As professionals continue to develop and to assume new responsibilities, they continually need to expand their knowledge and skills. Continuing education and ongoing professional development are essential. Taking a thoughtful approach to professional development provides benefits not only to the early childhood professional, but even more importantly, to the children and families being served.
Investments of time and money in professional development will be most effective when individuals know what they want and need to learn, and when they become involved in active learning activities which center on their personal interests, needs, and goals. To make the most of the time available for lifelong learning, it is important to create an individual professional development plan. Creating a professional development plan is more of a process than a document. This process will result in a personal plan for improving knowledge and skills.

Entire programs can benefit from the development of professional development plans. Both administrators and staff can develop plans for professional growth as they pursue goals associated with quality improvement initiatives, accreditation, and professional licensure. Administrators can review staff's personal professional development goals and determine how they fit with organizational improvement goals. Training activities can then be organized to benefit individual staff members as well as the organization. Finally, program and individual plans can be reviewed to help coordinate regional training sessions, so that relevant professional development opportunities can be provided in an efficient, cost-effective manner.

Since no two people are identical in their interests, skills, or knowledge, no single plan for professional growth will work for everyone. It is important to design an individual professional development plan as a living document. This plan will serve as a road map to help guide, track, and review professional progress. Many early childhood programs support staff in developing professional development plans. The following example is based on the new Wisconsin Quality Education Initiative, PI 34, which requires that new graduates complete a professional development plan to renew and maintain their license. For additional information and examples, go to the DPI website: http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/tepdl/pdp.html. This process for creating a plan can be adapted for other settings utilizing the competency documents included in the supporting materials section as a basis for targeting areas for growth in knowledge and skills.

Process for Creating Your Professional Development Plan (taken from the DPI website)

Step I:   Before You Write the Plan:

SELF-REFLECTION
Your self reflection is a dynamic active process that involves the analysis of feedback about your professional performance and its relationship to your students’ learning data.  Quality professional development plans are dependent on ongoing and thoughtful reflection of your professional practice. The intent is to improve, expand, and strengthen your professional competence, based on your strengths and self-identified needs.  Your self-reflection constitutes the foundation of your plan and needs to address the knowledge, dispositions, and performances of the Wisconsin Educator Standards or other specific professional competencies. 

Examples of self reflection processes you may want to use:

• Rubrics describing components of effective teaching based on Wisconsin Educator Standards
• Reflection journal logs
• Student, peer, and parent feedback
• Collection of student data/work over time
• Analysis of results from classroom observations
• Examination of critical incidents

As you are self-reflecting, you can look for

• patterns of performance
• areas of interest 
• compelling student or professional needs
• effectiveness of teaching based on student learning results

As goals are formulated, you are encouraged to discuss the results of your self-reflection with others.  You may opt to attach your self-reflection to your PDP, but it is not required.

Step II:  Writing the Plan:           

COMPONENTS

A.        DESCRIPTION OF Professional  SITUATION
To provide a context for your professional development plan, a summary of carefully selected demographic information that is relevant to the goals of the plan needs to be developed. This information will allow the professional development team to clearly understand your work setting and its culture.

Include aspects such as

• Special needs students
• Ethnic, cultural and socioeconomic diversity
• Location in an urban, suburban, or rural setting
• Information that is pertinent to your plan such as organizational initiatives
• A description of your current content area or professional responsibilities
• Experience in the profession

B.        DESCRIPTION OF THE GOAL/STANDARDS TO BE ADDRESSED
Your goal(s) should be verifiable and relevant to your self-reflection and aligned with Wisconsin Educator Standards or other professional competencies. The goal(s) must impact professional growth and program outcomes. Goals answer the question "Where do I want to go?"

C.       RATIONALE FOR THE GOAL
A rationale for each goal needs to be developed. The rationale should describe and link your goal(s) to:

1. SELF-REFLECTION
   Include any necessary information from your self-reflection that links to your rationale.
2. Professional SITUATION
   Include any necessary information from your description of your professional situation that links to your rationale.
3. LICENSURE STANDARDS TO BE ADDRESSED
   (specific to DPI licensed teachers)
   Over the duration of your professional development plan (PDP), a goal(s) should be set that promotes growth in two or more of the Wisconsin Standards for Teacher Development and Licensure.  List the standards you have chosen. NOTE:  If during this licensure cycle you are using your plan to move to a different stage or licensure category, include this information in this section.

D.         PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT/DOCUMENTATION OF ACHIEVING THE GOAL: 
State how you plan to assess the results of your goal. These assessments document the results of your efforts to improve your professional growth.

Include, where appropriate, a description of current child outcome data that is relevant to your rationale and goal.  This description may include multiple measures such as assessment results, program evaluation, and organizational targets/benchmarks.

E.       PLAN TO MEET THE GOAL:
Objectives, Activities & Timelines, and Collaboration

1. YEARLY OBJECTIVES
Objectives are specific, observable, and verifiable actions. The completion of these objectives should result in the accomplishment of your goal(s). Goals will answer the question “Where do I want to go?” and objectives will address “How do I get there?”

2. DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES & TIMELINES
The activities outline the actions, steps, and timelines that will lead to the achievement of objectives and goal(s) to increase child outcomes. The activities may draw upon a wide array of types of professional development. Some activities may be completed in a year or less. Others may take a year or more to complete. A general description of your planned activities should be included in your plan with the understanding that more specific activities may be included in your plan for assessment. As you complete each activity, note the date of completion. Activities may include, but are not limited to:

• Serve as a mentor to new teachers and other professionals
• Meet with an accomplished person who shares extensive knowledge with you over an extended period of time. Record the highlights of your discussions.
• Watch other accomplished people as they work, making notes of strategies, instructional practices or subject knowledge for future use.
• Meet with leaders or accomplished people for feedback as you begin to apply knowledge and skills to your work.
• Complete a university course, technical college course, or summer seminar, or a distance-learning course related to your goal(s).
• Try a new approach and document the results.
• Attend scheduled sessions that will advance your professional growth.
• Attend a national conference or participate in national web-talk that will advance your professional growth.
• Change your approach to early childhood work and professional development plan after analyzing children’s daily work and progress.
• Form study groups that provide additional information or collegial support.
• Participate in professional readings, viewing of videos, and website searches to locate and record new content knowledge, resources, and instructional strategies that can be immediately used in your professional environment.

  3. COLLABORATION
  Collaboration takes many forms: Collaboration with professional peers, collaboration with your professional development team, and collaboration using the learning communities. Evidence of collaboration must be included in your documentation of successful completion of the plan.  State whom you plan to work with in formulating and carrying out your PDP and how often you plan to meet.

  Examples of collaboration with professional peers may include but are not limited to:
  
  
• Consult with one or more members of your PDT. These members have been trained to provide you with assistance in successfully completing your plan. 
  
  

• Meeting with colleagues on a regular basis to share notes, get ideas, gather feedback, etc.
  

• Choosing a mentor to provide an ear for your ideas more regularly than once a year.

The following links will provide additional information about professional development planning.

http://earlychildhood.org/cdrg/career_planning.cfm#b

www.ncchildcare.org/