ABOUT Certification
Missouri
now has a two-tiered certification plan. Here are some of
the general certification requirements.
Initial
Professional Certificate
This four-year license is issued to new college graduates
and to teachers with less than four years of experience. In
order to maintain your initial certificate and qualify for
your career certificate, you must:
- Complete
a criminal background check.
- Participate
in a district mentoring program for a minimum of two years.
- Complete
30 contact hours of professional development, which may
include hours in an appropriate college class.
- Participate
in a beginning teacher assistance (BTA) program. These hours
do not count toward your professional development hours.
- Complete
a performance-based teacher evaluation.
- Have
a local professional development plan.
- Complete
four years of teaching as defined by the state board of
education.
Career
Continuous Professional Certificate
This
certificate will be continuous (life) based upon completion
of 15 contact hours of professional development per year,
which may include hours in an appropriate college class. Career
educators must continue to participate in yearly performance-based
teacher evaluations.
Educators
will be exempt from the professional development requirement
if they meet any two of the following standards.
- Complete
10 years of teaching as defined by the state board of education.
- Complete
a master's degree.
- Obtain
rigorous national certification as approved by the state
board of education.
Current
certificate holders
Holders of PCI, PCII and CPC certificates will be issued the
appropriate level of certification based on their teaching
experience and fulfillment of requirements. Holders of lifetime
certificates issued prior to Sept. 1, 1988, will continue
to be exempt from new certification laws.
Out-of-state
applicants
The law allows the state board to issue a certificate to any
person who possesses a valid teaching certificate from another
state. The Missouri certificate will be commensurate with
the applicant's years of experience in the other state. Out-of-state
applicants must complete a background check.
Additional
information
For
more information go to the Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education (DESE) educator certification website at http://dese.mo.gov/divteachqual/teachcert/
From this site you can check the status of your individual
teaching certificate (You'll need your name and social security
number.) For specific questions? Call the DESE certification
department at (573) 751-0051.
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