Initial Certificates

An Initial educator certificate is valid for three school years and is not renewable. It is typically issued to an early career educator or to an educator without recent work experience in a regionally accredited Pk-12 education setting. Options to advance to a Professional certificate or continue certification vary depending on an educator’s employment status in South Carolina.

Advancing to a Professional Certificate

In order to advance from an Initial to a renewable Professional certificate that is valid for five school years, an educator must successfully complete additional requirements while employed in a South Carolina public school setting. These requirements vary depending upon the basis for issuance of the Initial certificate and are specified in communication from the South Carolina Department of Education at the time an Initial certificate is issued to an educator.

Professional Certificate Requirements for Educator Preparation Program Completers

An educator who has successfully completed an approved educator preparation program and meets all South Carolina certification requirements, including passing scores on the required subject area and pedagogy assessments, will be issued an Initial certificate. In order to advance to a standard Professional certificate, this educator must:

be employed in a South Carolina public school,
participate in the employing district’s induction program, and
successfully complete the summative evaluation of teaching performance at the Annual contract level as part of the state’s system for Assisting, Developing, and Evaluating Professional Teaching (ADEPT).

Professional Certificate Requirements for Out-of-State Certified Educators

An out-of-state certified educator who meets all South Carolina certification requirements, but presents less than twenty-seven months of qualifying teaching experience in the last seven years in the other state, will be issued an Initial certificate. In order to advance to a standard Professional certificate, this educator must:

be employed in a South Carolina public school;
participate in the employing district’s induction program, if required based on years of experience;
successfully complete the summative evaluation of teaching performance at the Annual contract level as part of the state’s ADEPT system; and
submit a qualifying score on an approved pedagogy assessment. If a pedagogy assessment was completed as part of another state's certification requirements, the out-of-state certificate holder may submit score reports for consideration.

Educators issued an Initial certificate in the fields of School Counselor or School Librarian are not required to take a pedagogy exam for certification purposes.

Process and Timeline for Certificate Advancement

At the conclusion of each school year, educators holding an Initial certificate that expires in June of that year are automatically evaluated for advancement to the Professional certificate. This automated process occurs in late July annually and does not require any request from the educator. For the purposes of certificate advancement, the ADEPT summative evaluation requirement must be completed during the validity period of the current Initial certificate, and the employing school district must submit an evaluation result of "met" through the state’s educator evaluation data system.

Other Options: Initial Certificate Extensions

SC Public School Employees

Beyond the initial three-year validity period, an educator who does not yet meet the requirements for a Professional certificate, but who is employed by a South Carolina public school district, is eligible for an annual extension at the request of the employing district, subject to the following conditions.

Extensions must be requested annually and consecutively. An educator with an Initial certificate that has been expired for a school year or longer is not eligible for an extension and must reapply for certification and meet current requirements.
An educator employed at the Induction or Annual contract level, as defined in S.C. Code Ann. Section 59-26-40, may have the Initial certificate extended annually at the request of the employing school district provided the educator will not exceed the four Annual contracts allowed on the current Initial certificate.
An educator employed in a position that does not require certification or is not included in the ADEPT system may have the Initial certificate extended annually for an indefinite period at the request of the employing school district, so long as Annual Requirements for Initial Certificate Extensions are met every five extensions.

Educators Employed in Other Educational Settings in South Carolina

Beyond the initial three-year validity period, an educator who holds an Initial certificate and is employed in a non-public school or educational setting in South Carolina (e.g., an independent or parochial school) may have their certificates extended annually at the request of the employer. The educational entity may request extensions each year for as long as the educator remains employed with the entity, so long as Annual Requirements for Initial Certificate Extensions are met every five extensions.

The following requirements apply:

Extensions must be requested annually and consecutively.
- An educator with an Initial certificate that has been expired for a school year or longer is not eligible for an extension and must reapply for certification and meet current requirements.
The educator must submit a request for an extension through My SC Educator Portal.
The employer must submit a formal correspondence to the Office of Educator Services.
- Formal correspondence submitted for an extension request must:
  - be presented on the official letterhead of the employing entity,
  - state the educator's full name and certificate number,
  - indicate the school year for the extension,
  - verify that the educator will be employed by the entity during the period of the extension, and
  - bear the handwritten or verified electronic signature of the entity’s human resources or administrative personnel.
- A PDF copy of the formal correspondence may be emailed by the employer to certification@ed.sc.gov. Alternatively, the educator may upload a PDF copy of the formal letter through My SC Educator Portal by using the "Submit Documents" feature and choosing "Correspondence" after submitting an extension request.

