Active/Inactive Certificate of License to Teach

March 2004

Missouri law requires individuals with Initial Professional Certificates (IPC) to complete 30-contact hours of professional development during the first four years of teaching.  Individuals with Career Continuous Professional Certificates (CCPC) must complete 15-contact hours each year.  The professional development may include hours spent in class in an appropriate college curriculum (one college credit = 15 contact hours) or district-approved professional improvement activities.

If an individual fails, in any given year, to meet the professional development requirement, he/she may within two years, make up the missing hours.  In order to make up for missing hours, the person must first complete the 15-hour requirement for the current year and then may count hours in excess of the current year requirement as make-up hours.  If the person fails to make up the missing hours within two years, the certificate shall become inactive.

IF YOUR CERTIFICATE BECOMES INACTIVE, it can be reactivated by completing 24-contact hours of professional development, which may include college coursework, within the six months prior to or after returning to work.

For example:  You stopped teaching for two years in order to pursue other interests and now want to return to teaching.  You may take college credits to reactivate your certificate of license to teach and begin seeking a job.  Or, you may wait until a school hires you and begin taking college credit or engaging in professional development activities approved by the employing school district.  The local school district will monitor and verify that the professional development takes place during the six months prior or after returning to work. You also are required to meet the annual requirement of 15-contact hours of professional development for that school year. 

When you reactivate your certificate, prior to or after returning to teaching, you must complete 24-contact hours.  Then, you must complete the annual 15-contact hour requirement for that year.  During the school year in which you return to work, you must complete 24 + 15 = 39-contact hours of professional development (or approximately 3 college credits). 

YOU MAY BE EXEMPT FROM REPORTING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT if you have a Career Continuous Professional Certificate and meet two of the following:  

• Ten years of teaching experience as defined by the state board of education;
• Possess a master's degree; or
• Obtains a rigorous national certification as approved by the state board of education.