Licensure Renewal |
Beginning Teachers BT 1, 2, and 3 Teachers must document continuous professional growth during each of their BT years. A Guide for Licensed Employees Prepared by the Staffing Department Human Resource Division and Office of Professional Development, Curriculum & Organizational Development Division RENEWAL RESPONSIBILITY It is the responsibility of each licensed employee to maintain his/her license in a current status to be eligible for employment. A teaching license is valid for a period of five years from the effective date of issuance by the Licensure Section of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. License holders must renew their licenses each five-year period. Each local education agency (LEA) must certify that license renewal requirements have been met in order for its employees’ licenses to be renewed. The Office of Staffing Department in the Division of Human Resources will facilitate all decisions related to licensure renewal for Guilford County School employees. PROFESSIONAL EDUCATOR'S LICENSURE RENEWAL INFORMATION QUALIFYING ACTIVITIES Renewal credit can be awarded only for courses, workshops, seminars or activities that are directly related to an employee’s area(s) of licensure and/or professional responsibilities. However, such responsibilities as serving on curriculum or accreditation committees, chairing departmental meetings, sponsoring student activities, and attending certain conferences or clinics do not carry license renewal credit. In addition, consistent with Guilford County Schools’ desire to minimize disruptions to the instructional process, the Office of Professional Development will avoid approving renewal credit for activities that occur during student instructional time unless attendance by the employee at such activity carries the endorsement of the principal. PRIOR APPROVAL Prior approval is required for all renewal credit events that are offered by any entity other than the Guilford County Schools, including state/DPI sponsored events, colleges, universities, technical schools and community colleges. “Prior Approval” means that an employee desiring renewal credit for a particular event must request approval before the start date of the event. Employees are required to request approval three (3) weeks before the event begins. Requests submitted after the ending date of the event will not be approved. Prior approval is necessary to comply with state regulations, which require an LEA to determine the appropriateness of awarding renewal credit for a specific event in advance of the event. Prior approval also helps to avoid misunderstandings regarding qualifying events and reduces the possibility of an employee paying to enroll in an event for which renewal credit will not be awarded. REQUESTING PRIOR APPROVAL All events that are not provided by GCS must receive prior approval. To request prior approval to earn renewal credits for attending a NON-GCS course, workshop, seminar, conference, etc., the employee should request approval via the GCS Professional Development website before they attend an event for which they wish to receive CEU credit. Failure to do so, may disallow CEU credit. Requests should be made 3 (three) weeks prior to the start date of an event. CEU credit cannot be awarded for any course with less than five (5) hours of instruction. How to Request Prior Approval for a Non-GCS Event The Office of Professional Development will review the request, make a decision with regards to awarding CEU credit for successful completion of the event, and inform the employee of that decision via their GCS email. Approval/Denial will be given within 2-3 weeks. AFTER THE EVENT IS COMPLETED Upon successful completion of the event, the employee should follow the directions provided below. It is very important that the employee return to the Professional Development website and mark “I Have Completed This Event.” Failure to complete this task causes CEU credits not to be posted to their transcript. How to Get Credit Posted the Non-GCS Event Has Been Completed How to Check the Status of your Approval Credit will not be recorded until the appropriate document is submitted to the office of Staffing Operations. The CEU information is available for you to review for your current licensure cycle. GCS-SPONSORED ACTIVITIES Individual schools or various divisions within the Guilford County Schools often desire to conduct staff development activities which award CEUs to employees who participate in these courses. In such cases, the Office of Professional Development must approve the workshop, before renewal credit can be offered. Requests should be made 4 (four) weeks prior to the start date of the workshop. Workshops must meet the following state standards:
Each school will have a designated professional development coordinator who will . . .
The Professional Development coordinator, designated by the school’s principal, must create the online course description and session information and request approval from the Office of Professional Development. Course approval submissions should be completed four (4) weeks prior to the start date of the workshop. The SS-3 "Application for Literacy Course Approval" form should be submitted with the online request for course approvalif requesting Literacy credit. Fill out the form and submit electronically to profdev@gcsnc.com. Upon approval, the workshop will be posted on the Professional Development website. Participants should register for the approved GCS workshop prior to the start date of the workshop. Instructors are responsible for printing the attendance sheet, marking attendance, recording a grade for each participant, signing the workshop roster and delivering it to the Office of Professional Development with three (3) working days after the workshop has been completed. NOTIFICATION OF CREDIT Each year, the Office of Staffing Department will provide each licensed employee a report of his/her accumulated CEU totals earned during the employee’s current renewal cycle. The employee should compare the report with his/her own records or earned renewal credits and notify the Office of Staffing Department in writing of any discrepancies. NATIONAL BOARD CERTIFICATION Completion of National Board Certification is the equivalent of 15 CEUs for one renewal cycle (including reading requirement). You can choose to use the CEUs for your current renewal cycle or “bank” them for the next renewal cycle. In order to receive credit, submit a copy of your congratulatory letter from NBPTS to the Staffing Department and indicate if you wish to use your credits for the current renewal cycle or the next cycle. You cannot use portions of the NBPTS CEU credit for the current renewal cycle and “bank” a portion for the next cycle. For more information, visit the NC DPI webpage concerning NBPTS at http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/nbpts/. QUESTIONS Persons with questions concerning the renewal credit approval process should contact the Office of Professional Development at (336)665-8803. Persons with questions concerning licensure renewal should contact the Office of Staffing Department at (336)378-8806. North Carolina Standards for Professional Development Process Standards: refer to the “how” of professional development describing the learning processes used in the acquisition of new knowledge and skills and addressing the use of data, evaluation, and research. Content standards: refer to the “what” of professional development beginning with an examination of what students must know and be able to do and what skills and knowledge teachers and administrators need in order to respond appropriately to all students. All three standards are necessary to ensure that professional development improves student learning. If one dimension is ignored, the intended results are far less likely to be achieved. Title IX, Section 9101(34) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
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