PaidPDPolicyRecommendations
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The Association of Adult Literacy Professional Developers, a network of professional developers across the country, is engaged in an on-going process of developing a platform of policies related to professional development. This platform would constitute a vision for professional development for which the whole field can advocate. AALPD invites discussion of this platform, in an effort to draft policies that represent the field's view. Please join the discussion by adding your comments in below or by subscribing to NIFL-AALPD. To subscribe, visit:
http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/nifl-aalpd/subscribe_aalpd.html
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Contents |
Draft Policy: Paid Professional Development
Every teacher practitioner should have 2.5% of their annual working time as paid professional development (e.g., a full-time teacher, working 40 hours a week at 40 weeks a year—summers and holidays off—would work 1600 hours a year, so 2.5% would equal 40 hours of paid professional development a year (equivalent to 5 paid days).
The Policy in Practice
Here is one example of how this policy might be put into practice: The state could communicate to programs in the Request for Proposals (RFP) they release that programs must allocate 2.5% of each teacher’s total annual teaching hours for staff development, and the program director is to write that into the budget proposal. Then, the state funds the program’s budget, which includes the 2.5% for each teacher, and the program spends the money that way. Each state would have a policy for paid professional development with a minimum of 2.5%, they include it in their RFP and require programs to write it in their budget, and then they fund it.
Discussing the Pros and Cons
Funding
- This policy implies both funding for paid professional development and a requirement that teachers use that paid time to participate in professional development. One without the other doesn't work (requirement without pay, or pay without requirement.)
- Without funding from the state, a 2.5% policy might be "harmful" because it might limit the professional development for which local programs are already inclined to pay.
Perception of a “glass ceiling”
- By setting a 2.5% requirement states (and some directors) may see that as the upper limit, not the lower limit. It creates an artificial psychological threshold that some states may not feel they should cross.
Actions and Recommendations
- It would need to be clear that we are saying that the 2.5% is the bare minimum, not the maximum.
- The state should NOT require participation without compensation.
Questions Raised
- What barriers to accessing PD do teachers and program directors identify?
- "There is a strong reluctance to *train* employees because, I suspect, there is a fear that once they are trained, they leave. Experience and skills = greater opportunity and better compensation.
- I had this discussion last night with a computer programmer. He knows certain programming languages but wants to get hired to work on projects that require him to learn something new -- personal growth, professional development, etc. He isn't getting any traction because every employer fears that once he has learned something new, he can leave and take the training (dollars) with him. I believe this is even more of a problem for jobs with skills that are highly transferable to other occupations.
- If there are any adult education program directors reading along, I would like to learn:
- A) what barriers --from federal or state policy-- exist that prevent you from budgeting for PD release time? If none exist in policy -- or there is no policy -- what gives you authority (or doesn't) in your grant application and award to pay for PD release time?
- B) what programmatic barriers exist (e.g., interferes with class schedules, most instructors have full-time day jobs, high turnover rate)?
- C) what staffing issues exist (e.g., rural nature of the community drives up compensation for PD & PD release time)?" (Varshna Narumanchi-Jackson, NIFL-AALPD:1930; See: PaidPDDiscussion)
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