Growth Plans help administrators support employee development by documenting goals, action steps, and progress over time. In Lebra Ascend, Growth Plans (also called PDPs, IPLPs, PGPs, or similar) follow a structured workflow that includes requesting plans, reviewing submissions, requesting edits, tracking progress updates, and maintaining documentation.
What Is a Growth Plan?
A Growth Plan is a collaborative document completed by an employee and reviewed by an evaluator. It focuses on professional growth rather than evaluation scoring.
When completing a Growth Plan, employees:
Select focus components or standards (your district may require a minimum number)
Define a professional growth goal and the action steps to reach it
Set a student achievement goal and its action steps (required in some districts, optional in others)
Check the student achievement or success indicators that apply (Idaho and Indiana districts only)
Sign the plan to confirm commitment
As an administrator or evaluator, you manage the workflow around these plans.
Note: Each Growth Plan belongs to a specific framework role and draws its focus components from that role's framework. Staff who hold two framework roles have a separate plan for each role. See Staff Who Hold Two Framework Roles.
Your Role as an Administrator or Evaluator
You are responsible for:
Requesting Growth Plans
Reviewing submitted plans
Requesting edits when needed
Signing and finalizing approved plans
Requesting and reviewing progress updates
Downloading plans as PDFs for records
Understanding Growth Plan Statuses
Growth Plans move through several statuses:
Requested - The employee has been asked to complete the plan
Expired - The employee's link expired after 60 days
Signed - The employee submitted and signed the plan
Completed - You reviewed and finalized the plan
Requested Progress - You requested a progress update
Progress Submitted - The employee submitted a progress update
Each status determines what actions are available next.
Districts that use year-end updates will also see Requested Year End Update and Year End Submitted statuses, set using the Request Year End Update action.
Requesting a Growth Plan
Requesting a Growth Plan sends the employee an email with a secure link to complete their plan.
Steps
Navigate to the employee's profile.
Select the Professional Development Plan (PDP) tab. Your district may rename this tab.
If the employee holds two framework roles, choose which role you're requesting the plan for — the tab shows each role's plans, and the plan is built on the selected role's standards.
Click Request PDP (or equivalent naming). This button only appears when the employee has no plan yet for that role this school year — if a plan card is already showing, open it or use its action menu instead.
Confirm the request.
What happens next
The employee receives an email with a secure, personalized link
The link is valid for 60 days
No login is required for the employee
The plan appears in the profile with Requested status
Viewing an Employee's Growth Plan
You can open an employee's Growth Plan at any status — Requested, Signed, Completed, or after progress updates.
Steps
Navigate to the employee's profile.
Select the tab named after your district's plan, such as Professional Development Plan (PDP).
If the employee holds two framework roles, choose the role from the role dropdown.
Click the plan card (it shows the date the plan was requested and its status) to open the plan window.
Good to know
The heading above the plan cards (for example, Professional Development Plan (PDP)) is a label, not a link — click the card itself.
The Request PDP button only appears when there are no plans for that role and school year. If you don't see it, the employee already has a plan — open the card.
Administrators, the employee's evaluators, and their reviewers can see this tab.
Resending a Growth Plan Request
If an employee can't find the email or their link has expired, resend the request from the existing plan. You don't need to create a new plan.
Steps
Navigate to the employee's profile.
Select the Professional Development Plan (PDP) tab.
Locate the plan with Requested status (including plans marked Expired).
Open the action menu (⋮) and select Request Employee Signature.
Confirm the request.
What happens next
The employee receives a new email with their link
If their current link is still valid, the email contains the same link; if it has expired, a new link valid for 60 days is created
Any work they already saved is still there
Note: Request Employee Signature only appears while the plan's status is Requested.
Reminding Staff to Submit
Requesting a Growth Plan already emails the employee their link, so there is no separate step to send the plan out. To nudge staff who haven't finished:
One employee: resend the request (see Resending a Growth Plan Request above).
Several employees at once (districts using Pathways): select Pathways in the main navigation, check the employees you want to remind, select Send Reminder, then Send Reminders.
Each selected employee receives a reminder email for every task still waiting on them, including Growth Plans to complete or update, observation and summative reflections, and self-evaluations. Employees with nothing outstanding don't receive an email. If a link has expired or is about to, the reminder includes a fresh one. Administrators can remind anyone; evaluators can remind the employees assigned to them.
Reviewing a Submitted Growth Plan
Once an employee completes and signs their Growth Plan, you review the submission and decide whether to approve or request edits.
Steps
Open the employee's profile.
Select the Professional Development Plan (PDP) tab.
Locate the plan with Signed status.
Click the plan to open the review window.
