Continuous professional development (PD) is a must for K-12 educational professionals, including school principals. PD is needed for renewing state educator licenses as well as for improving your personal leadership and management skills and providing better services to your school, teachers, and students.
This article defines the concept of professional development for principals and goes over the requirements. It explains why PD is so crucial for school leaders and lists the best free and paid sources to complete this requirement.
Looking for the most comprehensive option for professional development for educators by fellow educators? Check out SimplyPD, an online marketplace that connects educational professionals that provide and look for PD opportunities.
Professional development for principals refers to the ongoing process of obtaining new knowledge, acquiring new skills, and learning new strategies that help principals lead their school better and more efficiently. Professional development goes above the initial education and training that is required to qualify as a principal and get your first license. It continues throughout the career of principals in order to help them adapt to the ever-evolving educational system and school environment and provide up-to-date educational services via their institution.
From a legal point of view, PD is a must for principals to be eligible to renew their state-issued educator license, which needs to happen every 3-10 years, depending on the laws governing education in your particular state. The formal requirements for professional development for principals vary by state, including the number of credit or clock hours that need to be completed, the topics that qualify, the entities that are credentialed to offer PD, and the time period over which PD needs to be concluded.
In addition to being legally required, PD also offers principals an important opportunity to continue growing their expertise and expanding their knowledge to advance their career and to lead their school in a more efficient way.
Professional development is an important aspect of the duties and responsibilities of principals to be adequately prepared to serve their academic institution.
The many important benefits that professional development for principals offers include:
All these advantages that professional development brings show the importance of this practice, making it an indispensable part of the career of school leaders.
The ways in which K-12 principals obtain professional development hours are very similar to the activities that fall under eligible professional development for teachers. This includes both in-person and online opportunities to meet the needs of different schools and the preferences of all professionals.
The range of activities that can qualify for principal PD include:
With such a wide range of potential professional development formats for principals, it is easy to find the method that works best for your needs, schedule, and preferences. However, before starting any PD activity, it’s important to confirm that it qualifies towards your state certificate renewal requirements to hit two birds with the same stone - Skills development and license renewal.
With so many options available to principals, choosing the right sources can be overwhelming, especially for those who are new to educational leadership. In our selection of the best opportunities for professional development for principals, we focused on free and affordable activities that offer truly valuable knowledge as well as networking and that count for license renewal.
The best sources for PD available to principals across the country include:
SimplyPD is a unique source for PD for principals, other school leaders, and all educators in general. The platform functions as an online marketplace that brings together educational professionals and experts from around the country to a single place where they can offer PD to peers and receive PD from colleagues, at affordable rates. Peer-delivered professional training has proven to be highly effective as those within the industry know the exact challenges that their colleagues face on the job and can offer the best solutions to them.
So, whether you’d like to share your knowledge with a community of fellow school principals and educators or would like to learn from those with more expertise in a certain area, you can check out SimplyPD.
Learning Can’t Wait, the Fullmind Podcast, offers one of the best free opportunities to get professional development credit from the comfort of your home or school. The podcast tackles various topics and gives principals and other educators practical tips on how to innovate the educational process at their institution and engage students. Each episode features a different expert from the education sector for a lively discussion on a hot topic in the field.
Principals can earn PD hours by listening to an episode of Learning Can’t Wait and filling in the straightforward Podcast Reflection Form online.
The National Conference on School Leadership (UNITED) is powered by the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) and the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). In 2025, this annual event will be held on July 9-13 in Seattle, WA. This is the single most important nationwide event for school principals and one of the main professional learning opportunities for educational leaders.
In many states, attending UNITED counts towards PD hours, but interested principals should check the specific guidelines of their state.
edWeb provides a wide range of online courses on various topics that meet the requirements for professional development for principals as well as other K-12 educational professionals. Principals can access live webinars and session recordings to watch at a time convenient for them. Attendance comes with a Certificate of Completion (CO), which is important to document for legal PD requirements. Furthermore, edWeb gives school leaders and admins the opportunity to join different online professional communities to cooperate with colleagues and continue learning from each other.
The Heritage Institute is a leading provider of virtual education professional development courses with hundreds of options to choose from. Activities provide PD hours and credit to cover state requirements. Unlike most other course websites, The Heritage Institute gives access to real-time interaction with course instructors and individualized feedback on the work of attending principals. The cost of courses varies between $125 and $495, depending on the topic, the duration, and the number of credit hours.
During professional development activities, principals can learn about recent educational developments and obtain practical skills that can help them better manage and lead their team and school.
Some of the most effective topics for professional development for principals include:
In all cases, the best professional development topics for principals are those that align with their personal needs and the requirements of their school and district.
The strong impact that professional development for principals can have on their leadership and management skills, the school in general, and the student body makes it an integral part of the career path of all educational leaders. Not to mention that it is a must for educator license renewal in most US states. With so many online and in-person options out there, it’s important for principals to select the most relevant topics and the most effective format in line with the needs of their school, district, faculty, and students.
Looking for an easy, interactive, and affordable way to enhance your knowledge and skills while completing the state-demanded professional development hours? Check out SimplyPD. You can connect with peers to offer and get PD in a wide range of topics.
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