For teachers, renewing a teaching certification can be a chore or a valuable opportunity for professional growth. It鈥檚 expensive and time-consuming, but it鈥檚 still a way to keep learning and advancing as an educator. Education Week Teacher asked educators to share both the best parts of the recertification process and the horror stories. Here鈥檚 a sample of their responses. Feel free to add your own perspective of the good, the bad, and the ugly of renewing your teaching license in the online comments section below.
#RecertifiedMess
For me it鈥檚 a tie between having to pay $25 to submit and any PD after I鈥檝e earned my 180 points feeling meaningless. #recertifiedmess
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Why over 100 PD hrs when state only cares about recert dollars? I put 鈥渨atching the time go by鈥� as an objective once - state never cared.
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Do you know how many 鈥淲illiams鈥欌�� there are? My paperwork is ALWAYS confused with someone else.
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Having to pay 50$ for fingerprinting & 75$ to renew. I鈥檝e been a teacher for 38 years & now you want my fingerprints
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I didn鈥檛 have a problem with recert, but changing states. Even with 6-10 years experience they want my SATs and first born child.
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Balancing family & classroom duties while completing continuing education classes (plus the cost of college classes on a teacher salary)
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#RecertifiedSuccess
Continued validity of the profession and years of hard work. Interaction with other professionals who are also struggling but persisting.
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For me the best part is just continuing to keep current in my craft.
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I have realized I am a better learner with on-site classes rather than online classes! Love the real life conversations & interactions!
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Completing the mentorship/supervision category helped reaffirm my goal of someday working in a teacher training program #RecertifiedSuccess
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Learning is an ongoing process in life. To cultivate that culture of learning we teachers must be learners n constantly progressing
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