Seminole County Public Schools, Florida Professional Development (PD) Online Training Registration System Form 278 FAQ SCPS Professional Development Contact Information Dr. Corbet Wilson Director of Teaching and Learning 407-320-0186 Gail McQueen Finance Specialist 407-320-0266 Julia Simpson Data Specialist/Executive Secretary 407-320-0496 Pam Broome Professional Development Specialist/Web Pages 407-320-0529
Hot Topics 1. When is a Form 278 required? A district or school based activity in which points are awarded and/or professional development funds are spent. 2. What is the process for using PD funds for non-district activities? A Pre-Authorization Travel Form 1215 (see attached) must be completed prior to travel and submitted to Gail McQueen/PD Department/ESC. To receive points for participating in a non-district activity, participants must complete a Non- District Sponsored Inservice Activity Form 1007 (see attached) and submit to Julia Simpson/PD Department/ESC. 3. What do we do with the sign in sheets and the learning logs at the close of an activity? For school based training, the completed/signed learning logs remain at the school site in a secure area. For DOE auditing purposes, the information should be organized by activity. Each activity folder should contain the sign-in sheets, learning logs and any additional necessary information. You have the option of keeping hard copies or you may scan the documents and keep them on your school s server. Reminder: when PD funds are used, please send a copy of the sign-in sheet to Gail McQueen, PD Department/ESC. 4. The School Principal has the option to assign a School Admin Representative and a Bookkeeper Representative to manage approval and report transactions for his or her school. Where is this option located in the PD Online Registration System? The option is located under the Manage School Representative tab. Coming Soon!! Data Entry Representative To accommodate the data entry responsibilities (i.e. entering attendance and points), a new user will be added the Manage School Representative. This Data Entry Representative will have access to enter attendance and points only for each activity. SCPS Professional Development Department Page 1
5. Is it permissible to write one Form 278 for all of our Wednesday trainings and/or PLC trainings for the year? Trainings should conclude at semester break so that points may be calculated and submitted to PD. The new semester then requires a second Form 278 to be submitted. Therefore, a minimum of two Form 278 s are necessary. Additional Form 278s are required when the primary focus changes. When the primary focus of the training is different, another Form 278 must be completed. Example: if Wednesday trainings all revolve around math, science, writing and Language Arts (subject-specific content) with the exception of one training on Data Analysis, this identifies a change in focus. The data analysis training will need a separate Form 278 (different primary focus). You may only address one primary focus per Form 278. 6. What is the deadline for participants to register for an activity? Registration closes 30 minutes prior to the start of an activity. 7. What happens when a participant misses the deadline to register, but wants to attend the activity? To override a participant into an activity, the facilitator of the activity will need to create an Excel spreadsheet with the participant names in one column and their SCPS Employee ID in the next column and submit to Julia Simpson/PD Department/ESC. Note: It is important to include the leading zeros that some SCPS Employee ID s have (i.e. 0001234). To do this, simply type an apostrophe first, then the employee ID (i.e. '0001234) or format the cell as Text. When complete a small triangle will appear in the left hand corner of the cell. 8. Who is responsible for ensuring staff has access to the Employee Information System (EIS)? At the beginning of each school year, the school s principal and/or designee (i.e. ETF) are responsible for activating new employee and transferring employee accounts for their school. SCPS Professional Development Department Page 2
9. When would it be advantageous to use the exclusive invite feature of the PD Online Training Registration System? The exclusive invite feature allows the coordinator/facilitator to target a specific group of employees for training. Example: if a coordinator/facilitator wanted to target a specific grade level or content level of teachers, then submission of specific names in the exclusive invite box would ensure that only those invited employees would see the training in the Register for a Class option. 10. Is there a way to view ALL activities that are offered through the Professional Development Department? Yes! On the Professional Development website select the Activities button on the left of the screen. Once there, click on the SCPS PD Opportunities (Charter & Private Schools Only) option. All advertised professional development opportunities are listed. SCPS Professional Development Department Page 3
11. What are the three options for posting points? Enter the number of points earned in the Points Earned column for each participant. There are two options for entering points earned: Manually enter points for each individual. Use the Populate Points button. When you click on the Populate Points button, it will populate the maximum points for each individual. You can adjust the points as needed for each individual. To save the point entries you have made, there are three options available: If you wish to save your entries but do not want the points to be transferred at this time to the employee s official Professional Development record for online display via the Employee Self- Service application, then click on the Save Points button. If you have entered points information but wish for only certain participants to have their points transferred at this time to the employee s official Professional Development record for online display via the Employee Self-Service application, then click on the Post Points checkbox for each participant to be posted and then click on the Save and Post Points for Selected button. If you have entered points information for all participants and are ready for the points to be transferred to the employee s official Professional Development record for online display via the Employee Self-Service application then click on the Save and Post Points for Everyone button. NOTE: IMPORTANT! Once you have selected to allow the points to be transferred into the employee s official Professional Development record you will no longer be able to make changes to the participant s points earned information for the class. If a change is needed, you must contact Julia Simpson, PD Department/ESC the Professional Development office to have the update completed. SCPS Professional Development Department Page 4
I. General Information 1. When do we need to check District Level Workshop? When you are a district level coordinator/facilitator and you are providing trainings for the entire district. 2. When do you choose School Based Workshop? The school based option is chosen by the school based coordinator/facilitator when the training is intended for teachers and staff for that specific school. Also select School Based Training when having a follow-up training at the school to an initial District Level Workshop. By selecting a specific school, only employees from this school will be allowed to view and register for the inservice activity. 3. How important is the title of the workshop submitted on the Form 278? PD will use the title provided to identify a component number for Department of Education (DOE) reporting. 4. Is it necessary to provide the projected contact hours for all trainings while completing the Form 278? Yes, contact hours determine points to be awarded. One contact hour = one point. 5. What happens if all trainings do not occur as planned or the contact hours change? The sign-in sheets submitted at the completion of training implementation and evaluation will document training dates and times to support the actual contact hours and attendance of each participant. Please note any change in the initial Form 278 contact hours on the sign-in sheet and email Julia Simpson, PD Department/ESC of the contact hour number change. 6. When would independent contact hours be used? These are hours that are outside of the face-to-face training times and online trainings. The activities completed during the independent hours must be tied to the completion of the workshop title training. If used, independent hours are added to the number of contact hours to create the total number of hours for the training. SCPS Professional Development Department Page 5
