Certificated Staff Requirements

If you are not currently a Washington resident, you must verify that you have at least three years of experience teaching. Additionally, you must hold a current teaching certificate from a different state.

Out-of-state applicants may be issued a temporary permit to teach. Within one year of this permit, you are required to pass the basic Washington Educator Skills Test, the WEST-B. The WEST-B is administered to all students entering a teacher preparation program in Washington and assesses foundational reading, writing, and math skills.

An additional test, the WEST-E, may also be required for teachers seeking endorsements in specific subjects. Both out-of-state applicants and Washington residents are eligible to take the WEST-E if they would like to establish their expertise in a field of course content.

A fingerprinting background check is required for all candidates.

If your current certificate is within 5 years of expiration, you may apply for renewal of your certificate. 100 clock hours or equivalents must be completed from the date of issuance through the expiration date of the current certificate.

There are multiple options to meet the clock hour requirements to maintain a teaching certificate:

Clock hours
Clock hours are units of credit assigned to educators at a professional development/training event.   All Washington public school districts and compact schools are approved providers.  Additional clock hour providers can be found on the OSPI Approved Provider page.

Continuing education units (CEUs) from accredited colleges or universities are accepted as clock hours, whether in-state or out-of-state. Credit courses must be 100-level or above.  When claiming clock hours from CEUs, the following clock hour equivalents apply:

• 1 quarter credit = 10 clock hours;
• 1 semester credit = 15 clock hours

Professional Development Units (PDUs), STARS hours (issued by Washington State DCYF), and hours used to renew Department of Health (DOH) licenses are also accepted as clock hours (all educators, not just educational staff associates (ESAs), can use hours that satisfy the DOH licensure requirements as clock hours for continuing education).

Professional Growth Plans
Professional growth plans (PGPs) are job-embedded, self-directed professional development.

Each completed annual PGP shall receive the equivalent of 25 continuing education credit hours.

With a PGP, teachers, administrators, paraeducators, and ESAs set their own goals, align them to certification standards, design an action plan, and collect evidence documenting growth toward achieving their goals. Educators then reflect on the process.

There is no cost to an educator for a PGP. Only one PGP may be completed each year. PGPs are completed between July 1 of one year and June 30 of the next. Additional information regarding PGPs can be found on the PESB Website.

National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
In lieu of clock hours, achieving National Board Certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) entitles you to apply for a Washington state Professional Teacher or Educational Staff Associate (ESA) Certificate and maintain your certificate for 5 years. However, it is necessary to complete the appropriate OSPI certification application to maintain your teaching certificate. Applications for state certification and renewal are completed through E-Certification.  More information about National Board Certification can be found on the OSPI Website or the NBPTS Website.

STEM: Residency renewal applicants submitting after 9/1/2019; that hold specific endorsements, must complete the STEM requirements as part of their clock hours.

Issues of Abuse Course Requirements: Educators need to verify they’ve completed issues of abuse coursework/training for their first five-year renewal or if they’ve not verified it previously.  It only needs to be completed once.  This course MUST be entered into the 'PD Hours' section of the E-Certification account before applying on the first renewal.   COURSE NOTE: The issues of abuse course or course work must include information related to the identification of physical, emotional, sexual, and substance abuse; the impact on learning and behavior; the responsibilities of an educator to report abuse or to provide assistance to victimized children; and methods of teaching about abuse and its prevention.

Suicide Prevention Course: School counselors, school nurses, school psychologists, and school social workers only must complete a training program on youth suicide screening and referral as a condition of certification. The training program must be at least three hours in length. Approved training meeting this suicide prevention training requirement will be as published by the professional educator standards board (PESB).

Teacher & CTE Teacher Certificates	Administrator and CTE Director Certificates
15 Hours Equity- Based School Practices(Aligned with CCDEI standards)- All Renewals	10 Hours Equity- Based School Practices(Aligned with CCDEI standards)- All Renewals
15 STEM Hours for residency, professional, initial, and continuing teacher and CTE teacher certificates with STEM-related endorsements	10 Hours National Professional Standards for Education Leaders
	5 Hours Government to Government Relationships with Federally Recognized Tribes

 

All applications are processed through the OSPI E-Certification Site.  Information about using the site can be found in the Educator User Guide.  For additional information, you can access OSPI’s E-certification page.

When reapplying, Mead Staff will see clock hours uploaded from PDEnroller under the PD Hours tab on their e-cert account.  If clock hours that were issued from PDEnroller are not showing, the user will need to log out of their PDEnroller account and then log back into it using the EDS Login link.

Clock hours issued outside of PDEnroller will need to be manually added to the PDHours tab within E-Certification. Please Note: These clock hours will NOT show in PDEnroller, but should be submitted to the HR Department for Salary Placement Purposes.