College of Education

New Professional Teacher Certification Requirements

Effective September 1, 2013

Please visit the GVSU College of Education website at http://gvsu.edu/coe and follow the Certification tab on the left, for new professional certification requirement information, and instructions regarding teacher certification application. Students may link to MOECS (Michigan On-Line Educators Certification System)  to begin the application process for any type of certification. Michigan Department of Education's website

Beginning September 1st, 2013, ALL teachers (no matter when they received initial teaching certification) will be required to meet the following requirements to obtain a professional teaching certificate. NO ONE will be "grandfathered" into the requirements.

PART A

Note: State Continuing Education Clock Hours (SCECH)  replaces State
          Board Continuing Education Units (SB-CEU)

Candidates for professional certification must meet ONE of the following requirements:

  • Six credit hours in a planned program at an approved teacher preparation institution
  • Six credit hours of appropriate to grade level and content endorsements
  • 180 hours of (SCECH) in approved professional development appropriate to grade level and content endorsements 
  • 150 hours of annual  district provided professional development (DPPD)  through professional development programs appropriate to grade level and content endorsements 
  • Any combination of the required amount of credit, SCECH and DPPD hours that equals 180 hour

Credit hours options older than FIVE years will not count toward professional certification. All credit hours need to be completed within FIVE years of application for Professional Certification.

AND also fulfill BOTH requirements in PART B

PART B

  • Three credit hours of reading diagnosis and remediation (The approved reading course can be used as three of the six credits required above.)
  • Three years successful teaching experience in certified area

 

Provisional Renewals

Teachers may apply for a provisional renewal if they have not met all requirements within the six year validity of their INITIAL provisional certificate. They may do this by completing one of the options in PART A. However, ALL HOURS NEED TO BE COMPLETED WITHIN THREE YEARS UPON APPLICATION OF THE PROVISIONAL RENEWAL

 To convert SB-CEU to SCECH:

Multiply the SB-CEU by 10

Example:

2.4 SB-CEU x 10 = 24 SCECH clock hours

NOTE: Old SB-CEUs can still be used for professional certification and are recorded in the Michigan Online Educator Certification System (MOECS).

To convert semester college credit hour(s) to SCECH:

Multiply the credit hour(s) by 30

Example:

3 credit hours x 30 = 90 SCECH clock hours

 

Page last modified February 25, 2013