MEA'S
Frequently Asked Questions
100 Hour Professional Development Requirement
New "Flex Day" Requirement
General Questions
If you are having difficulties in your workplace then you may contact your building representative, John Martin, or Millie Scanlon. Don't hesitate to make that call! The MEA wants to be there for you every day!
P.R.I.D.E is a fully funded program for the NJEA that is intended to let the citizens in our community know that we take a special pride in all that we do. P.R.I.D.E is responsible for the distribution of the refrigerator magnets for conferences, calculators for the Volunteer Teas, and pencil cases for the Kindergarten Roundups. One volunteer is needed from each building to be a contact representative and this persons is selected in the Fall.
New Jersey regulations require 100 hours of professional development in every five year cycle. This five-year, 100 hour professional development requirement applies to all full-time and part-time teachers who are required to hold either an instructional or educational services license. To be permitted to accrue time toward the 100 hours, teaching staff members must hold a standard certificate and have a Professional Improvement Plan (PIP). Consequently, first-year, novice teachers do not begin to work toward the requirement until they have both elements. Make sure that you keep a record of your professional development hours, review what counts toward your hours, and make a goal to complete the requirements.
Any professional development must meet the goals outlined in your PIP. Keep
this in mind when reviewing which activities to undertake. In addition,
when calculating your hours, remember that certain activities termed as
"activities which support and/or enhance the profession" can constitute only up
to 75 of the 100 hours.
Programs that count hour-for-hour:
*Formal courses (in class or online), conferences, workshops, seminars,
institutes, and other such programs. With college courses, each college
credit equals 15 hours. Therefore, a three-credit course equals 45 hours.
*Courses, seminars, and/or other activities required for the maintenance of
licenses or certificates (such as social worker or school nurse) and
which are issued by professional organizations or government entities.
The hours for a specific course will count only once within a five-year
period, even if it must be taken more times.
*Developing curriculum focused on the Core Curriculum Content Standards,
including but not limited to research, writing, and revision.
Activities which support and/or enhance the
profession:
*Service on boards/committees-A maximum of 10 hours per year
for all boards/committees combined may be counted for PD credit.
*Mentoring novice teacher or preservice teacher-the mentor of a novice
teacher and the cooperating teacher for a preservice teacher will accrue one
hour of PD credit for each week of working with that individual. Any
teacher working with a teacher education student or group of students in a
junior practicum earns 3 PD hours a semester.
*Teaching a course/workshop-Presenters or teachers of courses or
workshops shall accrue the actual clock hours spent in delivering the first
presentation of a program, plus PD hours based on two hours of
preparation time for every hour of delivery time. The teaching or presenting
of the same or a similar course or workshop shall count only once in a five year
cycle.
Independent professional studies:
This category allows for some of the sustained, continuous,
job-embedded, activities which encourage educators to work collaboratively on
common concerns or issues, such as action research, study groups, lesson
study, and textbook review. Also, this may include, but are not limited to,
sabbaticals, fellowships, internships, teacher exchanges, portfolio
development, online workshops or programs, and contributions to professional
literature. When developing an independent study program for such
study, he/she must adhere to the following procedures:
*The individual's PIP must include a written rationale demonstrating how
his/her proposed plan is consistent with the state standards for professional
development.
*The individual and his/her supervisor must discuss the projected number of
hours which will be spent in study.
*Over the course of the independent study, the staff member will maintain a
log of actual hours completed.
A part-time teacher is required to accrue 50 hours of professional
development within a five-year cycle. A part-time teacher is defined as
one who is employed on a regular basis for the school year, but for less than
the full school day or week. The following formula is used to handle such cases
where teachers move back and forth between full and part time employment within
these five years. The formula calculates the hours required under years
the individual was employed part time, added to the hours required for the years
employed full time. |
For example, the number of hours a teacher who is employed for part time for
three years and full time for two years would be calculated as follows:
(3/5 x 50=30) + (2/5 x 100=40) =70 total hours required.
No. You cannot carry over any added professional development time to the next five-year cycle. Consider any additional professional development you complete as a bonus in enhancing your practice.
A teacher on leave for one year or less has the option to accrue professional development hours if: (a) the teacher has a PIP for the school year; (b) the teacher and the supervisor have signed off on the PIP; and (c) the teacher has delineated the potential professional development opportunities. If these elements were not in place, then the five-year PD clock is suspended until a PIP is in effect. Full time teachers serving as full time local education association presidents should be considered "teachers on leave" and should follow the procedures for these teachers.
Report to your local association if you believe you are at risk of not meeting the requirement, records are in dispute, or other questions/concerns are raised. Keep a log of any requests made regarding PD, district responses/actions, and PD completed which met goals in the PIP but was not accepted. Check evaluation & annual summary conference reports for concerns about PD and report instances of warnings or reprimands. Disciplinary action is at the discretion of the building and district administrators. .
If your question was not answered than feel free to submit a question or contact your building representative.
Effective July 1, 2005, one Flexible Teacher Day (7 hours) will be added to the teacher work year. It is intended to support articulation, curriculum development and/or professional development in an individual or group setting.
Print out the "Flex Day" FAQ sheet with more of your questions answered!
In order to apply for a sabbatical in Medford, you must have a minimum of seven years service. You will owe two years service after you return. You also must take 12 credit and your course(s) will be reimbursed from "the pot". Only one person is chosen. You can choose to have one semester off at full pay or two semesters off at half pay.
Yes, September 1, 2005 will mark the end of the first five-year cycle of New Jersey’s initiative requiring professional development for active teaching staff members holding standard instructional and educational services licenses.
This date also marks the beginning of the new cycle for those teaching staff members who have been active since September 2000. Teaching staff members, however, have until Sept. 30, 2005 to submit any additional documentation to verify that they have met the requirement.
A
memo from the New Jersey Department of Education dated June 27, 2005
offers end-of-cycle guidance and a fact sheet for the Teacher Professional
Development Initiative.
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