Twenty hours of Ohio approved specialized training is required to be completed by administrators, lead and assistance teachers every biennium and may be prorated for programs participating in Step Up To Quality.

Ohio Approved Professional Development

The Ohio Approved designation represents the state's consolidated professional development approval process. Agencies will continue to set agency-wide specific credential requirements.

Ohio Approved training is available online.  Ohio Approved information for Instructors and Training is available on the OCCRRA Resources page 

To search for Ohio Approved online coursework, please visit the Ohio Professional Registry   and do a training search using the word "online". This will bring up all currently available online courses. Participants can see a description of training approval types by clicking the green "approved for" icon next to the training they are interested in taking.

Online training registered through the Ohio Professional Registry and completed will have attendance verified by the instructor. The training completion and number of hours will be populated into the professional's profile. An in-service form is not provided for training completed online, therefore, the following will be acceptable documentation of completion:

• A professional development certificate printed from your the profile that shows approved training completed during the current biennium
• Profile Summary Report printed from your profile that shows training completed
• Screen print from the registry showing that training was completed

Career Pathways Level

The Career Pathways Level provides a common, point-based system for licensing and Step Up To Quality star rated programs as an alternative to meet education requirements for a child care staff member or administrator. It uses an approved framework to document formal education, experience, training, mentoring and current credentials to achieve one of six professional designations.

Read the Career Pathways Level Model and the program update for more information.

Professional Development Certificate

These document provide important information regarding professional development requirements for programs participating in Step Up To Quality in programs.

Important Changes to Step Up To Quality Professional Development Requirements - ODE  

Important Changes to Step Up To Quality Professional Development Requirements - ODJFS