Professional Development
Lakota takes very seriously its responsibility to provide opportunities for staff to learn and grow, just as our students do every day.
Many of these learning opportunities, available through Lakota's PD tracking and registration program (PD Express), support the district's priority areas for student learning.
Lakota's Local Professional Development Committee is a good resource for questions about licensure renewal and Individual Professional Development Plans, or IPDPs.
Please use the information below to help guide you through the process of renewing your license and taking advantage of the numerous professional development opportunities offered to Lakota staff throughout the year.
In This Section
- PD Express
- Local Professional Development Committee
- Individual Professional Development Plan
- Licensure Renewal
PD Express
PD Express is Lakota's program for registering for and tracking individual staff members' in-district professional developmental activity and progress toward their PD requirements for licensure renewal. This program provides an opportunity for staff to receive contact hours for the PD offered by Lakota Schools.
- Steps for Logging on and Changing Personal Information
- Steps for Registering for a Course
- How to View Courses or Cancel Course Registration
Steps for Logging on and Changing Personal Information
- Log into PDExpress via button above.
- Username and Password (unless you changed your password) = 9 digit number starting with zeros and ending with your Lakota ID. For example if your Lakota ID is 1234 your PDExpress username and password would be 000001234.
- The password recovery in PDExpress doesn’t work so you must contact Randy Chapman for assistance.
- New LEA staff are manually entered by the PDX Coordinator in August.
- Changes of job titles or buildings are not automatically updated, all changes are done manually. If you have a change and need corrections, please email changes to Randy Chapman.
- LSSA staff are not entered into PDExpress unless the LSSA staff member needs to register for a course (IE CPI). If an LSSA member staff needs to be added, an email from their building administrator needs to be sent to Randy Chapman. To expedite the process please include the staff members name, Lakota ID number and job title.
Steps for Registering for a Course
1. Once you have signed into PD Express, you are ready to view and register for courses.
2. Click on Lakota PD tab which will give you a pull down choice of “Lakota PD Catalog.”
3. When you choose the Lakota PD Catalog, the default is to view it as a calendar but you can also choose to view it as a list.
4. Once you click on the course you are interested in, a description will appear on the bottom half of your screen.
5. Click on the Register button.
6. The screen will confirm the course title and give you a confirmation.
7. Remember to sign the roster when you attend the meeting.
IMPORTANT (Updated for 2024-25 )
Registration for all PD ends one week following the date of the PD in the course catalogue. You MUST register before registration closes to receive credit. Anyone missing the registration deadline will not be added later.
- Quarterly Building PD/Meeting Hour courses can be found on the last day of the quarter. Sign in at each meeting you attend, and these hours will be bundled so that they can be entered once at the end of each quarter.
- New for 2024-25 Optional IS (Teacher Leader) training will be tracked on the quarterly building spreadsheets mentioned above. Just sign in and attend these meetings within your building.
- District PD days can be found on the date that they are scheduled. District attendance will be used to give credit for these hours.
- Book Studies: If you are interested in participating in a book study, see your building’s Teacher Leader for details. Staff can participate in up to two book studies each school year.
Remember in order to receive credit, you must register for the PD in PDExpress AND sign in when you attend the PD session. These sign in sheets will be used to track attendance and give credit. The only exception is on district PD days when Lakota attendance will be used in place of sign in sheets to award credit.
If you have any questions about the above mentioned PD please contact Randy Chapman for assistance.
Any other specialized PD will also be found on PDExpress. This type of PD will be directed toward a group of staff members as opposed to district wide. The presenter of this PD is responsible for entering the course into PDExpress for approval, tracking attendance, and sharing the list of people who earned credit with Barb Warne.
If you attend any of these PD sessions, please direct questions to the presenter listed on the course registration page OR Barb Warne.
How to View Courses or Cancel Course Registration
1. Go to “My Information” and choose Lakota PD from the drop down menu.
2. This is a list of all courses you are currently registered for.
3. To cancel your registration for the course, click the red X to the right of the course. If you forget to register for the course in advance, all courses will be visible on the calendar one week after its occurrence for this purpose. After that, the course is no longer active and will be closed.
