• FAQs for Staff Professional Development

    Q: If you are wondering about PDPs for a curriculum committee that you serve on, who do you contact?
    A: Contact the administrator who is leading that committee. 

    Q: How many PDPs do you award for mentoring meetings?
    A: Mentors and mentees will receive 1.5 PDPs for every mentor/mentee meeting that they attend. For more information, refer to the DESE Licensure Renewal Guidelines.

    Q: How do you enter and track your PDPs/credits for an out-of-district class/workshop that is not in the PD Tracker?
    A: You can use a feature called Record My Credits in the PD Tracker to enter PDPs/credits and attach your certificate(s) for an out-of-district class/workshop.  Here are the instructions on how to Record My Credits. Note: As a rule of thumb, always keep records of your backups for auditing purposes by the DESE.

    Q: I was told that I may be able to convert certificates of attendance for less than 10 hours of PD into PDP's. How do I do that?
    A: Educators may "bundle" several activities together when reporting their PDPs, provided they can demonstrate that these activities are related/similar in topic. To use PDPs for license renewal, an educator must accrue at least 10 hours of professional development about that topic. The easiest way is to do this is to select PD offerings that are at least 10 hours in length. (Note: You cannot receive PDPs via bundling unless you complete an additional follow-up activity demonstrating proficiency

    Q: Does the Department convert university or college credits to PDPs? How many PDPs do they earn?
    A: Yes, as a general rule of thumb, one clock hour of an eligible professional development activity equals one PDP. This also applies to academic credit for upper-level or lower-level undergraduate courses. Generally, 1 credit =15 hours = 1.5 CEUs = 15 PDPs.
    However, there are a few exceptions:

      1. Upper-level undergraduate course (when substantially new to the educator) or approved equivalent = 1 semester hour = 22.5 PDPs
      2. Graduate-level course or approved equivalent = 1 semester hour = 22.5 PDPs
      3. Audits of undergraduate or graduate course or approved equivalent=1 semester hour = 7.5 PDPs

    For more information on how university or college credits convert to PDPs, see the p. 3–4 of the Recertification Guidelines .