7. How should we establish beginning date/time and ending date/time for school based trainings? Although trainings may range from the beginning of school until the end of the school year, training points must be calculated and submitted at the end of each semester. Thus, two separate Form 278 s will need to be completed for trainings that range from the beginning to the end of the school year. 8. When completing the Form 278 what is the minimum and maximum number of participants that may be indicated on the form? Possible participants may range from one to 999. A minimum of one participant is required to complete a Form 278. Documentation of professional development implementation and evaluation methods is critical despite the number of participants. No matter if it s one participant or the entire staff the only documentation that the professional development occurred is the Form 278. II. Personnel Information 1. Who should be listed as the Coordinator of the trainings? A school based or district level administrator should be listed as the coordinator of the trainings. The coordinator reviews and approves the Form 278 which is created and submitted by the facilitator. If funding or substitutes are involved, the designated School Admin Rep or Special Approver provides the funding source and approval. 2. Who should be listed as the Facilitator of the training? The facilitator is the person identified by the coordinator/principal/supervisor to facilitate the training. Once approved, the facilitator manages the sign-in sheets, attendance, participation and completion of the Form 278 documentation that supports awarding of points. SCPS Professional Development Department Page 6
3. As a facilitator, once the training is submitted, approved and posted, how does the staff know to sign-up for the training? The role of the facilitator is to make the staff aware of the trainings. The facilitator may do this by emailing staff members or posting an announcement where all staff members are sure to see. 4. As a facilitator of a training, is it necessary to have the participant Learning Logs signed by the appropriate principal/designee? Yes, it is the principal/designee s signature that ensures implementation and appropriate evaluations were met as identified on the Form 278. 5. As a facilitator, when should participants be encouraged to complete Learning Logs? Learning Logs should be completed after training, implementation and evaluation are complete as indicated on the Form 278. Completion of Learning Logs at the close of the training prior to implementation, evaluation of training success and impact on student achievement is not encouraged. 6. As a facilitator, what timeline should be used to encourage all participants to complete and submit Learning Logs? Time must be allowed for participants to implement training. Time for evaluation/results is critical to meaningful completion of the Learning Log. A facilitator may want to establish timelines that work with their schedule to bring training documentation to closure. Consideration of time needs for participants to implement and evaluate use of the new learning is also important in determining when participants submit Learning Logs. 7. Who should be listed as the Presenter/Non-District Consultant/Presenter (vendor) of the training? The Presenter/Vendor is the person identified by the coordinator/principal/supervisor to present the training. 8. Is it allowable for the Presenter to earn points for presenting the training? No, a Presenter may not earn points for presenting the training. 9. What is required when a non-district consultant/presenter (vendor) is used? An approved contract from the SCPS Purchasing Department is required prior to submitting the Form 278. The vendors federal ID number must be provided in the contract. The non-district vendors federal ID number, name, vendor name, address and telephone number must be provided on the Form 278. SCPS Professional Development Department Page 7
III. Workshop Information 1. Is it possible to indicate more than one professional development learning method on a Form 278? The answer is no. In alignment with state protocol, you may only address one professional development learning method per Form 278 in-service application. 2. What is the expectation of implementation method choice? The expectation is the implementation choice made when completing Form 278, which drives the way the training is shared or delivered. For example, if the choice is Structured Coaching Method, there is more likely a reading coach at the school site who would mentor other teachers to support implementation (training). 3. How important are the choice selections made for professional development evaluation for student and professional development evaluation for staff methods? The choices made for evaluation of student and evaluation for staff methods will drive the products developed by staff to demonstrate the level of training implementation and student achievement as a result of that training and its implementation. SCPS Professional Development Department Page 8
4. What should the workshop description include? The workshop description should be inviting and informative to potential participants. The description should provide an overview of the training, how it is to be implemented and what are the outcomes. If appropriate, indicate funding source (i.e. who is paying for substitute) at the beginning of the description. IV. Funding Information 1. Is it possible to change the funding information after the Form 278 has been submitted and approved by PD? Yes, to change the initial funding request an email must be sent to PD requesting the changes be made providing specific funding information regarding the requested change. SCPS Professional Development Department Page 9
2. When can PD trainings award stipends or points for educational support personnel supplements? The time of trainings or presentation is a decision to be made by the district or school based administrators. Beginning and ending training times dictate possible points, stipends or supplements to be awarded. For instructional staff, after work hour trainings may award stipends. For educational support personnel, after work hour trainings contribute to earning a professional development supplement. 3. If you are not using PD funds, do I need to complete the Other funding source? If using a funding source other than PD funds please provide the funding source name and cost strip in the Explain-Other box. 4. Suppose the funding is from two different sources? Please provide funding source and cost strip information for both in the Explain-Other box. 5. How will the non-district contract be attached to the Form 278? You may scan it in and upload to the electronic Form 278 OR you may send an approved, completed hard copy to Gail McQueen/PD Department/ESC. SCPS Professional Development Department Page 10