learning in
a par cular school. Evalua on of beauty in the architecture of professional development would look
at affec ve indicators from par cipants (e.g. enthusiasm, mo va on, and responses to learning
opportuni es). Regardless of the approach used, the central message across the four evalua on
frameworks is the same. Be clear about what you want to know.

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