Please check back often - this page will be updated regularly.
| Q: How do I use crtis? |
| A:
Please download the crtis brochure for a current overview of functionality
and instructions. |
| Q: Can teachers look at their own certification progress? |
| A:
At this time, only designated religion coordinators and principals may track certification progress. The religion coordinator may meet with individual teachers to review their progress. At the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year, a packet containing a username and password, along with instructions for using crtis, was sent to the principal of each school. If your school has lost or misplaced this information, please contact Janet Suzio at the Department of Catholic Schools to receive these materials. |
| Q: I registered and paid for a workshop, but I was unable to attend. Can I receive credit for future workshops or a refund? |
| A:
Unfortunately, due to the cost of hosting a workshop, we are unable to offer credits or refunds for a workshop that has already taken place. |
| Q: Can I register more than one person at a time? |
| A:
Indeed you can - just hold down the "Ctrl" button on your PC keyboard or the "Cmd" ⌘ button on your Mac keyboard as you select each person on your school's list that you'd like to register, then press "Register". If you want to register your whole list, select the top name, then scroll down to the bottom of the list, press and hold your keyboard's "Shift" key, and then click the last name to select the entire list. |
| Q: I registered for the wrong workshop! What do I do? |
| A:
Currently, we need to fix that for you. (Don't worry - we don't mind, and we
like hearing from you.) Just give us a call at (415) 614-5663 or send us
an email and we'll delete the registration. |
| Q: How can I tell how much I owe you? |
| A:
The amount of each registration appears on the registration confirmation. If
you have registered more than one person for a school, crtis will
calculate the total amount combined for that session. If you have registered
for more than one workshop session, you will need to add the totals together. We realize that this isn't optimal, so we do have plans to create a section in crtis where you can view your school's total debits and payments. Please bear with us as we continue to make crtis more useful over time. |
| Q: Who do I make the check out to? |
| A:
The Department of Catholic Schools, usually. However, if this is an event sponsored
by another party, you will almost certainly not be sending a check to us;
you will only be registering the workshop in crtis so
that you can receive credit for attendance. If you're a teacher and you're
not sure who is producing the event, please check with your Religion Coordinator
first before contacting us. |
| Q: How is the workshop attendance tracking done? |
| A:
When you register in crtis for a workshop,
a record is created in the database for that registration. Once you attend
the workshop and sign
in before you leave, the sign-in sheet is brought back to
DCS. We'll mark the database record to show that the workshop was attended,
and it will show up in the list of your attended workshops. When you register for a workshop that's produced by another entity, like the Faith Formation Conference, L. A. Congress or a college seminar, you will need to work with your Religion Coordinator to let us know that you have attended the event. For information on requesting that an event be added to the crtis database, please see this section or this section. |
| Q: Is the religion coordinator the only one who can register teachers for workshops? |
| A:
No, anyone may register for a workshop, as long as they are listed on your school's
roster in the registration section. If you are the Religion Coordinator,
please make sure that all of your current teachers are listed, and if we
need to add a teacher (or make them inactive if they are no longer at your
school) please read this section, then contact
us. The only thing a teacher can't do right now, that a Religion Coordinator can, is log in to view their certification progress. We plan to add functionality to crtis to allow a teacher to login to view their own progress in the near future. |
| Q: I'm not on my school's list, or I'm a Religion Coordinator and I'm noticing people missing, or people who shouldn't be on the list anymore. What should I do? |
| A:
If someone is not listed, please provide us with: - the employee's name - the employee's mailing address - the employee's email - grade(s) and subject(s) they'll be teaching (if they're a teacher, and their position if not) - the employee's date of hire - basic or recertification dates if possible. If you see people listed who are no longer teaching at your school, please let us know and we'll make them inactive. However, their record will still exist, in case they're rehired by you or another school, or they wish to retrieve religion certification information for another reason. |
| Q: When it says on the certification tracking screen that recertification is due in 2014, by what month should it be completed? |
| A:
It means that recertification is due by July 1, 2014, which is usually right after the last workshop is offered for the school year.
