Educators employed with Greenville County Schools are responsible for submitting and/or reporting all changes of their certifications/licenses, including degree status, years of experience, name, address, and any other changes, to the Certification Specialist in a timely manner.
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| Stacy Forrester, Certification Specialist, Professional Employment Phone: 864.355.3174 Fax: 864.355.9784 sforrest@greenville.k12.sc.us |
Certificate Related Pay Changes
After the South Carolina State Department of Education has modified your certificate to reflect a degree upgrade or additional years of experience please submit a copy of your changed certificate, along with District Request Change Action form, to the Certification Specialist for processing your pay change.
Certificate Renewal
Steps to Renew Professional Certificate
- All renewal applicants must submit a District Request Change Action form to the Certification Specialist for processing after you have met all of the necessary requirements for renewal. If you have a transcript on file at the SC SDE please also include a Computation Sheet. Please submit your request to me as soon as you have met the renewal requirements; you will not lose time on your certificate by applying for renewal early.
- If in-service points are being used toward recertification, please attach a print-out from the portal of your current earned in-service points rather than listing every in-service/workshop on the Computation Sheet; the Computation Sheet is only necessary if you have a transcript on file at the SC SDE that needs to be accessed.
- Note: Any educator who does not have a Master's degree on their teaching certificate must earn at least sixty renewal credits (3 semester hours) in graduate-level coursework to renew his/her current certificate. If you are using college credit for your renewal, an official transcript from the college/university should be on file at the district office (have the university send transcript to: Attn. Stacy Forrester, 301 E. Camperdown Way, Greenville, SC 29601) prior to submitting your renewal request. You will be notified when your transcript arrives.
Extension: if you feel you will not meet renewal requirements by your certificate expiration date, you will need to submit a Request Change Action form (found at www.scteachers.org) to the SC SDE requesting a certificate extension. You must get a copy of your certificate reflecting the extension to the Certification Specialist. It is up to the SC SDE to determine whether or not you are eligible to receive an extension to your certificate. At the end of the one-year period, the educator must submit sufficient credits to the Recertification Specialist for their renewal. When renewed, the certificate will be valid for 4 years.
SC SDE Renewal Requirements
The following certificate renewal guidelines apply to any person who holds a South Carolina educator’s professional certificate. An educator’s professional certificate is valid for five years and expires on June 30 of the expiration year. In order to be eligible for certificate renewal, the educator must earn a minimum of 120 renewal credits, as described in the Renewal Credit Matrix, during the five-year validity period of the certificate. These credits may be earned one of three ways:
- 6 college credit hours
- a combination – one 3-hour graduate level class + 60 renewal credits
- 120 renewal points (with a Master’s degree or above)
Note: Any educator who has not earned a master’s degree must earn at least sixty renewal credits (three semester hours) in graduate-level coursework to renew his or her current certificate.
The following are some examples of activities that are not eligible for certificate renewal credit:
- association membership/leadership activities
- committee/board/faculty meetings
- business meetings
- performance of required duties and responsibilities like on-the-job training or orientation
- activities where the educator was paid (not including mentoring, PAS-T third evaluator, or teaching a college class)
- juried art events
- entertainment
- recreation
- travel
- unsupervised study
Renewal Credits
The Renewal Credit Matrix provides a list of acceptable renewal credit options for educators employed by Greenville County Schools, along with the eligibility criteria and required verification for each option.
Certified educators employed by Greenville County Schools (this does not include substitute teachers) will use the following guidelines for submitting renewal credits:
- College Credits (Option 1) – Upon completion of a college course, the official transcript, in the college/university’s sealed envelope, is to be mailed to the Certification Specialist at the Greenville County Schools Central Office. (If a transcript is to be used for anything other than certificate renewal, such as adding an area or upgrading to another level, the transcript should be sent to the State Department rather than the school district.)
- State Department of Education Certificate Renewal Course (Option 2) – Upon successful completion of an official SDE recertification course, the educator will be given a form entitled, “Official Documentation for Completion - SDE Approved Recertification Course”, which should be submitted to the Certification Specialist at the Greenville County Schools Central Office. The SDE renewal credits will be posted electronically to the educator’s certificate at the State Department.
- District Classes on Portal (Option 3) - All district classes are available for on-line registration through the Portal system. (Note, once the points or exchange day credit have been issued by the instructor, they will not be reversed.) If the points are incorrect or have not been posted, it is the responsibility of the participant to notify the instructor within 45 days of the activity.
- Other Professional Development Activities (Options 4-11) – Refer to the Renewal Credit Matrix for eligibility criteria and required verification. All requests for renewal credit under this option must be submitted within 45 days of completion of the activity.
- Renewal credits that are not used for recertification may not be carried over from one validity period to the next.
Initial Certificates
INITIAL certificates cannot be renewed; therefore, points and/or courses are not used to move to a professional certificate.
After a teacher with an initial certificate has met the requirements to advance to a professional certificate, including successful completion of the ADEPT/PAS-T Formal Evaluation process, the State Department of Education (SDE) will automatically issue their professional certificate in July of the year their initial certificate expires.
The state department will not send an updated certificate to the educator. Please see the “Obtaining a Copy of Educator Certificate” section below. It is the responsibility of the teacher to provide a photocopy or fax to the Human Resources Department.
National Board Certificates
All renewal work for an NBCT who is renewing under the SC professional educator's certification (instead of renewing their National Board Certificate) must be completed during the last five years of the ten year validity of the National Board Certification.
Certified Substitutes
Certificate renewals for educators not employed in a South Carolina school district or entity are normally handled directly through the State Department of Education. Please refer to their website: http://www.scteachers.org/cert/recert/rc_notemp.cfm.
Obtaining Copy of Educator Certificate
To print a copy of your certificate from the state department website, go to www.scteachers.org. Click "View Certification Status" in the top right-hand corner of the page. Follow the steps to pull up your certificate. Click the 
icon to view and/or print the certificate.
Portfolio Notebook
The educator must keep their Professional Growth and Development Plan in the notebook.
Leaving the District
Upon leaving the school district, it is the responsibility of the educator to immediately contact the Recertification Specialist at the Greenville County Schools Central Office to request their renewal credits be posted to their certificate at the state department.