Confirm the following information in your Professional Development (PD) Registry profile is correct including:

• date of birth (DOB);
• high school graduation date; and
• employment start and end dates.

Information from the PD Registry is only shared as aggregate (or combined group) data to prevent the identification of individuals. Aggregate data plays an important role in federal reports, state reports, and national research.

Administering an early childhood or school-age program is a complex job that requires an understanding of child development, program administration, personnel supervision, leadership and job-related experience.

The Pennsylvania Director Credential is designed as a standard to measure and validate the abilities and competencies of directors and administrators to manage high quality early childhood and school-age programs. Additionally, it represents the level of personal and professional accomplishments of directors and administrators, their professional contributions through demonstrated leadership, and active engagement in professional endeavors beyond the scope of the daily operation of a program.

Interested individuals should familiarize themselves with the Director Credential requirements. Once a prospective applicant meets the appropriate requirements, they should complete the Director Credential Initial or Renewal application in the PD Registry. Incomplete applications will result in a delay until all information is uploaded onto the PD Registry and application is resubmitted.

To learn more general information about the Director Credential, visit pakeys.org/director-credential.

If you have any questions about the requirements for the Director Credential, email dircred@pakeys.org.

The Professional Personnel ID (PPID) is a seven-digit number assigned by The Pennsylvania Department of Education to track Act 48 hours for anyone maintaining teaching certification(s). Visit TIMS Help/User Guides for more information about Act 48 eligibility.

Courses eligible for Act 48 hours in Pennsylvania's Professional Development (PD) Registry that are sponsored by The Pennsylvania Key or OCDEL are transferred to your Professional Education Record in the Professional Education Record Management System (PERMS) once a month. The course completion date is the date recorded in your Professional Education Record for the continuing education period.

For hours to transfer properly, the correct PPID must be entered in the PD Registry. Refer to The Pennsylvania Key website for steps to Add or Update a Professional Personnel ID (PPID). Once the PPID is verified, review your PERMS account to ensure any eligible Act 48 courses taken appear on your record.

Contact the PD Registry team to report missing courses that were taken in the prior month. 

If you are taking an asynchronous course (ex: Online Self- Paced Environment Rating Scale) and are having issues viewing the content, it is recommended to open the course in the Firefox browser for best quality. The Firefox browser is free to download.

Download at mozilla.org/en-US/firefox.

Beginning next month, Pennsylvania's Professional Development (PD) Registry will pilot a new artificial intelligence (AI) translation feature. Users will be able to select Spanish, Somali, Hmong, or Arabic from a toggle in the top right of the site, and the system with automatically translate most of the PD Registry.

Because this feature is in a pilot phase, it may take time to translate all features such as QRIS indicators. As people choose and use these language options, the system will learn quicker and translate more.

NOTE: At this time, this feature will not translate course and event titles or the information in the Professional Development Language section.

Don’t see your preferred language? Email the PD Registry team at registry@pakeys.org to explore the possibility of providing additional language options in the future.

Directors, Owners, Administrators, and ELRC staff can now access the report that is used to calculate scores for STARS Indicator SQ 3.4.2 without having to first create a Designation Application for STAR 3 or 4. This report is now also located in the Program Profile instead of the Reports tab. It can be used as a guide and template. 

Before pulling this report, confirm that all employee start dates, end dates and titles/roles are correct. Changes to the Employees tab will change the information shown.

NOTE: Calculations may not be accurate based on staff titles vs roles, leave (FMLA, medical, sabbatical, education, military), or programming, for example. 

Questions? Email registry@pakeys.org or call 1-800-284-6031.

Individuals instructing Pediatric First Aid and Pediatric CPR curriculum in Pennsylvania must be Pennsylvania Quality Assurance System (PQAS) approved prior to providing training. An the instructor may be affiliated with another organization approved to provide professional development, the individual instructor’s name must be visible to verify their PQAS status.

If you are already PQAS-approved to instruct Pediatric First Aid and Pediatric CPR curriculum in Pennsylvania, you must provide participants the following information on their certification card/document:

• Curriculum name
• Instructor’s name
• Participant’s name
• Issued and Expiration dates

NOTE: American Red Cross cards with QR codes are accepted.

Learn more about current information regarding Pediatric First Aid and Pediatric CPR training at pakeys.org/firstaid-cpr.

Learn more about the Pennsylvania Quality Assurance System (PQAS) at pakeys.org/pqas.

An updated version of the Professional Development (PD) Overview and Module template and an updated version of the Scoring Rubric are effective as of a April 1, 2024, and available now.

Individuals seeking Pennsylvania Quality Assurance System (PQAS) approval to become a Professional Development (PD) instructor are expected to use the most up-to-date documents when applying.

All documents, requirements and additional information about the Pennsylvania Quality Assurance System (PQAS) are available at pakeys.org/pqas.

Before you enter a course in the PD Registry, confirm you are within the correct profile. If the organization owns the course and content, select your organization in the top right drop down below your name when you log into the PD Registry. If it is owned by the instructor, you will need to be under your Personal Profile.

When entering a course for review, the suggested amount of learning objectives is 1-2 for each course hour to reflect the actual time on task. The objectives chosen for a course must align with the chosen course level when entering or renewing a course. If multiple objectives are chosen with different aligned course levels, the instructor may choose the highest course level aligned. Review the Course Level and Learning Objectives/ Competency Alignment document for additional information.

Before adding an instructor to a course, make sure they are approved in the Professional Standard Area(s) selected for the course. If they need approval in a Professional Standard Area, they will need to complete a Professional Standard Area Support Form and include documentation.  

The steps below are the new requirements for CDA (non-credit) course entry.

Community-based (non-credit) CDA Course in the PD Registry

1. The course must be listed as a single 120-hour CDA course.
2. The standards and objectives addressed in the 120- hour course must align with the ECE Level I of the Professional Standards and Competencies for Early Childhood Educator
3. The participants must be registered for the course in the PD Registry to be considered actively enrolled in a CDA Program.

Evidence of active enrollment in a CDA Course for participants:

• Course is listed as Registered within the participants My PD tab.
• Proof of enrollment: Email from the instructor sent via the PD Registry.

Sample CDA Enrollment Confirmation Email Template 

Thank you for choosing [Organization Name] CDA course. 

This email confirms you are actively enrolled in our CDA program that starts on [Date] and ends on [Date]. 

This course counts towards 120 clock hours in the eight areas required to meet the training requirements to apply for the Child Development Associate (CDA).

Contact PQAS@pakeys.org or call 1-800-284-6031 for additional support.

Are your students having trouble navigating the CDA process after their coursework? The CDA Council provides a resource library with detailed tutorials that walk a candidate through every step of the process.

View the resource library on the CDA Council website (cdacouncil.org).

You are receiving this email because you have a registered email address on The PD Registry. If you think you are receiving this email by mistake or you would like to unsubscribe, please email registry@pakeys.org or call 1-800-284-6031.

Find more information about Quality Early Learning in Pennsylvania 

Pennsylvania Department of Education  |   Pennsylvania Department of Human Services

The Pennsylvania Key  |   Pennsylvania's Promise for Children

Early Intervention Technical Assistance

The Pennsylvania Key | 200 N. 3rd St. | Harrisburg, PA 17101

1-800-284-6031 | registry@pakeys.org | www.pakeys.org | www.papdregistry.org