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New Jersey Department of Education 1 Updated August 2014
Optional Teacher Professional Development Plan (PDP) Template and Sample PDP
This optional individual teacher PDP template is provided to assist teachers, educational services staff, and supervisors in fulfilling New Jersey’s professional
development requirements. Use of this template is not mandated by the New Jersey Department of Education. Educators may use or modify this template or
create their own. The sample PDP that follows the description and template is for a fictional teacher and has been provided for illustrative purposes only. To
download a clean copy of the template alone, please visit http://www.nj.gov/education/profdev/ipdp/TeacherPDPTemplate.doc.
All active teachers, defined as staff whose positions require possession of the instructional or educational services certificates, are required to have an individual
professional development plan, as specified in the TEACHNJ Act and N.J.A.C. 6A:9-15. Plans must be reviewed annually. If a teacher changes districts, a new PDP
must be created within 30 days of the beginning of the new assignment. In addition, all active teachers must complete, at minimum, 20 professional
development hours annually. However, a teacher’s individual PDP goals may necessitate more than the minimum requirement of 20 hours. The 20-hour annual
requirement may be pro-rated as necessary for teachers with less than a full-time assignment.
Please note that any teacher who receives a summative evaluation rating of Ineffective or Partially Effective will be placed on a Corrective Action Plan (CAP). The
CAP will take the place of this PDP until the next annual summative conference, and the activities in the CAP become the priorities for that teacher’s professional
learning and responsibilities while the CAP is in effect. A separate, optional template for the CAP is available atwww.nj.gov/education/profdev.
For more information about the PDP and CAP and the optional CAP template, please visit the Department’s AchieveNJ
(http://www.nj.gov/education/AchieveNJ/) and Professional Development (www.nj.gov/education/profdev) websites. In particular, please read the Overview of
Teacher PDP and CAP Requirements document before using these resources.
Creating the Individual Teacher PDP
The teacher and supervisor should work together to develop the PDP using the New Jersey Professional Standards for Teachers, New Jersey’s Definition of
Professional Development, and the New Jersey Standards for Professional Learning to identify strengths and challenges and related professional learning goals
and activities, using multiple sources of evidence to inform the plan. The PDP should include identified areas for improvement and growth, specific professional
learning activities to address these areas, timelines for completion, hours accrued, and reviews of progress. The PDP must specify, at a minimum:
one area derived from the results of the teacher’s most recent annual performance evaluation;
one area aligned to the teacher’s role as a member of a professional learning team, as appropriate; and
one area aligned with school or district improvement goals, as appropriate.
Professional learning activities such as grant writing, mentoring a pre-service or novice teacher, facilitating a collaborative team, professional service on boards
or committees, teaching a course, making presentations, or developing curriculum should be considered as part of the PDP when these activities align to PDP
goals. As part of the 20-hour requirement, teachers must also fulfill any requirements for professional development stipulated elsewhere in statute or
regulation (e.g., training on suicide prevention and dyslexia).
Instructions for using this optional PDP template are provided below. All tables may be expanded as necessary.