Planning Professional Development
Cumulative Credit or 'Cafeteria' Plan
A Cumulative Credit or a 'Cafeteria' Plan gives educational professionals an opportunity to accumulate the required hours for graduate professional development credits offered from the University of North Dakota during the fall, spring, or summer semesters. This model provides high quality educational opportunities for professional development and is used by school districts, special education units, or a consortium of schools.
- One graduate professional development credit is awarded for every 15 hours of instructional time. Educators may earn up to 6 credits per year.
- Cumulative Credits are offered with an S/U grade.
- Meals, breaks, exhibits, staff meetings and other non-instructional activities are not counted toward credit.
- Instructor of Record, or IOR, must hold a master’s degree or higher.
- Please submit your application 20 business days prior to your event.
- Learning Events can be added to your Professional Development Plan as they are developed. Add the new Professional Development (PD) Learning Events to your original Plan of Action Spreadsheet and the PD Event Information forms to UND no later than seven working days prior to the start of the scheduled PD event.
- You will receive notification of your credit approval, need for editing, or disapproval within two weeks of submission.
How does it work?
- Administration and faculty determine specific training opportunities for the upcoming school year.
- The proposer, or IOR (Instructor of Record), submits their list of training opportunities to the University of North Dakota for review and credit approval prior to the start of the school year.
- Once approved, educators choose from a number of short-term trainings or learning events from the local training opportunities included in the staff development plan for the year.
- Educators track or bank their hours, keeping a record of the training they have attended throughout the year.
- At the conclusion of the year, teachers will have their hours verified by the IOR and can then register for graduate professional development credit.
Why work with the University of North Dakota to implement a Cumulative Credit/Cafeteria Plan?
- Meet the specific, immediate staff development needs of your educators.
- Educators can participate in a variety of short-term learning experiences that are engaging, meaningful and relevant.
- Educators may earn up to five credits throughout the school year. One graduate professional development credit is awarded for every 15 hours of instructional time.
- Training is available on-site at your local school or at a central location for area schools.
- Easy online registration for graduate professional development credit throughout the school year.
- The credit recording fee is an affordable $50 per credit.
- You’re already doing the work, let us help your educators earn the graduate professional development credit they deserve!
- Instructor of Record, or IOR, must hold a master’s degree or higher.
- Please submit your application 20 business days prior to your event.
- Learning Events can be added to your Professional Development Plan as they are developed. Add the new Professional Development (PD) Learning Events to your original Plan of Action Spreadsheet and the PD Event Information forms to UND no later than seven working days prior to the start of the scheduled PD event.
- You will receive notification of your credit approval, need for editing, or disapproval within two weeks of submission.
- If approved for graduate professional development credit, UND will provide a secure online registration form where participants can register and pay for credit.
- Please contact our PDE office at 701.777.4225 or christopher.douthit@UND.edu if you have any questions.
Application Process
Access the System
- Step 1 Go to the Registration dashboard.
- Step 2 Log in with your NDUS Identifier (firstname.lastname) and password.
- If you have not been issued a NDUS Identifier, you can Register to access this application.
- Step 3 Click on Professional Development for Educators under Dashboard.
- Step 4 Complete the Profile Information. If you hold a master’s degree or higher and if you will be the one responsible for grading this course, choose Instructor of Record (IOR). If you select IOR, you MUST upload a PDF of your current resume.
- Step 5 If any additional IOR, Facilitators, or Presenters will assist with the learning event,
add them by selecting People and Add Person from the menu.
- Use the pencil icon to edit an existing person or the X to remove a person.
- You must have at least one Instructor of Record (IOR) to start any application. If you are the IOR but do not appear as one in the People Management window, please update your profile. To update your profile, select your name in the upper menu, and choose Profile. Select IOR under Position Information at the bottom of the screen, complete the required information, and submit your changes using the Update Profile button. If you are the only IOR, continue to step 6.
Start Application
- Step 6 Choose New Application to begin the process.
- Choose Targeted Professional Learning if you plan to submit a face-to-face, online or blended learning experience that consists of a minimum of 15 instructional hours per credit requested. This includes workshops, conferences, seminars, institutes, etc.
- Choose Cumulative Credit if you are submitting a cafeteria style plan for your school district, school, or consortium. Your submission must include a minimum of 15 instructional hours per credit requested.
