Instructor & Professional Development Events
OCCRRA manages the Ohio Approval Instructor process as well as the Ohio Approval Professional Development process. The Ohio Approval Instructor process ensures that instructors delivering professional development through the Ohio Professional Registry have the education and experience to deliver high quality professional development. The Ohio Approval Professional Development process ensures that professional development events listed in the Ohio Professional Registry are of high quality to maximize the education of professionals throughout the state as they deliver services to children and families. Visit your Registry profile to apply for Ohio Approval.
Instructor
Complete the Instructor application in the Applications tab of your profile. The application is available to professionals who have a verified associate degree or higher in their profile and a completed employment history in their profile.
Minimum Qualifications for All Ohio Approved Instructors – Education and Experience
Level 1 Core Knowledge & Competency: A minimum of an associate degree in field related to content area of training and 3 years’ experience in field related to content area of training OR A minimum bachelor’s degree in field related to the content area of training and 1-year experience in field related to content area of training
Level 2 Core Knowledge & Competency: Minimum bachelor’s Degree in field related to content area of training and at least 3 years’ experience in field related to content area of training
Level 3 Core Knowledge & Competency: A minimum master’s degree in field related to the content area of training and 1-year experience in field related to content area of training OR A minimum of bachelor’s degree in field related to content area of training and 5 years’ experience in field related to content area of training.
Please see the Ohio Approved Instructor Application User Guide for more information. The user guide is linked below.
Professional Development Events
Ohio Approved (OA) designation represents the state’s consolidated professional development process for high quality professional development. Professional Development designated as Ohio Approved is recognized by the state agencies to meet their requirement for specified credentials, certificates, licensures, licensing rules/regulations, programs, projects, and initiatives.
Ohio Approved PD is to expand and scaffold the knowledge and skills of early care and education and school-age professionals and professionals in child-serving agencies, to influence practice and increase the quality of care, learning, and development of children as a whole.
Events that are not designated as Ohio Approved (Non-OA) can be offered and scheduled on Ohio’s Professional Registry (OPR) and may be eligible for in-service hours for licensing compliance and accepted by a credentialing agency. These events represent basic and foundational knowledge and include licensing required PD: Child Abuse, Communicable Disease, CPR, First Aid; basic health and safety, staff meetings, orientations, policies and procedures, “How-to” instructional training/tutorials, and content for informational purposes.
Complete the Professional Development (PD) Event application via a training organization dashboard and submit for review and approval.
The resources below can help you submit your content for review and approval.
A Training Organization dashboard is the portal through which PD Event applications, for both OA and Non-OA, are created and submitted for review by the OCCRRA Approval Review Team. See Training Organization Dashboard FAQs and guidance.
Training Organization
If you have access to a training organization dashboard, this option will appear in the Organizations tab > Event Management tab in the left-side panel in your profile.
If you do not see the Event Management/training organization dashboard as an option, you must request access from the administrator of the training agency that you are associated with.
A Training Organization is the portal through which PD Event applications, for both OA and Non-OA, are created and submitted for review by the OCCRRA Approval Review Team. Other functions of the training organization
dashboard include:
• Scheduling Professional Development (PD) Events for posting on the Ohio Professional Registry (OPR)
• Managing PD event registrations and attendance
• Managing instructors
If you are not already associated with a training organization, you must apply to be a Training Organization to create, submit, and post PD events.
To apply to be a Training Organization, complete the “Request a Training Org” tab in the Applications section of your OPR profile.
In the Applications tab of your profile, find and select the “Request Training Org” option, complete the form and submit for review. Upon approval, you can access your training organization dashboard from the Event Management tab in your profile.
Scheduling/Managing
AT stands for “available training” and is the unique six-digit identifier. The AT number is auto generated when a PD Event has been created and cannot be changed.
ST stands for “scheduled training” and is the unique eight-digit number assigned when a PD Event is scheduled. An ST is for a specific time and date and can only be used for the time and date specified when the ST is originally created. For new events, a new ST must be created by scheduling a new event. Editing the information in the ST after attendance is verified will alter the professional’s PD record. This is the reason you cannot use the same ST for different events.
Attendance is verified in the event’s ST.
For more information on managing the attendance of a PD Event, please see the Create and Manage a PD Event user guide below.
To view those participants who have registered through their OPR profile, go to Session Details section of the ST, the roster and the sign in sheet are available in the menu for each session.
You may view the participants’ contact information on the Sign In/Out sheet and use this information to contact each participant.
Scheduling/Managing Resources
Create and Manage Scheduled Event
Asynchronous Event Schedule and Manage