Guidelines for the Ridley Professional Institute
Programs offered through the Institute will conform to the strategic goals of the district in one of the following five areas:
*Continuous Academic Improvement
*Continuous Improvement and Maintenance of a Safe and Caring Environment
*Continuous Improvement and Maintenance of a World-Class Technology Program
*Continuous Improvement of Communication Systems
*Highly Effective Professional and Support Staff
There is no cost to a teacher for taking a Ridley credit course except in some cases for lab fees, text, and/or other materials required for the course. These costs, if any, are non-reimbursable.
The credit received may be applied toward salary advancement. There is no limit in credit hours toward salary advancement for RPI courses. Teachers will be issued a formal letter of satisfactory completion with the official district seal. This letter should be retained until you are ready to submit an application for a salary track change.
It is the teacher’s responsibility to forward the letter of satisfactory completion to the superintendent’s secretary along with the required form when requesting a salary track change. Only teachers who have a master’s degree may apply RPI programs for salary advancement. Please retain the letter with the official seal in your file until that time.
A teacher may elect to take a RPI course to meet their obligation for the two additional Flexible Professional Development days during the current contractual year. However, they must attend all hours of class, complete the curriculum related project, and the required, signed form must be sent to the Director of Staff and Program Development. With this option, no credit towards salary advancement will be issued. However, you will receive the Act 48 credit hours.
Teachers who have not achieved a master's degree, or have a master's + 45 may take an RPI course for their Act 48 credit.
IMPORTANT: Please be aware that in order to complete the necessary number of hours required by the PDE for Act 48, teachers will need to participate in professional development opportunities over and above what is offered through district in-service events. Attending only Ridley School District sponsored professional development will not yield the required amount of Act 48 hours.
Each course requires a minimum enrollment of 6 teachers. If the minimum enrollment is not achieved by one week prior to the course start date, the course will be cancelled and anyone who has registered will be notified. Please register by the due date so that instructors and participants can be notified in sufficient time whether or not the course will run.
BEFORE registering for a course, please consider if you will definitely be able to attend all sessions. We ask that teachers not register for courses they cannot complete. Missed sessions will require make-up work, unless it is a weekend course and a whole day is missed. As a result of a whole day being missed, no credit would be received for the course. If the district closes for inclement weather, a missed class should be made up.
The deadline to register for a course is one week prior to the start of the course.
Teachers will not receive Act 48 time for any missed class or for lunch or dinner breaks taken during course hours. If you have registered for a course and need to withdraw your registration, please email Lynn Driadon at [email protected]
Registration will be confirmed via email. If there is not a minimum of six persons registered for a course, you will receive email notification that the course has been cancelled.
Each participant must complete the requirements for each course by the due date assigned by the instructor. Each course requirement will include a curriculum related project incorporating what was learned throughout the course, as well as a survey.
These course credits are not transferable if a teacher leaves the district unless PA in-service credit certification is attached.
A teacher may not enroll in the same course more than once.
PA Department of Education will not accept these credits toward permanent certification.