Valdosta City School District Implements Lucid Data's PDExpress to Manage Professional Learning Programs

Lucid Data Corporation's PDExpress was recently implemented by the Valdosta City School District (Valdosta, Georgia) to manage and improve the efficiency of their professional learning programs.

Milford, OH (PRWEB) November 9, 2006 -- Lucid Data Corporation's PDExpress® was recently implemented by the Valdosta City School District (Valdosta, Georgia) to manage their professional learning programs including out-of-district activities, certifications/licenses and in-district workshop registrations.

The Valdosta City School District, which includes 500+ full time teachers, needed an efficient way to organize the professional learning of teachers and manage Professional Learning Unit (PLU) credits. Using PDExpress, the District has decreased the administrative time spent managing its professional learning programs, automate the PLU approval process, eliminate paper applications for PLU credits, run reports on classes and credits and achieve an immediate return on its investment.

"As we continued to grow, it was getting harder to manage all the professional learning requirements for the District," said Scarlet Correll, Valdosta's Director of Professional Learning. "The web-based PDExpress professional learning management system allowed us to cut administration time, while centralizing information and giving teachers more control over their own professional learning information and opportunities."

Before using PDExpress, Valdosta teachers had difficulty getting information on their licensing status. Some didn't understand how the PLU requirements operated and, as a result, often had to scramble to take classes or workshops near the end of each licensing period. Using PDExpress, the district can now post classes online and teachers can register online from school or home. Teachers can access their own credit information and view information on classes, credits received and credits pending. They can print a transcript of all completed PLU activities and workshops and know where they are in the re-certification process. This helps the teachers plan their professional development classes more effectively and eliminates the last-minute rush to take classes.

Scarlet states, "One initial benefit of PDExpress was automating staff registration for our district professional learning day at the beginning of this school year. We were able to concentrate on the professional learning content that we wanted our staff to experience and not be bogged down in registration paperwork."

"We have also merged our certification information, human resources information and professional learning information into PDExpress so that these departments are all accessing and working with the same data. We have customized PDExpress so that our staff can update changes in name, address, phone, personal email addresses, etc. for us. PDExpress, therefore, has become our one source of official information about staff."

"A surprise benefit is that we have been able to place all of our staff information documentation for professional learning and human resources on the PDExpress web site, where staff can easily access them. We can easily update that documentation in PDExpress eliminating the need to print new documents and distribute them to our buildings." says Scarlet Correll.

The Valdosta City School District includes multiple buildings, each with its own Professional Learning Council. When staff members complete a proposal to participate in a professional learning activity, it is routed electronically to the building professional learning council which reviews the proposal. Staff are notified of the learning council's approval by automated email and approved proposals are then routed to Scarlet Correll for approval at the District level. When final approval is given at the District level, another automated email informs the staff member that they are approved to attend the PLU activity. Prior to PDExpress, it would take days for the building Professional Learning Councils and Scarlet to review the hundreds of papers, pass them around and approve each application and then inform the staff member.

"PDExpress has greatly improved our information level for professional learning - teachers know exactly where they stand on credits and administrators have professional learning information at their fingertips," said Scarlet Correll.

About Lucid Data Corporation

Founded in 1999, Lucid Data Corporation is the leading provider of comprehensive professional development and teacher assessment management software products and services, and markets and sells its products to school districts throughout the United States. PDExpress is currently supporting professional development programs in 20 states and for over 140 school districts. For information about Lucid, PDExpress and FrameWorks, visit Lucid Data's website at

www.lucid-data.com or contact John Wills of Lucid Data Corporation at 866-582-4373.

PDExpress, MyPDC, FrameWorks, and Lucid Data Corporation are trademarks of Lucid Data Corporation.

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