Sponsors of Professional Development

Sponsors of professional development activities in Vermont are a critical part of the professional development system.

Participants of training and coursework, count on sponsors of professional development activities to work together with Northern Lights and the BFIS (Bright Futures Information System) data system.  This ensures that participants can find  training, and that attendance is documented and verified.  

These sponsors -

  • Use Instructors in the Instructor Registry
  • Have their professional development activities listed in the statewide BFIS course calendar electronically at no charge
  • Recieve resources to provide the documentation participants need
  • Participate in the streamlined process that helps participants easily verify and track thier professional acitivities in the BFIS system
  • Are counted in state-wide data indicating what is being offered and who is attending

The sponsor process is a guide.

Steps to Becoming a sponsor in the system include:

  1. contact Northern Lights staff and receive an orientation to being a sponsor
  2. sign an agreement with Northern Lights to confirm the  partnership
  3. receive protected documents from Northern Lights that you use to document trainings you offer
  4. maintain contact with Northern Lights to stay current, get updates, and provide feedback

The Bright Futures Information System (BFIS) is a data management system operated by the Child Development Division of the Department for Children and Families.  Northern Lights Career Development Center helps people to use the professional development tools in BFIS.

Training or Event: What’s the Difference?

When a sponsor hosts a college fair, resource fair, advocacy or legislative event, it is not a training but it can count for hours toward the STARS Families and Community arena.  One way to do this is to give participants a certificate that acknowledges their attendance with their name, the title and description of the event, the date, and the logo/name of the sponsor.  Like a training, the event may be interactive and follow adult learning principles.  Unlike a training, a resource or advocacy event:

  • may not require participants to be there the whole time,
  • supports each person to meet their own needs/goals by attending,
  • does not require the facilitator to be in the Instructor Registry,
  • may include learning objectives that are not required to be met by all attendees, and are not used to structure and evaluate the interactive event.

Making this distinction will help maintain the integrity of professional development training, and support STARS as well.