|
| Q: I haven't been able to attend certain workshops, creating a gap in my certification process, but my certification is due this year. What do I do? |
| A:
If you have difficulty completing your certification by the due date because of illness, maternity leave, jury duty, or any other valid reason that kept you from attending a certification workshop that would complete your set, please ask your Religion Coordinator to request a one-year extension. If there is no workshop offered during that year with the topic you need, please contact the Department of Catholic Schools to discuss a solution.
|
| Q: What are the workshop categories? |
A:
For Basic Certification (completed within 2 years after being hired):
|
| Q: How many workshops should a person take each year? |
| A:
Religion teachers take one workshop in each of eight areas within 2 years after
being hired, and then one in each of the nine areas within the three-year cycle
of recertification. The idea is to have a complete set within a three year
time period. This makes an average of two two-topic Basic Certification workshops
the first two years, and three recertification workshops per year after that.
|
| Q: If I keep going to workshops I could exceed the requirements for recertification. Does it all accumulate? Does it push my recertification three more years out so that I could take several years' break from workshops? |
| A:
Workshops do not accumulate within the three year recertification period past the total needed for recertification. It's a little like a physical workout - if you run 10 miles this week, you won't necessarily be in shape next year. Teachers are welcome to take as many workshops as they like within their three-year recertification period, but they can be certified for no longer than three years at a time, and must attend a complete set of workshops within each three-year period. In other words, if your recertification is due on July 1, 2014, and you attend a complete set of workshops by mid-August of 2013, workshops you take past that time will not count toward your next recertification period, which would be due July 1, 2017. Your workshops would begin accumulating again after July 1, 2014. |
| Q: How often do the Basic Certification Courses take place? |
| A:
Three times each academic year (August, January, and June), the Department of
Catholic Schools offers a one- or two-day seminar, focusing on two of the eight
Basic Certification topics. New teachers should be able to accomplish their
Basic Certification within a two year time period, after which they begin the
successive three-year cycle of renewing (recertification) their Basic Certification.
At various times during the academic year, we hope to offer one-topic Basic
Certification seminars as an afternoon workshop. |
| Q: Can I take recertification level workshops to fulfill my basic certification? |
A:
No, because the basic certification workshops are specifically geared toward
those who haven't previously completed religion training. Think of it
like taking a trigonometry course before you've finished algebra - there
are some things that are very clear, and others that require more exposure
to earlier concepts to be fully understood. You are welcome to take recertification level workshops, and you will receive credit for them, but they will not count toward Basic Certification. |
| Q: Are there opportunities for recertification credit other than those offered through the Department of Catholic Schools? |
| A:
Yes. Each year there are Religious Education conferences, congresses, and seminars
offered through the California diocesan offices of Religious Education. The
L.A. Religious Education Congress sponsored by the Los Angeles Archdiocesan
Office of Religious Education, The Faith Formation Conference, a collaborative
effort with the Arch/Dioceses of Monterey, San Francisco and San Jose, and
conferences offered through the surrounding Dioceses are all opportunities
for recertification credit and faith enrichment. Please check the crtis Workshop
Registration page for upcoming workshops that will count toward recertification. Remember,
you will only use crtis to "register" for
recertification credit for these opportunities; you must register for attendance
and pay for them with the entity that produces them. We will
make sure to provide this information in a link next to the event name, as
well as information about which recertification topics the event counts toward. |
| Q: I've already taken these workshops, and workshops like them, before, many times. I'm not finding the content challenging enough, and I want to truly engage in my faith formation, not just show up for workshops because I'm required to. What are my options? |
| A:
You have a number of options. Most immediately,
you are welcome to research
and attend courses and workshops offered by colleges and universities and
receive religious certification credit for them, provided that you consult
with your Religion Coordinator and/or Janet Suzio at the Department of
Catholic Schools to verify that the course is appropriate for that purpose.
