Fresh Approach to Renewal

By Joanne M. Haas

“You can get burned out taking courses. I’ve had enough of that for a while, and now I am going to do something very specific.” --Pam Hill

Pam Hill is looking forward to changing the way she renews her teaching license.

Now in her 25th year with the Wisconsin Rapids district as a library-media center director, Hill wants to break away from the old method of renewing her five-year license – earning six college education credits, which can cost $300 per graduate credit.

“That’s a lot of money, and I’m already at the top of my pay scale,” said Hill, who has spent the last 15 years at Lincoln High School.

Plus, she’s at the point in her career where available courses, while still interesting, may not be suited to enhance the performance of her specific position.

“Depending upon what areas of the state you are in, there may not be relevant courses. You choose the best that you can, and it may not be what you want as far as your professional needs are concerned,” Hill said. “When you get into a specialty like mine, it is very difficult to find things that are relevant.”

The state’s new licensing law, known as PI 34, gives her the option of taking an entirely new approach to renewing her license.
After she renews her five-year license this summer with the required college credits, Hill will accomplish her next renewal by completing a self-carved professional development plan (PDP) as authorized by PI 34. Hill then submits her five-year road map to enhanced job performance and professional growth to a three-member review team, which she selects from colleagues who have completed the required training.

PI 34 does not do away with the college credit renewal method which still may be an attractive option for some.

“That will depend on where people are in their careers,” she said. “If you are still working on the master’s or a salary schedule, you may decide the six credits is the way to go. For me, investing more money in six credits at this point would be very expensive. And this (PDP) works out well for me. Like they say, it can cost you as much and as little as you want.”

To renew the Professional Educator License with the new method, the teacher designs a PDP based upon the 10 performance standards, as defined in PI 34. The teacher selects two of the 10 standards, maps out strategies to improve, and files annual reports with a three-member review team of colleagues who determine whether the plan is fulfilled and whether the renewal is granted. If the review team denies the renewal, the teacher may appeal to the Department of Public Instruction.

“You sit down and think what are my strengths and weaknesses,” she said of how to get started writing a PDP. Then you decide where you want to improve. “You choose your standards according to that.”

Hill already has identified one area in which she wants to focus -- helping teachers to use more technology in the classrooms. “I need to do a better job of working with teachers with that. I’ll emphasize that in my plan.”

She also has the right to modify her plan during the five-year process.

“The first year, you meet with your team, and say here are the standards and this is the plan I put together,” Hill said, adding the meetings in subsequent years can be done electronically. “You write up your annual summary and reflections and e-mail that to your team, and they can respond.”

In the fifth year, the team considers the annual reports with the teacher’s PDP and rules whether the renewal has been earned.
“This allows you to be very specific to your needs,” Hill said about the PDP method. “It can be what you want and not what someone tells you what you have to do. ... I find that beneficial.”

Hill, a member of WEAC’s Instruction and Professional Development Committee, knows some may balk at the idea of crafting a PDP because it takes time, and teachers are stretched in all directions with day-to-day responsibilities. She said teachers often don’t get time for self-reflection until August as preparations for the new year are under way. Late summer is a good time to consider performance, needs and goals and map the PDP, she said.

Getting into the habit of spending 10 minutes or so on a daily journal also “would help that process along.”

Hill is confident PI 34 “will be embraced” once teachers understand all the PDP has to offer -- meaning teamwork and collaboration on performance improvement goals that translate into solid student performances.

“It is very flexible for those people who are currently employed,” Hill said. “You can get burned out taking courses. I’ve had enough of that for a while, and now I am going to do something very specific.”

• • •

Teachers holding lifetime licenses are not affected by the law change, but they are encouraged to get trained to be mentors or to consider earning the 10-year renewable Master Educator license. This is the third or top license in the three-tier system. The second is the five-year Professional Educator license, and the first is the Initial Educator license, a non-renewable license held by new graduates.

Posted June 10, 2003