Admin To Do’s Regarding 18 Educator PD Hours

• From: Nora Houseman, Supervisor of Professional Learning & Leadership (HousemanN@sfusd.edu)
• Audience: All SFUSD administrators

As you are likely aware, all certificated, classified and early education educators represented by UESF at your site have 18 Paid PD Hours they can utilize for professional learning through June 2021. This includes most support staff, security aides (T-10s), paraeducators, TSAs, and teachers (see List of Qualifying UESF staff).

The 18 Hours of PD (formerly known as QTEA/Prop A Hours or LWEA/Prop G Hours) are now only called the “18 Educator PD Hours” given the confusion with naming and the ever-shifting funding source.

What is your role?

• You are responsible for supporting qualifying staff to utilize their hours. This includes ensuring all staff are aware they have the hours to use (publicizing the hours), supporting staff to make plans to use their hours (proactive planning with staff), and ensuring educators are paid after they use their hours (working with your clerk). This is especially important now, at a time when many educators are in need of additional compensation to support the many needs resulting from the Pandemic.
• You can also be strategic in coordinating means for staff to use their hours (organizing site retreats; promoting educator collaboration or curricular planning time for use of the hours; supporting ongoing PLCs, dilemma protocols, or book clubs, and so on).

The process for utilizing hours is DIFFERENT than the now outdated “Passport” of years past, having been updated when SFUSD moved to virtual learning last school year. All information and the full guidance for use of the hours can be found here. 

In short, the NEW VIRTUAL process for using hours is as follows:

• Educators seek pre-approval for use of the hours from their administrator
• Educators attend PD (either signing in at the PD or, if working independently or attending external PD, signing in using the General form: https://bit.ly/PDdocumentation)
• Educators update their Personal PD Template after completing pre-approved PD
• Educators share the template (by hitting “share”) with their administrator(s) and clerk(s) for administrator sign-off and clerk inputting of the hours.

These hours present an incredible opportunity for all UESF educators as they offer the equivalent of 3 days or 18 hours of PD across the course of the school year at no cost to the site. All qualifying educators at your site have choice in how these hours are utilized - and you consent in advance to all plans for use, ensuring alignment with your site PD plan.

Site Data: You can find your site’s usage of the 18 PD Hours here for all of last SY (19-20) as well as the first half of this school year (August-December of SY 20-21). Given the Pandemic, educator usage of their hours has been abnormally low (for last SY and this SY). You can see here (SY17-18 and SY18-19) that for many years educators have used 50-80% of their hours. We hope to support educators to increase their usage this year, given the many virtual opportunities to utilize their hours this spring or in June.

What to do now?

• Share the  Personal PD Template and Guidance with all staff members. Encourage educators to utilize their hours.
• In your written bulletins, include a reminder to use the hours.
• Make announcements at staff meetings.
• Ensure YOU have carefully read the Guidance doc and can answer questions about the hours.
• Provide opportunities for educators to utilize their hours (offer retreats, PLCs, collaboration time, etc.).

Thank you for supporting the professional growth of educators at your site. Feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns. Nora Houseman (HousemanN@sfusd.edu)