June, 2012

Important changes…. The term, “State Board Continuing Education

Units (SB-CEUs), has been eliminated.  The State-approved credits educators can earn are now referred as “state continuing education state continuing education hourshours” and “clock hoursclock hours” in the Administrative Rules.  The Office of Professional Preparation Services has combined these two terms into one, hence “State Continuing Education Clock State Continuing Education Clock Hours (SCECHs)Hours (SCECHs).”

Instead of earning 18 SB-CEUs, an educator will have to earn 180 clock hours180 clock hours.

Updates to the Secure Central Registry (SCR) and Michigan Online Educator Certification System (MOECS) are targeted for completion by June 11.

Once updated, educators will have to enter any SB-CEU credits earned prior to the January 1, 2010 Secure Central Registry launch as “hours” into the Michigan Online Educator Certification System. No credit is lost; it is simply translated back into to hours.

Example:  An activity worth 2.4 SB-CEU = 24 hoursAn activity worth 0.3 SB-CEUs = 3 hours

Under the new Administrative Rules, educators must complete at least one (1) of the following options to renew their Professional Education Certificate:Six (6) semester credit hours at a regionally accredited college or university180 clock hours of state continuing education180 clock hours of state continuing educationAnnual district provided professional development Annual district provided professional development under Section 1527under Section 1527A combination of semester credit hours, state continuing education clock hours or district provided professional development

Section 1527 of the Michigan School Code states:The board of each school district, intermediate school district, or public school academy shall provide…. at least five days of teacher professional development…. each school year. Professional development days provided under this section shall not be counted toward the professional development required under Section 1526 (New Teacher PD).

Does your planned professional development serve the purpose of increasing student learning?

Does your planned professional development align with your school improvement plan?

Is your professional development planned, ongoing, and intensive?

Does the district support this activity in some way, such as released time or cost?

MDE has defined a “day” of professional development as 6 hours, thus 6 hours x 5 days = 30 PD hours annually30 PD hours annually.

ONLY educators who hold the Professional Education ONLY educators who hold the Professional Education and/or Occupational Education certificates may use and/or Occupational Education certificates may use district provided professional development hours district provided professional development hours towards their renewal.towards their renewal.  Administrators, School Psychologists and School Counselors (those who hold the stand-alone School Counselor License) may not use ANY district provided professional development towards their renewal. 

If an educator has completed the required 5 days of district provided professional development annually for a total of 5 years, that is sufficient for renewal.  The new administrative rule provides the option whereby if the educator if the educator completes their renewal credit via this method they completes their renewal credit via this method they only need only need 150 hours to renew150 hours to renew rather than 180.

HOWEVER…. Should the educator miss any part of the 5 days of district provided professional development in any given year (even 1 hour!), they then must complete a total of 180 clock hours (by combining their district provided professional development clock hours with semester credit hours or SCECHs.

Educators renewing their certificate using the DPPD option are currently being advised to fax completed forms to Debbie Barlow in the MDE Office of Professional Preparation Services. Ms. Barlow will then contact the educator with further instructions to finalize the recertification process.

An advanced professional education certificate may be issued to an educator who has completed all of the following requirements:Holds the professional education certificate.Holds National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification or has completed a teacher leader training or preparation program approved by the superintendent of public instruction.Has received 5 consecutive effective or highly effective ratings on the annual teacher evaluation in the most recent 5-year period

To move from a Provisional Certificate to a Professional Education Certificate an educator must have completed at least 3 years of successful teaching experience and at least one (1) of the following:Six (6) semester credit hoursSix (6) semester credit hours180 clock hours of state continuing education180 clock hours of state continuing educationAnnual district provided professional development under Section Annual district provided professional development under Section 15271527A combination of semester credit hours, state continuing education clock hours or district provided professional development

The educator must have also completed 3 semester credit hours in an approved course of study in the diagnosis and remediation of reading disabilities and differentiated instruction, including field experiences.