The problem this study explored was that despite the various methods of differentiating professional development content to meet the needs of K-12 teachers, teacher professional development programming does not meet the career growth needs of many professional educators. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how ten K-12 California public school teachers perceived professional development models implemented by their school district and how perspectives regarding for-credit content differ in comparison to not-for-credit content. Albert Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory was used as the theoretical framework for this study. Two research question supported this study. Research Question 1 focused on public-school K-12 teachers' beliefs about the types of professional development content offered by their employing school district. Research Question 2 focused on the beliefs of veteran public-school K-12 teachers about the importance of professional development aligned with for-credit higher education units to their personal professional development. Data collection was completed through semi-structured interviews and a directed journal activity. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes, code and categorize data. Four themes emerged during data analysis. Themes provided insight into how teachers perceive professional development models in their school district and their beliefs about personal applicability of those experiences. Implications of the study include the perceived benefit of professional development to teachers in meeting professional goals, as well as the beneficial nature of access to graduate credit options, and salary schedule increases for some teachers as positive. Participants also indicated that the applicability of professional development content was heavily impacted by the opportunities to experience various teaching practices and collaborate with colleagues following the professional development experience. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]