All questions about PD Express can be directed to Randy Chapman, Lakota's PD Express coordinator.
Local Professional Development Committee
Your Local Professional Development Committee is responsible for reviewing and approving professional development activities that allow teachers and administrators to renew their licenses(s). Kevin Carlin is the LPDC Chairperson and the contact for licensure information; he can be reached at kevin.carlin@lakotaonline.com.
LPDC Review and Steering Committee
Review and approve IPDP, Continuing Education Units (CEUs), Renewal Documentation
Who is on LPDC:
Kevin Carlin, Chair
Mark Moody, Teacher
Tina Cramer, Teacher
Michelle Brown, Teacher
Krista Heidenreich, Admin.
Brian Wallace, Admin.
Meeting Information
All meeting will be held at West High in the conference room.
If you are interested in having something approved, send it to Kevin Carlin Central Office or email it 24 hours prior to the following dates:
September 24, 2024
October 22, 2024
November 19, 2024
January 28, 2025
February 25, 2025
March 18, 2025
April 8, 2025
April 22, 2025
May 13, 2025
Summer renewal approvals will be handled through the LPDC Chair and HR Executive Director. Summer IPDP and other items will be held until the following school year.
Individual Professional Development Plan
An IPDP is an Individual Professional Development Plan. It is the educator’s plan for what learning they will achieve and in what professional development activities they will participate within that particular licensure renewal cycle to improve their practice.Educators working under a Resident Educator License do not need to submit an IPDP until Year IV of the Resident Educator Program. At which time, PD will be offered to complete the IPDP.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Why do I have to write an IPDP?
- What are the regionally accredited colleges and universities where I can take courses?
- When do I have to submit my IPDP?
- Where do I submit my plan?
- What if I need help writing my plan?
- What if I want to change my goals?
- What if I’m not sure what my activities are going to be?
- Where is my IPDP on file?
- What if I have an approved IPDP from another district?
- What happens to my plan if I leave Lakota?
Why do I have to write an IPDP?
Writing an IPDP is part of the standards for the teaching profession and licensure requirements for the state of Ohio. Every educator must have a “plan” in place that drives their professional development activities. This plan keeps the activities focused and meaningful to the educator, tying them to district, building, educator, and student needs.
No professional development activities (including those taken through PD Express) can count toward renewal UNLESS you have an approved IPDP in place.
What are the regionally accredited colleges and universities where I can take courses?
Regionally accredited institution of higher education means a community college, college, or university which is a candidate for accreditation or is accredited by one of the following regional accrediting bodies:
- Middle States, Association of Colleges and Schools (www.msche.org)
- New England Association of Schools and Colleges (www.neasc.org)
- North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (www.ncahigherlearningcommission.org)
- Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (www.nwccu.org)
- Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (www.sacscoc.org)
- Western Association of Schools and Colleges; Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (www.wascweb.org)
How to check for regional accreditation: Ask the college/university to identify whether they are regionally accredited, and if so, by which accrediting body. Then visit the web site for the regional accrediting body (see links above), and look up your college/university in their listing of accredited institutions.
- Visit http://www.utexas.edu/world/univ/ for a listing (alphabetical or by state) of regionally accredited colleges/universities, maintained by the University of Texas.
- Contact information for the regional accrediting bodies can be found at http://www.chea.org/Directories/regional.asp
- U.S. Department of Education information on accreditation at http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred
If you don’t find your institution listed in any of those lists, you can contact the college directly and get a written statement that they offer a 4 year accredited education program. Submit that statement to HR and get preapproval for those institutions.
When do I have to submit my IPDP?
Where do I submit my plan?
Send your plan to the LPDC Chairperson, Kevin Carlin, through interoffice mail or via email at kevin.carlin@lakotaonline.com.
What if I need help writing my plan?
What if I want to change my goals?
If during your licensure cycle you wish to revise or change the goals on your IPDP, you simply need to submit a revised plan.