If you are unable to complete your application in one sitting, you may save your progress by using the Save Application button. To resume your work, go to My Applications, find your application in the list and click Open Application. Check the progress of your application from My Applications.
Credit Approval Request App
Review Application
Once you submit the application, you will not be able to edit your application, unless it is returned to you for editing. You can review its progress in History once our team takes action on your plan.
The Plan of Action section is where your cumulative credit/cafeteria plan approved events are listed, and also where you may add additional events.
67.1-02-02-05. Professional development for license renewal.
All professional development relicensure credit must meet the professional development requirements approved by the education standards and practices board.
- Licensure renewal course credits. The following minimum requirements must be approved by the education standards and
practices board or through the institutional program review process.
a. Instructor of record. The instructor of record must hold an advanced degree (master's or above) and provide a vita/resume that includes name; current title; current address; telephone, facsimile, and electronic mail, as appropriate; highest degree earned and field of study; related professional or work experience; topics to be addressed; and any other relevant information.
b. Instructor's role. The instructor of record's role is to ensure submission of the proposal form to include all identified components as described in the proposal form subdivision below; a copy of the assessment tool and an identified process for keeping attendance using the criteria identified in the evaluation plan criteria subdivision below; and issue final grades
c. Multispeaker event. The instructor of record is responsible for upholding quality for a multispeaker event by ensuring that at least seventy-five percent of the total instructional time must be provided by individuals with a master's degree or higher. The instructor of record is responsible for completing a matrix of presenters for these events.
d. About presenters. The presenters are expected to provide quality graduate education experiences for participants. Presenters are encouraged to possess a master's degree or higher. A multispeaker event must have seventy-five percent of instructional time provided by individuals with a master's degree or higher. However, a bachelor's degree may be accepted based on level of experience, accomplishments, and subject matter expertise. Each presenter is required to complete a short biography or resume to provide the presenter's educational credentials and experience or training in relation to the presenter's presentation topic.
e. Proposal form. The proposal form must include conference or course description; objectives and learner outcomes; conference or course topical outline; semester hours to be offered; all requirements and expectations (e.g., participation, attendance, assignments) for earning the credit; textbooks or other resources to be used; and evaluation plan of learner outcomes. In addition, for multispeaker events an electronic copy of the program is required; a document that includes session descriptions; and completion of the matrix of presenters specifying their educational credentials, topics to be addressed, and the length in hours and minutes of each presenter's presentations.
f. Credit requirements. The following requirements must be communicated to the participants prior to the start of the event.
(1) Participants must hold a minimum of a bachelor's degree to be eligible to receive graduate credit.
(2) Participants must attend a minimum of fifteen hours of graduate level activity per credit hour.
(3) Participants must complete all credit requirements of the event.
(4) Participants must complete a product or an application of learning.
g. Evaluation plan criteria. One copy of the evaluation plan for determining the participant's grade must be submitted with this proposal. The evaluation plan may be formatted a number of ways but must, at a minimum, include participant verification of attendance, documenting the required fifteen clock-hours per credit (e.g., session sign-in sheet, session summary) and an assignment designed to elicit from the participants their ability to apply concepts and knowledge learned at the conference in their own teaching and work situations (e.g., lesson plan, summary paper, group project/paper). An assessment rubric is required for letter grading but not for satisfactory or unsatisfactory grading. - Five-year licensure renewal. As licenses are renewed, after July 1, 2011, six semester hours of reeducation credit
will be required for the new five-year period, as documented by college transcripts,
earned within the dates of the license, and contracted teaching of a minimum of thirty
days. Applicants not meeting these requirements will be processed as indicated under
that section.
a. Professional development coursework submitted for renewal may be either undergraduate or graduate credit and must be either in professional education or applicable to the applicant's licensed major, minor, or endorsement areas as indicated above.
b. Applicants who are working toward an added degree or endorsement may use coursework applicable to that expanded area of study for renewal. In extraordinary circumstances, the board may waive or extend the time for completion of the reeducation credits.
History: Effective July 1, 1995; amended effective October 1, 1998; March 1, 2000; July 1,
2004; April 1, 2006; July 1, 2010; July 1, 2012; October 1, 2014. General Authority: NDCC 15.1-13-09, 15.1-13-10
Law Implemented: NDCC 15.1-13-09, 15.1-13-10