• Teacher Certification

    Valid Teaching Certificates
    All certified employees must maintain valid teaching certificates from the State Department of Education.  Certificates must be on file in the Personnel Office prior to the first day of the contract period. Professional certificates are valid for five years and expire on June 30th of the expiration year.

    Changes in Certification
    It is the responsibility of each certified employee to update professional development and courses completed in MyLearningPlan.com.  It is also his/her responsibility to keep Human Resources and the state department updated with changes in name, address or any certification changes. Please contact the District Renewal Coordinator, Wanda Anderson, (864) 852-0634  or andersonw@mccormick.k12.sc.us with questions.

    The requirements are as follows:

    • one 3 hour graduate level course = 60 credits

    • If a teacher doesn’t have a master’s degree, there must be at least three hours of graduate credit.

    • 120 in-service points earned through an approved district certificate renewal plan.

    • Six semester hours of State Department of Education in-service points, or State Department of Education approved in-service credit.

    • Any combination of college transcript credit, in-service points, or State Department of Education approved in-service credit.

    • Courses taken for renewal credit must be directly related to particular educator's area(s) of certification, or to the goals of the educator and/or the educator's employing educational entity.

    National Board Certification Support

    The National Board is dedicated to ensuring that more students across the country can learn from teachers who have proven themselves to be accomplished educators.

    Board Certified Teachers

    National Board

    Information for National Board Retake Candidates

    CERRA - Candidate Support Workshops

    Initial to Professional Certification Procedure

    In June of each year, the Office of Educator Certification reviews each teacher’s progress. The teacher’s initial certificate is automatically changed to, professional status, once the requirements listed below are met. An initial certificate is issued for three years. Moving from an initial certificate to a professional certificate requires the completion of two requirements.

    First, a passing score on the appropriate Principles of Learning and Teaching (PLT) Praxis test must be submitted. Students completing a state approved teacher preparation program must meet the PLT test requirement, prior to receiving an initial certificate.

    Second, successfully completing the ADEPT formal evaluation requirements.

    At the conclusion of each school year, an automated procedure is activated for teachers with an initial certificate expiring in June of the current year. The process checks for the ADEPT information and for the required PLT test. If the required data is in the file, the initial certificate is automatically changed to professional status. This can be confirmed by checking the Certification Status from the Web site. If a teacher holding an initial certificate completes the PLT and ADEPT requirements during the school year, the upgrade to the professional certificate can be initiated by the teacher through submission of a Request for Change of Action Form  (33Kb PDF) that can be downloaded from the state department website.