Professional Learning & PLC's

Continuing Professional Education (CPE) for Librarians

Certified librarians in Texas are required to complete 200 hours of professional learning (CPEs) every 5 years for recertification, unless you were certified long enough ago to have lifetime certification; that works out to 40 hours per year. Due to our small staff and district limitations, the Library Media Services department can not directly provide opportunities for 40 CPEs worth of learning each year, so you will need to earn additional hours in other ways. This could be through internal classes offered by other AISD departments and/or through out-of-AISD conferences, webinars, and classes. You will also receive credit for some on-campus training provided on campus PD days.

This expectation is separate from the annual AISD-required PLED hours.

All Librarian Meetings

All AISD librarians will meet together a total of three times during the year.  Register in HCP for these sessions. Attendance at the job-alike training on August 8th is mandatory; the other sessions are not required but very strongly encouraged. Because they will take place during duty hours, they are not PLED-eligible.

• Job-Alike Professional Development | August 8, 2023 | 8:30 - 11:30 a.m. | Anderson HS Library

• All Librarian Meeting | January 17, 2024 | 2:00 - 3:30 p.m.| Online Zoom Meeting

• All Librarian Meeting | May 1, 2024 | 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. | Online Teams Meeting (not in HCP yet!)

Library PLCs

Librarians have the opportunity to meet together with other librarians in professional learning communities throughout the year. Groups have been created based on level and geography; librarians are encouraged to meet in person to see each other's libraries, but online or hybrid meetings are also acceptable. Each PLC will schedule 6 meetings per year and submit agendas and attendance to the LMC. Librarians will register in HCP for these meetings. Attendance is not required but very strongly encouraged. You will receive CPEs for these meetings but because they will take place entirely (or almost entirely) during duty hours, they are not PLED eligible (see below for more on PLED).

• List of Campuses in PLC Groups

• Library PLC Meeting Schedule - Tab 1 = info on registering in HCP, Tab 2 = dates/locations/section #'s for each group's meetings

• Expectations for PLC Meetings

Other Opportunities

Additional PD opportunities for librarians will be offered when possible. Check this space or search "Library" in HCP for library-oriented classes. Librarians may also benefit from classes offered by other departments in AISD. (See the description of each class in HCP for PLED eligibility.)

Librarians also have many opportunities for PD outside of AISD both in person and online, including classes, webinars, conferences, and more. A few are listed below, but there are many more if you look for them. (If you attend these outside of your scheduled duty time, you can submit them in HCP to be approved for PLED credit - see below for more about PLED.)

TLA Annual Conference (April)

TCEA Librarian Conference (June, online)

AASL Conference (every other October)

TSLAC Webinars (includes archived on-demand)

PLED Credit

PLED = Professional Learning Exchange Days.  This is an AISD-only thing where you must document 12 hours of professional learning OUTSIDE of your duty hours in exchange for two days when you are paid but do not report to work. (For the 2023-2024 school year, the days are 12/21/23 and 12/22/23.) One course - Meeting the Needs of All - is required for everybody and counts for 3 of the 12 hours; the other 9 hours are your choice. In almost all cases, a class/activity for which you get PLED credit will also count as CPEs for recertification. (But a class/activity for which you get CPEs only counts for PLED credit if it meets one of the two criteria listed below.)

You can get PLED hours two ways:  

1. Complete courses in HCP that are designated "PLED Eligible". On the Professional Development page in HPC, click the big button that says "List of PLED Eligible Sections" for a list of PLED eligible sections. Completing courses marked "PLED Eligible" will automatically give you PLED credit.

2. Complete other professional learning activities outside of your duty hours and submit it in HCP to be approved for "External Credit" by going to the Professional Development page in HCP and clicking the "Create External Credit Request" button in the "External Credit Request" section of the page. You can track the approval process on that page.

EXCEPTION: New librarians who attend Welcome Week receive PLED credit for that, which should fulfill your requirements for the year.

For more information about PLED, see THIS DOCUMENT. If you have questions about your specific circumstances, submit a Let's Talk.

SUGGESTION: The PLED window for each school year begins as soon as the previous school year ends, which means any professional learning you do during the summer can count for the following year's PLED requirements! Completing your PLED hours during the summer means you can start the school year with one big thing already crossed off of your to-do list - doesn't that sound nice?