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This article explores how video can be used in practice-based professional development (PD) programs to serve as a focal point for teachers' collaborative exploration of the central activities of teaching. We argue that by choosing video clips, posing substantive questions, and facilitating productive conversations, professional developers can guide teachers to examine central aspects of learning and instruction. We draw primarily from our experiences developing and studying two mathematics PD programs, the Problem-Solving Cycle (PSC) and Learning and Teaching Geometry (LTG). While both programs feature classroom video in a central role, they illustrate different approaches to practice-based PD. The PSC, an adaptive model of PD, provides a framework within which facilitators tailor activities to suit their local context. By contrast, LTG is a highly specified model of PD, which details in advance particular learning goals, design characteristics, and extensive support materials for facilitators. We propose a continuum of video use in PD from highly adaptive to highly specified and consider the affordances and constraints of different approaches exemplified by the PSC and LTG programs.

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Background: Determining whether a professional development program can be enacted with integrity in different settings and by different facilitators is critical to understanding efficacy. In this paper, we describe the two-stage preparation process of a facilitator as she prepared to use and adapt the highly specified Learning and Teaching Geometry video-based professional development materials with fidelity. The latter stage of the preparation process involved a rehearsal, during which the research team used two instruments to measure fidelity. Methods: Two existing instruments were used to explore fidelity through different lenses, including timing and modification of activities and learning goals.