Professional Development Guidelines

Resources for PD Credit:

  • Training classes and seminars offered at ACU
  • Off-Campus training seminars, workshops, and conferences offered by professional companies
  • Online webinars, books, videos, etc. relevant to the employee's professional development. When submitting books for PD credit, 50 pages = 1 PD credit) 
  • ACU for credit courses whose content parallels or exceeds that of a professional seminar (1 class = 10 PD credits)
  • Teaching Professional Development Classes (The first time a class is taught = double the hours spent teaching. The following times = 1 hour credit for each hour of teaching) Many hours of preparation and learning go into one class. 


Reporting PD Credit:

Download a PD report template and record credits. PD reports should be submitted annually with performance appraisals to Human Resources.

ACU Professional Development Rating Scale:

A complete portfolio of Professional Development would include some training hours in each of the categories listed in the Guidelines. The recommended training hours per year are as follows: 

  • Non-exempt Staff  20 - 26 hours 
  • Exempt Staff  31 - 41 hours 
  • Executive Staff  48 - 61 hours


Professional Development for Performance Appraisals 

In keeping with the performance appraisal numerical ratings of 5 to 1, the following are professional development hour equivalents for the rating scale:

  • Non-exempt Staff Recommended PD Hours = 20 - 26 Hours 
Rating: 5 4 3 2 1 0
Hours: 26 or more 20 - 25 14 - 19 8 - 13 1 - 7 0
 
  • Exempt Staff Recommended PD Hours = 31 - 41 Hours
Rating: 5 4 3 2 1 0
Hours: 41 or more 31 - 40 21 - 30 11 - 20 1 - 10 0
 
  • Executive Staff Recommended PD Hours = 48 - 61 Hours
Rating: 5 4 3 2 1 0
Hours: 61 or more 48 - 60 32 - 47 16 - 31 1 - 15 0