Professional Development Points

Professional Development Points (PDP’s) can be earned by through Middlesex Partnerships for Youth, Inc. (MPY).  There are two ways that PDP’s can be earned through MPY; regional conferences and in-service training.

Regional Events and Conferences
Participants who attend at least 10 hours of conference training can receive PDP’s from MPY. At our conferences, attendees request PDP’s by filling out a simple form.  At the end of the school year, MPY staff tabulate the total hours of conference training each attendee had.  If an attendee has requested PDP’s and has completed 10 hours of conference training, a PDP certificate will be mailed to them in May or June of that school year.

In-Service Training
Middlesex Partnerships for Youth, Inc. offers member school districts in-service training.  Each of these in-service workshops is 2 hours in length. Any 5 of the 10 in-service workshops can be applied to earning PDPs.
In order to comply with guidelines put forth by the Massachusetts Department of Education, we recommend that school districts take advantage of these in-services in one of two ways:

OPTION 1:
A school district can solicit Project Alliance, as a certified provider, to provide a series of 5 of the 10 in-service trainings WITHIN ONE SCHOOL YEAR and create an opportunity for participants to achieve 10 hours of training. Under Option 1, the school or district tracks attendance and MPY takes responsibility for awarding PDPs.

OPTION 2:
A school district may combine various training opportunities from multiple agencies to create 10 hours of training (not necessarily composed of only MPY in-services) in a topic selected by the district. Under Option 2, the school district takes responsibility for maintaining attendance records, for awarding PDPs, and for assisting the participants in the development of an observable demonstration of learning.

PLEASE NOTE: Although it is recommended that a school district be the solicitor, individual schools within a school district may request Option 1 or Option 2. However, these requests will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, depending on availability of presenters and utilization at the district level.

For more information on recertification guidelines, please visit the Massachusetts Department of Education’s website at http://www.doe.mass.edu/recert .

Continuing Education Units (CEU’s)

MPY also awards Continuing Education Units (CEU’s).  Depending on the qualifications of the speaker and the nature of the conference, MPY applies for CEU’s from the relevant agency (I.E. National Association of Social Workers) and obtains approval to distribute CEU’s for the event for participants who attended the training.  Participants must request CEU’s on the day of the conference. CEU’s are awarded for conference participation only; not in-service training. CEU’s are typically distributed twice a year (winter and spring).