Remember: your professional development activities MUST align with the goals on your IPDP, so be timely in getting your revised goals approved or you run the risk of not being able to count your professional development for renewal.
What if I’m not sure what my activities are going to be?
It is not unusual to write your IPDP without specific courses or workshops in mind. You can be general in the description of your activities, such as “Workshops in literacy”, “online course in math”, “book study on autism spectrum”, or “National Conference in Technology”. These indicate to the Review Committee that you will be seeking quality professional development that matches your goals.
For the dates, you will simply put the five year span of your license unless you know more specific dates you plan to complete the activities. The documentation is either transcript or CEUs.
Some important points about professional development activities in your plan:
- You do not have to submit a revised plan when you change only your activities; if you do change your activities, you are responsible for making sure the new activities match your goals
- You do not have to complete all the activities in your plan if the ones you have completed meet renewal requirements
Where is my IPDP on file?
What if I have an approved IPDP from another district?
The Lakota LPDC has reciprocity with other Ohio public and parochial school districts. An approved plan from another district is accepted in Lakota for that licensure cycle. The educator simply needs to submit a copy of their approved IPDP to the LPDC Chairperson to be placed in our files.
Once that license has been renewed, a Lakota IPDP must be completed and approved for the next licensure cycle.
What happens to my plan if I leave Lakota?
Before you leave, request an “Approval Verification Form For Educators Leaving an LPDC” from the LPDC Chairperson. This form, along with a copy of your plan can be given to your new district’s LPDC.
Copies of IPDPs are kept for one year after an educator terminates his/her employment with the district.
Professional Development Forms and Resources
Licensure Renewal
Planning for Licensure Renewal
License renewal is your responsibility and a current license is needed to keep your position at Lakota. Lakota offers support and plenty of opportunity to renew without costing a dime! If you start planning for licensure renewal as soon as you renew then it can be painless and inexpensive.
Resident Educators: As long as you follow the guidelines for the RE program you don’t need to do anything else. Once you pass the RE tasks and complete the RE Year IV district requirements, the RE license will renew as a 5-year regular license.
5 Year Professional License Staff:
- If you are already on the highest column for additional education on the pay scale, use PD contact hours to renew. They are free and over the 5-year period you should be able to get 180 contact hours that are needed.
- If you don’t have your Master’s degree yet, consider taking colleges courses to help work towards the master’s program. This helps you move horizontally on the pay scale and works towards applying for a continuing contract.
- If you have your Master’s degree, any college classes (that follow the guidelines below) can be used to help move horizontally on the pay scale.
How to Obtain Hours
- Six semester hours from an accredited college/university. Each semester hour is equal to thirty contact hours.
- One hundred eighty contact hours are needed to renew and can be accumulated and recorded through PD Express for Lakota PD and meeting hours.
- Eighteen CEU credits. CEU credits are outside PD.
Steps for Renewal
- Complete a new updated IPDP after every renewal. Make sure to be general in goals, and include Lakota Professional Development stating that it is aligned with district/building goals. The IPDP form can be found on the Lakota Website.
- Once completed the IPDP form, submit a printed copy to Kevin.
- Then the IPDP will go to Committee which meets once a month.
- Once approved, it will be uploaded to PD Express under ‘documents’.
- If recommendations are made for revision, revise accordingly and resubmit.
- Register and sign in for EVERY meeting and PD completed within the district.
- Any PD completed outside the district needs to be aligned with the IPDP on file and should be submitted using the CEU Request Form found on the Lakota Website.
- College classes can be taken for renewal but must align with the IPDP on file and come from an accredited institution. To make sure the college/university is accredited look at the document marked Regionally Accredited Colleges/Universities on the Lakota Website.
ALL licenses must be renewed prior to July 1st.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below you will find frequently asked questions about renewing a teaching license. This is certainly not a comprehensive list. For complete information, or answers to questions that are not found here, visit the Teacher Licensure page on the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce website or contact a member of the LPDC committee.
- What are the requirements for renewing an Ohio teaching license?
- When can I renew my license?
