Page 5 - The Architecture of Professional Development

Introduc on

As an aesthe c form, architecture deals with the crea on and defini on of space expressed
in buildings and other physical structures. The Coliseum in Rome, Notre Dame in Paris, and

the United States Capitol in Washington, DC through their designs define space, capture our
imagina on, and communicate important cultural and historical messages. Similarly, the
architecture of professional development communicates messages about teaching, learning,

and educa onal reform by crea ng and defining professional learning spaces for teachers
and principals. In this booklet I build on and extend earlier work on the architecture of
professional development in schools (Bredeson 2002). The purpose of this booklet is to
accomplish three broad objec ves. First, I describe an emerging architecture for teacher

professional development highligh ng its underlying design principles, essen al
components, and expressions in contemporary educa onal reform in schools. The second
objec ve is to propose a framework for evalua ng the architecture of professional

development. In the final sec on of the booklet, I describe how the systema c evalua on of
professional development helps us be er understand the messages and meanings
communicated in current expressions of professional development architecture.

Architecture is a form of language,
of communica on. It speaks. It can
convey through its design its place in

society, its content.

J.F. O’Gorman, 1998

4