ACT 48

Act 48 Educators must earn six credits of collegiate study; or six credits of PDE-approved continuing professional education courses; or 180 hours of continuing professional education programs, activities or learning experiences through a PDE approved provider; or any combination of the above every five years to maintain active certification status.

NOTE: Each semester collegiate credit is equal to 30 continuing education hours. Each quarter collegiate credit is equal to 20 continuing education hours.
All credits and hours must be related to an educator’s certificate type or area of assignment (unless enrolled in an administrative program or approved by the school board).

Level I – Instructional, Education Specialist

Validity

Level I Pennsylvania instructional and education specialist certificates are valid for 6 years of service, not calendar years.

Upgrade

All the following requirements must be met in order to convert a Level I to Level II according to CSPG 7:
• The 24 semester-hour credits required for Level II certification must be earned after the conferral of the initial bachelor's degree. A minimum of 6 of the 24 credits must be in the content area of the Level I certificate or in something that improves professional practice. Credits completed after the conferral of the initial bachelor's degree that meet the requirements below will be accepted even if the credits were completed to obtain initial certification.

Graduate or undergraduate credits earned at a regionally or nationally accredited or state-approved baccalaureate or graduate degree-granting institution.

Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE)-approved credits (not Act 48 hours) offered by intermediate units submitted on letterhead with a raised seal.
• In order to convert to Level II, three years of satisfactory service is required and defined as:
• service in Pennsylvania
• full-time service (see CSPG 7 for definition of full-time)
• actual teaching time, not calendar years, from the date Level I was issued • Level II certification requires completion of a PDE-approved induction program to include a mentoring component for all newly employed professional educators.
• Six (6) semi-annual satisfactory ratings completed by employer. Final satisfactory evaluation completed on PDE-approved evaluation form (e.g. PDE 427) retained by the school entity.

Level II – Instructional, Education Specialist

Renewal

Educators must earn six credits of collegiate study; or six credits of PDE-approved continuing professional education courses; or 180 hours of continuing professional education programs, activities or learning experiences through a PDE approved provider; or any combination of the above every five years to maintain active certification status.

NOTE: Each semester collegiate credit is equal to 30 continuing education hours. Each quarter collegiate credit is equal to 20 continuing education hours. All credits and hours must be related to an educator’s certificate type or area of assignment (unless enrolled in an administrative program or approved by the school board).

Administrative

Renewal:

Act 45 of 2007 defines continuing professional education requirements for school and system leaders serving under administrative certificates in specific covered positions (i.e., principals and assistant principals, superintendents and assistant superintendents, intermediate unit (IU) executive directors, assistant IU executive directors and directors of area vocational-technical schools). Individuals employed in these positions under administrative certificates must earn their continuing professional education requirements in courses and programs that have received Pennsylvania Inspired Leaders (PIL) approval from the secretary of education.

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