Educator Preparation

Increase in Professional Development Points (PDPs) for Supervising Practitioners

In response to feedback and requests from the field, we have worked with our licensure office to increase the number of possible Professional Development Points (PDPs) awarded to individuals who serve as a Supervising Practitioner. Beginning January 1, Sponsoring Organizations may award up to 30 PDPs per calendar year based on the following:

• Up to 20 PDPs may be awarded to an individual for serving as a Supervising Practitioner, and
• Up to 10 PDPs may be awarded to Supervising Practitioners for completing training to successfully fulfill the role of a Supervising Practitioner. The minimum required hours for training to earn 10 PDPs is 6 hours.

For candidates who are completing a dual split practicum, these PDPs do not need to be split or shared between the two Supervising Practitioners who are supervising the same candidate; rather, each Supervising Practitioner may be eligible to earn up to 30 PDPs at the discretion of the organization as outlined above.

Application of PDPs toward licensure renewal will be at the discretion of the individual. Supervising Practitioners will have the option to apply their PDPs in content, content-related pedagogy, or as educational-related issues/topics (elective). Please visit the Recertification/Renewal Guidelines for more information.

Sponsoring Organizations are responsible for delivering high quality professional development for their Supervising Practitioners through training and support throughout a teacher candidate's practicum. Because of this responsibility, the number of PDPs awarded (up to the maximum allowed) is at the discretion of the organization.

If your Sponsoring Organization has not yet registered to become a PDP provider and would like to, please complete a short online form. Please note that our next cycle for PDP provider applications begins in March 2016.

As always, if you have any questions, please email us at: EdPrep@doe.mass.edu.