- What is the cost to renew a 5 yr. license?
- What if I have multiple licenses?
- Can you explain the background / fingerprinting process?
- Where should I have my license sent?
- How can I find information on my own licensure?
What are the requirements for renewing an Ohio teaching license?
Think of renewing your license in terms of professional development points. In Ohio, 180 professional development points are required to renew a five year Professional license. A graduate semester hour is worth 30 PD points, a graduate quarter hour is worth 20 PD points, and a CEU is worth 10 PD points. Any combination that adds to 180 is acceptable provided all course work aligns with a goal on your IPDP. For example, one educator may take six graduate semester hours, another may take nine graduate quarter hours, and yet another may have a combination of three semester hours, three quarter hours and three CEUs. All three satisfy the 180 PD point requirement to renew.
The 180 professional development points also is required for educators transitioning an 8 year certificate to a 5 year license.
When can I renew my license?
5 yr. licenses can be renewed starting in November of the school year they expire. Educators are encouraged to submit their renewals as soon as they've achieved the required 180 PD points. Although the Effective Date of your new license will be July 1st, the Issue Date may be much earlier. Any professional development taken after the Issue Date may count towards your next licensure cycle.
What is the cost to renew a 5 yr. license?
What if I have multiple licenses?
If you have multiple licenses you are renewing, each additional license is $20 above the base cost of $200. So, as an example, if you have three (3) licenses it will cost $240 to renew all three. Note: You may be licensed to teach in several areas. Typically, all the teaching areas are included on a single license. An example of someone with three licenses might be an educator who is licensed to teach as well as holding a license in Counseling and another license in Administration.
The state has conditions by which educators can align multiple licenses to the same expiration year at a considerable cost savings. Please consult the LPDC Chair if you'd like advice on how to accomplish this.
A final thought on multiple licenses: The Human Resource department should, at all times, have the Employer copy of all licenses you've earned. Sometimes a person is hired for a particular position and the LPDC Chair later discovers the person also has a license for another area. This creates problems for everyone. Please make sure the HR department has a copy of all licenses you've earned or will earn throughout your career with Lakota.
Can you explain the background / fingerprinting process?
The type of background check(s) you need (FBI and/or BCI) depends on where you've lived during your licensure cycle. If an individual resides continuously in Ohio throughout the current licensure cycle, the BCI background check does not need to be updated, but an updated FBI check must be obtained once every five years. If an individual lives outside Ohio at any time during the five years after obtaining a BCI check, then both background checks will need to be updated.
It is the responsibility of educators holding Ohio Department of Education and Workforce licenses, certificates or permits, to obtain required updated background checks within the five year timeframe prescribed by law, even if the expiration of a background check does not always coincide with the expiration of the license. Specific questions on the front page of your renewal application will allow you to determine what you need to renew your license. If you need an FBI and/or a BCI background check, it can be done at the Central Office. Click here to view the hours the HR department is available for either background check.
Your fingerprints are sent electronically to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce; you will not receive any paperwork or confirmation. There is NO cost to you, the district pays for these background checks.
If you need a background check, you should continue to complete the online application and submit payment for your renewal. The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce will send an email to Lakota for electronic signature but your renewal will not be processed until all legally required background checks are completed.
Where should I have my license sent?
How can I find information on my own licensure?
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I get meetings or specialized PD courses onto the PDE calendar?
- How do I participate in a book study?
- What meetings qualify and how do I track them?
How do I get meetings or specialized PD courses onto the PDE calendar?
Any other specialized PD will also be found on PDExpress. This type of PD will be directed toward a group of staff members as opposed to district wide. The presenter of this PD is responsible for entering the course into PDExpress for approval, tracking attendance, and sharing the list of people who earned credit with Barb Warne.
If you attend any of these PD sessions, please direct questions to the presenter listed on the course registration page OR Barb Warne.
Please follow the steps below to 'Suggest a Course':
Log in to PD Express using the link below.
- Don’t forget to log in using Chrome or Firefox.