If so, please contact, or have your Religion Coordinator contact Janet Suzio to have the workshop or course entered in the crtis database
so that you can "register" for it. We will need the following information: - Title of Workshop Event - Titles of Workshop Sessions, if there are multiple sessions, and what certification categories they fulfill - Contact information for the event (location, name, address, phone number, email, etc.) - Name(s) and title(s) of the presenter(s) - Date(s) and time(s) of the Workshop Event or Workshop Sessions This can usually be very easily accomplished by sending us a brochure or website address for the event. Please make sure that all of the above information is present before doing so, and if not, please provide the additional information. You may also attend workshops and in-services that are presented specifically for your school. Please see this section for instructions. We are working toward eventually offering religion certification opportunities at many different levels of complexity, from basic through advanced. If you have been recertified many times or if you are a member of the clergy, you may wish to consider being a presenter of a workshop to offer others an opportunity to benefit from your experience. As you may have noticed, there are an almost infinite number of subjects that you might speak on that address the different religion certification categories, and if you see a need for a more sophisticated discussion of a topic, your thoughts are most welcome. Please contact Janet Suzio to discuss this possibility. |
| Q: Can faculty community building days of reflection or retreats be counted as recertification credits? |
| A:
Yes, you can certainly use the faculty retreat for a subject area if more than an hour and a half of time is spent explicitly addressing a given recertification topic area. |
| Q: My school is offering an in-service for religion certification. How can I get it to show up in my list of completed workshops? |
A:
Your Religion Coordinator will need to contact Janet Suzio with the details of the in-service. To correctly enter the workshop in the database, we need the following information: |
| Q: I've been faithfully keeping track of my teachers' certification for years, on paper. I like doing things this way, and frankly, I don't like computers very much! Why are we changing to this new system? |
A: We understand that
it may be difficult for some people to make the transition away from paper
to "online" certification tracking. However, it's become
very important to do things this way. Here are some of the most compelling
reasons:
|
| Q:
I've been teaching in the San Francisco Archdiocese for a number of years and
taking workshops, and there are workshops that show up in my list that
I didn't attend. It's the right subject, but the wrong date, location and
event. How can I fix this? Q: I don't see all the workshops I took in the past years, or I don't see any at all. Why? How can I get them in there - and should I even try? |
| A:
In order to meet the deadline to have crtis ready
for use in summer of 2007, we tried to input as many workshops as possible
for each teacher based on the records that were available at the time. At a
certain point, we decided to combine workshops of a similar subject within
the time period necessary for a teacher to complete their certification by
their deadline. In other words, we decided that it was more important that
the teacher took a workshop with that subject than when or where they took
it or who they took it with. And eventually, we ran out of time to do the data
entry necessary to get all 5 years' worth of workshops for 65 or so schools
and all attendances into the system. In the future, you will be able to register your teachers for each workshop as it comes up, and we'll be able to keep very good track of specifics. For now, we have some suggestions: The first is - You can go into crtis (Workshop registration, Calendar view) and "register" your teachers for workshops in the past. If you decide to do this, and you don't see a workshop listed for one that an employee/employees attended on a certain date, but you notice that there's a workshop in the system that counts for the same subject (i.e., Morality, Sacraments, etc.) of the workshop that the employee attended, if it's within the certification due date, feel free to register the employees for the similar workshop. However, if there are no similar workshops listed for that subject in the time span necessary, feel free to a list of the attended workshops with the date, time, location, subject, and speaker, and we'll be happy to enter them in the database so they're available for you to register the teachers for them. Make sure to let us know that you've done so, so we can mark it "attended" so it will show up in their record. The (possibly much nicer) alternative is - don't worry about the past, focus on the future. We can set the appropriate certification/recertification due dates for the teachers; as long as you've been keeping paper records that we can refer to, Janet Suzio is happy to just move on from where we are. Much less work for all of us! Just make sure to register the employees for upcoming workshops, and make sure that they sign in when they attend, and everything will be right there for both you and us to look at. You may wish to do a combination of the two - leave the very oldest workshops off, but register your teachers for the workshops that will affect their current certification deadline. Either way, make sure to let us know that you've done this by printing a copy of the registration results and sending them via mail or fax to the attention of Janet Suzio at the Department of Catholic Schools, One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco, CA 94109, fax (415) 614-5664. |
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