Effective July 1, 2020, District Provided Professional Development (DPPD) to be used for educator recertification must be approved as State Continuing Education Credit Hours (SCECHs) through the Michigan Online Educator Certification System (MOECS). Below is a list of Frequently Asked Questions to assist both districts and educators.
For more information, please view our DPPD Reporting Process Resources or contact SCECH@michigan.gov.
This process eliminates the educator entry and district verification process, streamlines the educator certificate renewal process, and supports accuracy in reporting. This new process is the result of recommendations made by an external stakeholder group conducted by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE). For more information on the new process, please refer to the New DPPD Reporting Requirements for Districts guidance.
No. The new reporting process does not eliminate the requirements of MCL 380.1526 (15 additional professional development days over the first three years for new teachers) and MCL 380.1527 (5 professional development days each year for all teachers). The new reporting process only changes how DPPD is reported for educator recertification purposes.
Districts have three options regarding SCECH Sponsorship:
SCECH coordinators are responsible for submitting SCECH program applications to the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) and uploading professional learning event participants to MOECS. Assistant coordinators are able to complete the program application in MOECS and submit to the SCECH coordinator. They are also able to prepare participation upload templates for the coordinator. To avoid duplication, assistant coordinators are unable to submit programs to MDE or upload participants directly.
The SCECH Sponsor Application, once completed needs to be sent to SCECH@Michigan.gov. For help completing the application, please view the instructional video: Completing the SCECH Sponsor Application Instructional Video.
Districts have three options when entering DPPD as a SCECH Program:
A yearlong DPPD SCECH Program may include any planned DPPD hours that educators may use for recertification, including but not limited to professional learning communities (PLCs), mentoring, school committees, individualized DPPD, student teacher supervision, new teacher hours, etc. It should be noted that new teacher hours also need to be reported to the Registry of Educational Personnel (REP).
The SCECH Program Application can only be submitted by the SCECH Coordinator in MOECS. Once logged into MOECS, the coordinator selects “Add New” from the “All Applications” screen to access the application. Program applications should be submitted at least 30 days prior to the event to ensure approval. If entering a yearlong DPPD program, the 30 days would only apply the one time before the beginning of the year (one month before your start date). As an example, a yearlong program beginning July 1 would need to be sent by June 1. For specific help on the application and details on what needs to be included in the application, please see the SCECH Program Application Descriptions document or view the instructional video: Submitting a SCECH Program Application Instructional Video.
No. If submitting a yearlong DPPD program, a general DPPD calendar (which may be subject to change) would need to be uploaded to the program application, not an agenda. Individual agendas should be kept on file for audit purposes.
Only a coordinator may upload attendance to MOECS. Once logged in, the coordinator must select “Professional Learning Programs” from the left menu and then click on “Upload/Add” in the roster column of the appropriate program’s row. SCECH Coordinators may enter participants by entire roster using the downloadable template or individually. Participants must be identified using their Personal Identification Code (PIC) number. Multiple participants and multiple dates, as well as the same participant using multiple dates may be entered into the same template for upload. For more information, please refer to the Uploading SCECH Participants into MOECS guidance or view the Uploading SCECH Program Participation in MOECS Instructional Video.
Once attendance is uploaded, a program evaluation survey is automatically sent to each participant. After the educator completes the survey, SCECHs are awarded into the educator’s MOECS account. Program evaluation surveys are sent to educators per upload. For example, if an educator is listed 5 different times on an upload template to 5 different dates, they would only receive one survey.
Districts are unable to change the questions, but may add up to five additional questions to the survey by selecting “Add/Edit Evaluation Questions” from the menu in the Function column of the row of the appropriate program. Coordinators will be asked if they want to add questions when they click to upload participants.
Districts should maintain documentation demonstrating that the program took place, including agendas, sign-in sheets, reflections, etc.
Yes, districts are still encouraged to offer individualized DPPD. Again, individualized DPPD hours can be uploaded through a generic yearlong DPPD program, in a separated yearlong program, or individually depending on district preference.
Yes, but only for DPPD that occurred prior to July 1, 2020, as this DPPD is still allowed to be used by educators for their next certificate renewal. Upon an educator’s next renewal they will no longer be able to use DPPD activities occurring prior to that renewal date. Any DPPD occurring after July 1, 2020 will not be entered into MOECS by educators.
After July 1, 2020, all DPPD, once approved, will meet the SCECH requirement for instructional hours, but would have to meet all other requirements in law (MCL 388.1701(10)) to be eligible to count as Pupil Instructional Hours. For more information, please view the Pupil Accounting Manual or previous communications from November 16, 2019 and December 12, 2019.
School counselors are required to accrue 150 education-related professional learning hours, 50 of which must be in specific categories (25 in college prep, 25 in career exploration, 5 of the career exploration hours specific to military options). If recording general hours (part of the other 100) then they may be uploaded into the general DPPD yearlong program. If offering DPPD in the specific categories, it would need to be a separate program under the School Counselor category to assign the appropriate types of hours. The counselor program could also be a yearlong program. Other educators would be able to partake in this program as well.
No. All DPPD activities occurring after July 1, 2020 will be entered by the district and awarded as SCECHs. Educators will only need to keep the DPPD log for activities prior to July 1, 2020. For more information, refer to the New DPPD Process for Educators guidance.
Yes. Any DPPD already input into MOECS may be used toward an educator’s next recertification. However, any DPPD after July 1, 2020 will need to be entered as SCECHs in order to be used for certification purposes.
Yes, educators may enter DPPD into MOECS that was earned prior to July 1, 2020. For example, in 2022, an educator would be able to enter DPPD earned in 2018, but would not be able to add DPPD earned after June 30, 2020.
For any DPPD already entered into MOECS, educators will want to keep proof of participation in the program, including agendas. For any DPPD after July 1, 2020, educators will no longer need to keep the records as districts will be required to have that information.
After the district uploads participants from a DPPD program in MOECS, a program evaluation survey will automatically be sent. Once the survey is completed, the SCECHs are awarded to the educator’s MOECS account.
No, there is no deadline for educators to complete the surveys. With that said, they would only need to complete the survey prior to their next certificate renewal, otherwise the SCECH will no longer be able to be used.
Educators may want to communicate with their districts to ensure that DPPD will be recorded as SCECHs and to discover how often their participation will be uploaded. Educators may also want to update their contact information in MOECS to ensure they receive the program evaluation survey notifications.
