Open Discussion Forum

  • 1.  Professional Development

    Posted 02-14-2019 12:42 PM
    Hi everyone!

    We don't currently implement required professional development hours for our staff, but we are ready to start!

    Where is a good place to start to make this a requirement? How many hours are appropriate per year? Or, how many events per year? Since we're just starting out we don't want it to seem too daunting- although it really should just be exciting as it's a time to learn and grow! 

    Also, I know budgeting is different for every school, but what do you guys do? Do you pay for the event they attend? Do the teachers pay? IS there a limit on how much the school pays for? Do you pay for the hours they are there? Or do you pay for both?

    We're just interested in what other schools do. Any advice appreciated :)

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    Sara Fox
    Assistant Director
    CrossRoads Children's Center
    Simi Valley CA
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  • 2.  RE: Professional Development

    Posted 02-15-2019 05:19 AM
    The State of CT requires 1 hr of Professional Development for every hour worked during the course of a school year i.e. if your work 40 hrs/wk x 50wks/yr = 2000 yrs annually so 20 hours of P.D.  On-line training, College courses, NAEYC conferences, 1st Aid/CPR, Mandated Reporter training as well as in-service trainings (CT also requires all schools have an Educational Consultant -who can provide training) etc are acceptable.  I think it is a very good requirement.

    Every school handles the fee's differently. Some programs pay staff at a "training rate" if attendance is after hours or on a Saturday, some do not. In any case it is written into the employment contract that the school has w/staff.


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    Karin King
    Education Consultant
    Trumbull CT
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  • 3.  RE: Professional Development

    Posted 02-15-2019 07:08 AM
    Our school is a very small religiously exempt preschool and we require 8 hours of continuing education. We've found lots of free workshops through the county library and the county office for early childhood.  I would recommend you look for free workshops in your area.  Unfortunately, our budget doesn't allow for paying for classes and teachers do occasionally sign up for 2 hour classes which usually cost $15-$20. Our local NAEYC chapter offers some low cost sessions.  We all enjoy the classes we take and like sharing what we've learned or attending classes together.

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    Susan Ricci
    Director/Lead Teacher
    Vale UMC Preschool
    Oakton VA
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  • 4.  RE: Professional Development

    Posted 02-15-2019 10:24 AM
    We are bound by state licensing requirements to complete 12 hours of approved continuing ed and 3 hours of health and safety every year. Unfortunately, Louisiana is woefully behind in offering variety in training opportunities for several reasons (including a resistance to online training beyond their self-produced overviews of Licensing standards and how-to's about the use of Teaching Strategies Gold). For many years, our main local training hub only offered a series of 5 very basic child development overview classes because that was the extent of the block grant that they received, so if you already came to the table with training or experience or once you had completed the series, it became a revolving door of repetition in order to get classes that carried the required approval. There are now some additional classes offered by this main body, and the number of "Pathways certified" trainers has increased, but the onus still falls to the individual centers to arrange much of their own training, particularly if they are not federally funded (many classes, including CDA prep, are available for free to federally funded centers, but are not open to non-funded centers, even those who are willing to pay for the training).

    All of that to say... we assure that our teachers receive the required 15 hours of training at our cost, but we also try to arrange additional opportunities for guest speakers, more practical/hands-on training forums, conference attendance, and classroom visits with other schools to facilitate a variety of professional development. We are part of a larger school and our teachers are salaried rather than hourly, so the expectation is that completing these hours is a part of their contract, thus we pay for the training, but the teachers are not paid additionally for their time.

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    Holly Dalferes
    Director
    George Cottage at St Martin's Episcopal School
    Metairie LA
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  • 5.  RE: Professional Development

    Posted 02-15-2019 01:42 PM
    This is all very interesting, but poses another question: what are your state requirements for your teachers? In California, teachers have to have *at least* 12 units in Early Childhood Education. Most of our staff has more- some have their Associates and some have their Bachelors. We have opportunities for professional development in the area, we are just trying to figure out how much to require to *continue* our teachers' development (since we are already required to attend college courses).

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    Sara Fox
    Assistant Director
    CrossRoads Children's Center
    Simi Valley CA
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  • 6.  RE: Professional Development

    Posted 02-15-2019 02:47 PM
    Hi Sara!

    So I work in Massachusetts and we are required to have 20 hours of professional development a year to maintain your license. I have worked for companies that do it all different ways. So, things like first aid and CPR classes count. The first company that I worked for required that I find them all and pay for them all on my own. The second company that I worked for had 2 professional development days throughout the year where we were closed for the day and invited trainers in or we went to a training at the local college and the company paid for those trainings and paid us for the day. We also had two hour trainings throughout the year that someone in our company would lead that we got comp time for. If we went to a training on the evening or a weekend the company would pay for the training.

    Where I am now they close for 3 professional development days each year and we get paid for those and the company pays for the training. We get three professional days that we can take to go to a training during the day and the company will pay for the training and pay our regular salary for the day and if we go to a weekend or evening training they will probably pay for that too, but not always. You can submit it for approval and sometimes it is approved and sometimes not based on what the needs of the center are and what you already have. Sometimes the company will pay for the hotel room if it's far enough away.

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    Susan Garrison
    Lanesborough MA
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  • 7.  RE: Professional Development

    Posted 02-15-2019 05:50 PM
    In CT every program has to have a State approved "Head Teacher" who is present at least 60% of the hours open. A CDA and "Over not less than a nine (9) month span of time: At least one thousand and eighty (1,080) hours of documented supervised experience working with children in a program that serves children under the age of 6 years" is the minimum requirement. As an Education Consultant I have found that many of the schools I service require more than the CDA to become the Head Teacher. However that is up to the individual program.

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    Karin King
    Education Consultant
    Trumbull CT
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  • 8.  RE: Professional Development

    Posted 02-16-2019 12:22 AM
    Our school (a Cooperative preschool)  does not require any continuing education but as a staff of professionals (there are only 4 of us) we agree that continuing our professional development is important.  As teachers, we do hold state certifications (also not a requirement of our school but something g we wanted to do as staff). These require renewal every 5 years and part of that renewal is to have a certain number of hours of continuing education and/or training. 
    There is a line  in our budget to attend trainings (usually by way of conferences and we alternate between CCPPNS and CAAEYC).
    To get other hours, we look into webinars (which are free and offer a certificate), reading professional books, and looking for free local seminars or classes (such as through Lakeshore Learning).

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    Shannon Skeens
    Pleasant Valley Co OP
    Camarillo CA
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  • 9.  RE: Professional Development

    Posted 02-16-2019 10:50 AM
    Dear Sarah,
    As you consider professional development for your organization, it will be important to find out the required number of professional development hours in your state. Here is a link to a blog series with points to ponder and resources regarding professional growth: https://mccormickcenter.nl.edu/library-tag/series-points-to-ponder/ There will be two more resources for this series in the coming weeks. Best, Jill

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    Jill Bella
    Director of Professional Learning
    McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership
    Wheeling IL
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