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Teacher and Administrator Certification

Michigan professional certificate requirements

Requirements

Requirements to go from Provisional to Professional prior to Sept 1, 2013:

Beginning September 1, 2013 a Professional Certificate requires:

At least 1 of the following:

And it requires:
* Satisfactory completion of 3 semester credit hours in an approved course of study in the diagnosis and remediation of reading disabilities and differentiated instruction, which includes a field experience. Here at WMU the course Literacy Studies (LS) 5160 Professional Symposium in Reading will satisfy this requirement.

Teaching

Planned Program Routes:

An individual with a Provisional Certificate must complete eighteen semester hours after the issuance of their Provisional certificate in an approved planned program. However, if the person has an "approved" master's or higher degree, regardless of when earned, is not required to complete the eighteen semester hour program.

Planned program routes:

Restrictions:

Teaching Experience Requirement:

The candidate must have taught successfully for the equivalent of three years, following the issuance of their Provisional Certificate and within the validity of their grade-level and subject area. The success of the teaching experience is determined by the State Board of Education upon recommendation of the University and of the local school district(s) in which the candidate taught.

Experience can be accumulated through part-time, including substitute teaching, under the following prorating formula: one half or more of a teaching day (2 and l/2 or more clock hours) is the equivalent to one day, and 150 accumulated days is the equivalent of one year. However, but not more than 1 year of employment can be earned during a calendar year and only one day of employment can be earned during a calendar day. There is no requirement that such experience be under contract, in consecutive years, or be completed in Michigan.

The teaching experience does not have to be completed before expiration of the Provisional certificate as it remains cumulative toward the Professional Certificate. It is not lost when the initial Provisional Certificate expires but rather like credit, it remains “in the bank” until you have the requirements necessary to go from Provisional to Professional.

Types of teaching experience that may be accepted:

Types of teaching experience that are not acceptable:

If any experience is in question our office will request an official job description from the Human Resources department of the employing school district or agency.

Reading Laws:

Teacher

There are two reading laws that must be fulfilled – the reading methods and the reading diagnostic. The1983 reading methods law requires Elementary teachers to complete six credit hours of reading methods course work; Secondary teachers must complete three credit hours, appropriate to their certification grade levels. This is included in a teacher's undergraduate education program if they completed their teacher education program within Michigan after 1983. Teachers who completed their initial teacher education programs in Michigan before 1983 or those who completed their teacher education programs at an out-of-state institution need to provide verification that they have completed the 1983 reading methods requirement. This can be done by providing the Certification Office with official transcripts from the teacher’s educator program.

Please be aware that the new reading diagnostic law is in addition to the 1983 reading methods requirement.

Effective Jun. 29, 2009, any teacher who does not yet have a Professional certificate is required to complete a three credit hour course of study, with appropriate field experiences, in diagnosis, remediation of reading disabilities and differentiated instruction in order to qualify for a Professional certificate. The reading diagnostic course, LS 5160 Professional Symposium in Reading at WMU will cover this requirement. Teachers who already have a Professional Certificate or Continuing Certificate are exempt from this requirement.

A list of acceptable reading courses may be obtained from the Certification Office.