What you'll see
Selected focus components
Growth goals
Action steps
Student achievement goals and action steps (if completed)
Selected student achievement or success indicators (Idaho and Indiana districts)
Progress updates, once submitted
Requesting Edits to a Growth Plan
If revisions are needed, you can return the plan with specific feedback. Requesting edits is available only while the plan's status is Signed. To change a plan that is already Completed, see Reopening a Completed Growth Plan below.
Steps
Open the Growth Plan review window.
In Suggestions for edits, enter clear, actionable feedback.
Select Request Edits in PDP (your district's short name for the plan appears in place of PDP).
The review window closes and the plan's status changes to Requested.
What happens next
The employee receives an email with your feedback
They revise and resubmit the plan
The status returns to Signed for your review
Signing and Finalizing a Growth Plan
Finalizing a Growth Plan approves it and locks it. If changes are needed later, an administrator can reopen it (see Reopening a Completed Growth Plan).
Steps
Review the plan one final time.
Add your signature.
Select Sign & Approve PDP (your district's short name for the plan appears in place of PDP).
After finalizing
Status updates to Completed
The employee receives a confirmation email
The plan becomes locked
You can begin requesting progress updates
Reopening a Completed Growth Plan
If a completed plan needs changes, an organization administrator or group admin can send it back to the employee. Don't delete the plan and request a new one — each employee has one plan per framework role per school year, and deleting a plan permanently removes its data.
Steps
Navigate to the employee's profile.
Select the Professional Development Plan (PDP) tab.
Locate the plan with Completed status and open its action menu (⋮).
Select Move Back to Requested and confirm.
From the same menu, select Request Employee Signature to email the employee their link.
What happens next
The status returns to Requested
The employee edits and resubmits the plan
You review it and select Sign & Approve again
Note: Move Back to Requested only appears while the plan's status is Completed, and only for organization administrators and group admins. Moving a plan back doesn't email the employee on its own — use Request Employee Signature to send the link.
Requesting Progress Updates
Progress updates let you track development and gather evidence throughout the year.
Steps
Navigate to the employee's profile.
Select the Professional Development Plan (PDP) tab.
Locate the completed Growth Plan.
Select Request PDP Progress from the action menu.
What happens next
The employee receives an email to submit an update
They provide written reflections
They upload supporting artifacts (documents, files, evidence)
Reviewing Progress Updates
Once submitted, progress updates appear directly within the Growth Plan.
Steps
Open the employee's Growth Plan.
Scroll to the Progress Updates section.
What you'll see
Written progress reflections
Uploaded artifacts
AI-generated summaries of uploaded documents
Submission dates
You may request additional updates or proceed with documentation.
Downloading a Growth Plan as a PDF
Completed Growth Plans can be downloaded as PDFs for record-keeping or sharing. Download PDF only appears once a plan is Completed (including plans with progress or year-end updates); it isn't available for Requested or Signed plans.
Steps
Open the employee's Professional Development Plan (PDP) tab.
Locate the Growth Plan.
Open the action menu.
Select Download PDF.
This PDF includes
All Growth Plan sections
Employee and evaluator signatures
Finalization dates
Progress updates
References to uploaded artifacts
You can also select Download PDF at the top of the plan window.
Exporting many plans at once: administrators can use Bulk Print to export evaluation records for multiple staff members in one report.
Deleting a Growth Plan
Growth Plans created in error can be deleted before or after completion
Steps
Navigate to the employee's profile.
Open the Professional Development Plan (PDP) tab.
Select the action menu next to the plan.
Choose Delete and confirm.
Important: Deleting a Growth Plan is permanent and removes all associated data. Don't delete a signed or completed plan to make room for a new one — reopen it instead (see Reopening a Completed Growth Plan).
Customizing Growth Plan Settings
Administrators can customize Growth Plan behavior and naming.
Naming Conventions
Set short names (e.g., PDP, PGP)
Set long names (e.g., Professional Development Plan)
These names appear throughout Ascend.
Anchor Date
Defines timeline calculations
Helps align Growth Plans with evaluation cycles
Access these settings via Settings → Ascend → General
Frequently Asked Questions
What if an employee's link expires?
Open the plan's action menu (⋮) and select Request Employee Signature. They'll get a new link valid for 60 days, and their saved work is kept. See Resending a Growth Plan Request.
Can employees save and return later?
Yes. Their form auto-saves and can be reopened using the same email link.
Can finalized plans be edited?
Yes, by reopening them. An organization administrator or group admin opens the completed plan's action menu (⋮) and selects Move Back to Requested; the employee can then edit and resubmit. Don't delete the plan to start over. See Reopening a Completed Growth Plan.
Can employees have multiple Growth Plans?
Yes — one per framework role per school year. An employee who holds two framework roles has a separate plan for each role, each built on that role's standards. The Request PDP button only appears when the employee has no plan for the selected role this year.
Do employees need an account?
No. Access is via the secure email link, or from Action Required in their Staff Portal.
Need More Help?
Contact your organization administrator or Lebra support for additional assistance.