Other Options: Limited Professional Certificate

The purpose of the Limited Professional certificate is to provide a certificate advancement option for educators who hold South Carolina Initial teaching certificates and who are employed as educators in eligible, non-regulated educational entities in this state. In this context, “non-regulated” means that the entity is not required to comply with State Board of Education regulations and guidelines for evaluating educator performance and effectiveness.

Examples of Qualifying Employers Include:

State or regionally accredited private and parochial schools in South Carolina,
South Carolina public charter schools that elect not to participate in the State Board of Education approved process for evaluating teacher performance and effectiveness, and
South Carolina institutions of higher education that have programs approved for teacher preparation by the State Board of Education.

Eligibility

In order to be eligible for advancement from an Initial certificate to a Limited Professional certificate, the educator must be employed by an eligible, non-regulated educational entity in South Carolina and must have accrued a minimum total of three years of experience credit, in their certification area, over the previous seven years in one or more of these entities. The Initial certificate must not have been expired for more than one school year.

During the entirety of the qualifying time period, the educator must have:

held a current, valid South Carolina Initial teaching certificate;
been employed in a position which aligns (both in content and grade range) with a field in which the educator holds Initial certification;
been employed in a South Carolina non-regulated educational entity; and
successfully completed an annual performance evaluation process that is approved by the employing educational entity.

Applying

Once all eligibility criteria are met, educators may request advancement from the Initial certificate level to the Limited Professional certificate level by submitting the following:

Submit a request using My SC Educator Portal
Submit experience verification
- Have your employer complete an Experience Verification Form on your behalf; they may email the completed form to certification@ed.sc.gov or you may then upload the completed form using My SC Educator Portal
Submit copies of annual performance evaluations successfully completed at the educational entity during the qualifying period
- PDF copies may be submitted using My SC Educator Portal
Submit a recommendation for advancement
- Have your employer's lead administrator complete a Recommendation for the Limited Professional Certificate Form on your behalf; they may email the completed form to certification@ed.sc.gov or you may then upload the completed form using My SC Educator Portal

Renewing a Limited Professional Certificate

Limited Professional certificates are valid for a period of up to five years and are renewable. In order to renew a Limited Professional certificate, educators must earn 120 renewal credits during that five-year period to renew the certificate.

Requirements for renewing Limited Professional certificates are the same as those for Renewing Professional Certificates, as specified in State Board of Education Regulation 43-55 (Renewal of Credentials).

Applying for a Position in a South Carolina Public School

An educator who holds a valid Limited Professional Certificate and who applies for a position as a teacher or a professional support specialist in a “regulated” South Carolina public school is eligible for employment at the annual-contract level. Once employed under an annual contract, the teacher is subject to all requirements and sanctions for annual-contract teachers, as set forth in the applicable state statutes, regulations, and guidelines. Upon successful completion of the SBE-approved process for evaluating teaching performance and effectiveness, the educator is eligible to move from a Limited Professional Certificate to a Professional Certificate and to be employed under a continuing contract.

Limitations

Limited Professional certificates are not eligible to add leadership fields (School Principal, Career and Technology (CTE) Center Director, or District Superintendent).

Other Options: Applying for a New Initial Certificate

When to Reapply

Educators holding an Initial certificate must reapply for a new certificate in either of the following circumstances:

the educator is employed in a South Carolina educational setting, but their Initial certificate has been expired for one or more school years; or
the educator is not employed in a South Carolina educational setting at the time of Initial certificate expiration.

How to Reapply

Educators holding an expired Initial certificate may reapply for certification by meeting all requirements for their selected Certification Application Pathway.

When reapplying, please note that some documents that have been submitted previously do not need to be submitted again to reapply. The following application materials are not time-sensitive and do not need to be resubmitted if already on file at the Office of Educator Services:

Official Transcripts,
NACES Evaluations for Out-of-Country Institutes of Higher Education,
College Recommendation Forms, and
Experience Verification Forms.

All other materials required for a given certification application pathway must be submitted. This may include taking currently required subject area assessment and/or pedagogy assessment. Please contact the Office of Educator Services at 803-896-0325 or certification@ed.sc.gov for assistance in determining if a given application procedure or exam must be completed.