FIDELITY AND ADAPTATION OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MATERIALS: Can They Co-Exist?

This paper investigates the relationship between fidelity and adaptation. It is intended for both professional development materials consumers and developers. We will identify the core principles of a set of well-specified professional development materials — Learning and Teaching Linear Functions — and use these to illustrate our argument about the relationship between fidelity and adaptation. We will propose a continuum of adaptation practices, from fatal to productive, maintaining that productive adaptations are ones that are consonant with underlying values and, in that way, expressions of fidelity. By explicating this continuum of adaptation practices and by playing out various scenarios where adaptation is called for, we attempt to shed light on how well specified core principles within professional development materials can provide access and opportunity for productive adaptations by facilitators.