A professional teaching certificate is valid for five years. A professional teaching certificate can not be renewed until you are in the last year of your validity period. For instance, if you certificate expires on June 30, 2006, you can renew anytime between July 1, 2005 and June 30, 2006. To renew your certificate you must contact the district staff development office and request a renewal form. This form must be completed as directed and returned to this office. If you are using college credit to renew you must also send an official transcript, which shows the classes taken during your validity period. A tanscript that has been opened is no longer official.

Beth Mims Executive Director of Curriculum Ph: 850-926-0065 Fax: 850-926-0123 Email Beth Mims

Upon receipt of the completed form, the staff development director will check your staff development folder for any banked or transferred points. Then your ePDC (electronic Professional Development Connections) transcript and certificate pages will be reviewed. Any points showing on your ePDC transcript page that are "Complete and Eligible for Inservice Credit" will be considered. College transcript information will be checked as well.

If the total of the above shows sufficient inservice credits, the staff development director will process the renewal. The district covers the cost of renewal for teachers who are currently employed by the Wakulla County School System if they renew within their validity period.

After the renewal is processed you will receive a letter explaining the number of points accumulated and the areas on your certificate that were renewed. When you receive your new certificate, give a copy to your Administrator and forward a copy to the Personnel Office.

How Many Points are Needed for Renewal? This depends on the number of areas you have on your certificate. One hundred and twenty points (or six hours of applicable college credit) will renew up to two areas. Additional areas require an additional sixty points each. If you have multiple areas on your certificate, you may opt to renew part of them during one validity period and part during the next. Any area that is not renewed during a ten-year period will be dropped from your certificate.

ESOL Points If you presently have banked ESOL points, they may not be visible on your ePDC certificate page. They are recorded in your staff development folder in the district office. These points will be considered at the time of your renewal. If you have questions about your ESOL credits, please use the link below to contact the Staff Development

College Credit You can renew your certificate using college credit. A three-hour course is the equivalent of sixty inservice hours. Therefore, you may renew up to two areas on your certificate with: Six hours of applicable college credit, three hours of applicable college credit plus 60 valid inservice points, OR 120 valid inservice credits. In order to use college credit for renewal you must submit an official transcript showing the college courses taken during your validity period, and the courses must be applicable for your area of certification. Records regarding college credit are kept in your staff development file at the district office. They are not and will not be visible on the ePDC.

Keeping Records Up to Date Teachers can now update the Address of Record on file with DOE certification through the certification website. You can review your certification application status and current address by clicking on the online Application Status Lookup button from the Educator Certification home page at http://www.fldoe.org/edcert .

Once there you can use/create a personalized, secure logon not only to review the status of your certification application file, but also to use View Address to check and/or update your current address with DOE certification. This tool has been launched so that each certified educator or applicant for certification has the ability to maintain his or her current address with the Department of Education in compliance with Chapter 1012.561 F.S.