- Your login and password are the same and are your employee ID preceded by five or six zeros to make a 9 digit password.
- You can change your password but not your ID.
Choose the Lakota PD tab – a drop down menu will appear, then choose Suggest Lakota PD.
You will be directed to answer the following series of questions. All fields must be completed in order to process the request.
Title of Workshop – choose Next button at top of page
Type – Meeting or PD
Description
Content Area/Strand
Department/Strand Type – most will be Curriculum and Instruction
Attendance Required
Date of Course
Additional Dates – if this PD is recurring
Start Time and End Time
Hours
Building
Meeting Room
Cost – most will be No Cost, please review drop down menu options – i.e. “subs only”
Funding Source – most will be No Cost
Presenter (This may be the same as the administrator approving the course)
Administrator Approving the Course
Select Next and the Course Request will be submitted for approval. Once approved you should receive an email indicating approval. The course will soon appear on the calendar of Lakota PD. Note: The course does not show up automatically in PDE, it is input into the system using the information from the completed form, and is typically posted within 48-72 hours.
How do I participate in a book study?
- To set up a book study on the PD calendar, go to Suggest Lakota PD and complete the necessary information. Staff should enroll online into the course just as any other PD event.
- It is the responsibility of the facilitator to keep track of hours for each staff member that is participating using the Book Study Tracking Sheet.
- Most staff members that participate in book studies choose to bundle their hours for Ashland Credit. In order to bundle those hours, please remember that the Ashland year runs 6/1– 3/31. Therefore, all documentation for a book study must be turned into Randy Chapman by 3/31. The facilitator will hold all documentation for the book study until that time.
- Book Study documentation must be signed off on by an administrator prior to submitting it.
The PD Express team will place all book studies on the PDE calendar on 3/31 of that school year. Credit will be awarded as contact (PD) hours per the documentation submitted by the facilitator, as well as the online registration by the staff person. Both things need to occur to get credit. Book study credits can be used for bundling Ashland Credit.
What meetings qualify and how do I track them?
- Meetings that occur on regular rotation (i.e. weekly or monthly) and that are not professional development. This includes all Recurring (monthly) Meetings such as Building/Department/Grade Level/Data Review/Benchmark/BLT Meetings.
Registration for all Meetings or PD ends one week following the date of the PD/Meeting Course on the calendar.
- Building PD/Meeting Hour courses can be found on the last day of the quarter. Sign in at each meeting and these hours will be bundled and entered once at the end of each quarter. Each building has one person keeping track of these hours.
- In order to receive credit, you must register for the PD or Meeting in PDExpress AND sign in when you attend the session. These sign in sheets will be used to track attendance and give credit. The only exception is on district PD days when Lakota attendance will be used in place of sign in sheets.
- The Building Administrator needs to sign off on the hours by initialing the sign-in sheets before sending to Randy Chapman.
- Submitted information and hours will be added into PD Express at the end of each quarter. Courses will be added to the calendar on the last day of each quarter to track all the hours for the recurring meetings for the quarter.
Note: If the meeting is a specialized PD, then follow the directions by completing the Suggest Lakota PD form within PDE, complete sign-in sheet, and have staff register online for the course/session.
PD Express Sign-In Sheet Instructions ( if course is already on the calendar)
As a Presenter: Follow the directions below to print sign in sheets. Staff members will initial or sign next to their names.
- Log into PD Express
- Click on the tab ‘My Information’
- Click Presentations
- Locate the course
- Locate the clipboard icon on the far right, click on it
- Choose the session and a sign in sheet will appear on the screen
- Choose the printer icon to print
Office Managers also have the capability to print sign in sheets using the directions below:
- Log into PD Express
- Click on the tab ‘Administration’
- Go to Manage, then Registration
- Locate the course
- Click on the course, it will then be highlighted and a window will open showing those that have registered
- Click on the button ‘Sign-In Sheet’
- If no one has enrolled this will not work.
- Click on the date of the session
- Choose Print using the printer icon
- To get back to the home page, close the window for Sign-In Sheet and click on PD Express