Amendments to the Teacher Tenure Act

You are in a probationary period during the first four years of employment. You must have an Individualized Development Plan (IDP). An IDP must be developed by appropriate administrative staff in consultation with you. An IDP must include goals. An assessment of progress in meeting IDP goals must be included on an annual year-end performance evaluation.

Certification
You must hold a valid teaching certificate in order to be employed as a teacher in a Michigan Public School district. The Michigan State Department of Education issues teaching certificates at the recommendation of the college or university attended.

Provisional Certificate
Once you graduate from a college of education and meet all the requirements, you must apply for and will receive a Michigan provisional teaching certificate, which is valid for 6 years.

Professional Education Certificate
This is the advanced Michigan certificate required for all candidates who hold a current or expired Michigan Provisional (or Provisional renewal) Certificate. The Professional Certificate may be issued, when you have met the following requirements:

1. Hold a current or expired Michigan Provisional (or Provisional Renewal) Certificate.
2. Have taught successfully for the equivalent of three years following the issuance of your Michigan Provisional Certificate
3. Have presented evidence that you hold a Master's Degree or have completed a minimum of 18 semester hours in a planned program, which must have prior approval of the college of education certification officer.
4. Have completed course work in the teaching of reading at the undergraduate or graduate level.

Professional Education Certificate Renewal
Once you have received a Professional Education Certificate, it must be renewed every five years by obtaining:

• 6 semester hours of graduate credit or
• 18 hours of State Board Certified Education Units (SB-Cues) or
• a combination of graduate credit and SB-Cues = 1 semester hour).

Provisional Renewal
In the event you do not qualify for the Professional Education certificate within the provisional period, a 3-year renewal may be granted twice.

Contact your University or College to learn more about certification requirements and graduate degree programs.