Program Types: District Provided Professional Development

Districts may become SCECH sponsors, work with current SCECH sponsors such as Intermediate School Districts (ISDs) and Regional Educational Service Agencies (RESA), or form a consortium with other districts as a sponsor to provide SCECHs for all DPPD activities.

Note: If districts become a sponsor for their own DPPD programs but also offer DPPD provided by other sponsors (ISD/RESA or other Michigan Education Entity), only one entity should award SCECHs for those activities to avoid duplication. In this scenario, even if the ISD/RESA (or other entity) uploads the SCECHs, the activity may count for the district toward the hours required by MCL 380.1527. 

DPPD program applications may be submitted using one of the following options:

• Option 1: One yearlong DPPD program that includes all the professional development hours the district will offer for the school year. This option allows Sponsors to add, move, or cancel meetings or activities throughout the school year without changing the program application. All information related to the district's DPPD is kept in the program file.
  • Yearlong programs may include all workshops, conferences, new teacher hours, former Non-Traditional Programs (Mentoring, Supervising, Improvement Teams, and School Committees), individualized professional learning, professional learning communities, etc.
  • Choose the District Provided Professional Development (DPPD) category, or the School Counseling category if any of the DPPD includes school counseling topics, in the program application.
    • Using the DPPD category in Option 1 will allow you to locate your DPPD programs easily for other reporting purposes. It will not allow you to offer any of the special School Counseling hours. To offer the special School Counseling hours along with your other yearlong DPPD activities, the category must be school counseling.
  • Choose “No” to the SCECH Catalog and enter proper restrictions (specific district/school) unless allowing educators from other districts to attend. 
  • Enter a number of SCECHs that would be the maximum allowed for a single teacher to accrue as DPPD for the program year. This number should exceed 60 to encompass the 5 days (30 hours) required by MCL 380.1527, the 15 days (90 hours) over the first three years employed in the profession for new teachers per MCL 380.1526, and any additional professional learning. The actual amount of hours accrued for each activity is noted when uploading participants.
  • In the Program Details (application date line), enter the beginning of the school year (July 1) Begin date and the end of the year (June 30) as the End date.
  • The required documentation for DPPD programs is a DPPD calendar/list of planned activities. The following applies to the DPPD calendar:
    • May be subject to change.
    • Should include specific dates when known.
    • May include a listing of activities without dates (individualized professional development, mentor meetings, school committees, etc.)
  • This program may have activities added later during the year. If new DPPD is developed during the year based on need, the documentation of the new activities should be kept in the program file.
  • This program may include hours for professional learning that individual educators attend on their own and report back to the district.
  • Agendas of individual activities are not required to be uploaded in MOECS for DPPD programs but should be kept in the program file when available.
• Option 2: Multiple yearlong DPPD programs separated by subject area, grade level, building, or type (new teacher hours, PLCs, online programs, etc.). Everything stated above about one yearlong program also applies to multiple programs.
  • Using the DPPD category in Option 1 will allow you to locate your DPPD programs easily for other reporting purposes. It will not allow you to offer any of the special School Counseling hours. To offer the special School Counseling hours along with your other yearlong DPPD activities, the category must be school counseling.
• Option 3: Individual programs for each half day/full day offering.
  • May select DPPD category or a category specific to the individual activity.
  • In the Program Details, select the exact start and end date of the specific activity. 

Coordinators may submit participants either by entire roster using the upload template or by individual. For complete instructions on uploading participants see section 9 of the manual (Uploading Participants). The following applies to uploading participants in DPPD programs using the template:

• The event date should reflect the date an individual DPPD activity was completed.
• The amount of SCECHs awarded should be for the individual activity.
• Multiple people and multiple dates may be entered on the same template.
• The same person may be listed on the template on multiple dates but not twice on the same Event date (it will cause an error).
• Educators will see the same title for each date listed.
• Educators will receive one notification email per upload but will need to complete a program evaluation survey for each date attended.
• The district should devise an upload plan (after each activity, monthly, quarterly, by trimester/semester, etc.) and communicate this schedule to educators. It is recommended to upload multiple times a year to allow for educators to use the hours for recertification.

The new reporting process of DPPD as SCECHs affects educators in the following ways:

• Educators will not be able to manually enter DPPD occurring after July 1, 2020 into their personal MOECS accounts. Instead, all DPPD will be entered as SCECHs on the educator’s behalf.
• Educators will continue to be able to enter DPPD that occurred prior to July 1, 2020 until their next recertification.
• DPPD accrued prior to July 1, 2020 will still be allowable for use toward their next recertification. Educators must submit the DPPD log to the district designee for verification and signature for these hours only. 

For more information, including a webinar and a flow chart of the new process with links to several guidance documents, please visit the New DPPD Reporting Process Resources page. Further guidance related to professional learning may be found on the SCECH and DPPD webpage.