Most teachers advance professionally not just through experience, but additional formal education. If those courses don’t translate into real improvements for their instructional practice, it wastes their own time and money outside the classroom.
That’s why states like Illinois, Ohio, and Kansas are tightening criteria for the credits teachers use to boost their salaries, in part to deter so-called “credit mill” programs with rapid, low-quality professional development courses. In particular, a new Illinois law in effect this school year may provide a model for rethinking education credits in teacher salaries.
“To me, it’s pretty important for a state or a district to establish what counts toward salary advancement,” said Jim Hall, chief executive officer of the K12 Coalition, which represents professional development and teacher certification companies, who testified about teacher PD in March during a hearing on the Illinois bill.
“When deciding courses that should be approved for salary advancement, [district] leaders need to say, ‘all right, what is our strategic plan? If it’s to improve adolescent literacy scores, I am going to approve courses that sit within our strategic objectives for that district,’” Hall said. “That is the next level of oversight that a school district should have in what they approve for teachers.”
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