Certification regulations require the completion of 9.0 (90 contact hours) Continuing Education Units (CEUs) every five-year period that a professional educator certificate holder is employed (full-time or part-time) in a Connecticut public school serving under a professional educator certificate. Initial and provisional certificate holders are not required to earn CEUs for certification purposes, except for graduates from the Alternate Route to Certification program. Certificate holders who are not required to complete CEUs may choose to track or not track the completion of activities completed for CEUs.
If you have a license that you are not currently practicing under (i.e. you have admin. cert. but are teaching) do you have to maintain those CEUs (i.e. admin. CEUs)?
The specific CEUs you need are tied to the endorsement that you’re currently employed under. If you will be under a new position by the time you renew your certification, be sure to obtain the necessary CEUs for the certification you are serving under at that time.
How are CEUs calculated?
CEUs are awarded for the successful completion of professional development activities which focus on improved student learning. CEUs awarded by providers approved by the CSDE may be used to fulfill the certification requirements for the continuance of a professional educator certificate (the Stamford Public Schools is one such provider). Each CEU is based on ten contact hours of educational experience. Therefore, a participant in a six-hour professional development activity will be awarded .6 CEUs. Three semester hours of graduate credit, awarded by a regionally accredited institution, will be accepted as equivalent to 4.5 CEUs, if the credit is in a person's current endorsement area or if the credit is being applied to a new endorsement.
100% participation is required in order for a teacher to earn CEUs for participating in professional development activities offered for less than five hours. 80% participation is required for activities offered for more than five hours, but only if extenuating circumstances exist which prevent the participant from completing the activity. These guidelines are provided in accordance with the CSDE CEU Procedures Manual (pages 5-6).
What activities might I participate in to earn CEUs?
The required 90 hours of contact hours of continuing education may consist of the following (individually or in combination of):
Professional development activities eligible for CEUs offered by the Stamford Public Schools (which include workshops, PLCs, school-based school improvement activities, and numerous others)
Professional development activities offered by Connecticut-approved CEU providers (a list of such providers can be viewed at the following website: http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/cwp/view.asp?a=2613&q=321398);
CEU equivalents, which are made available to school personnel by mutual, pre-arranged agreement with the Director of School Improvement and Professional Development For more information, please see the linked section on CEU equivalents.
Application of learning through service in specific state roles (first-time participation as TEAM Mentor, TEAM Cooperating Teacher, TEAM Reflection Paper Reviewer, TEAM Trainer, or other state service as approved by the Commissioner); and
Graduate course(s), taken from an approved college or university, that are directly applicable to your current endorsement(s) or an additional endorsement being earned.
*CEUs, CEU equivalents and graduate credit(s) earned during one five-year professional educator certification period may not be applied towards the required 90 contact hours of continuing education for the subsequent five-year period.
How will my CEUs be recorded in EZTraxx?
After participation in a Stamford Public Schools-sponsored event, the district or school-based CEU recorder (depending on the organizer of the professional development activity) will record your participation in EZTraxx within 30 days of the activity taking place. Once attendance has been recorded, teachers who participated in the activity will receive an email indicating that they can login to EZTraxx and complete an evaluation for the activity. CEUs cannot be awarded for PD activities that have not been evaluated.
Upon completion of a professional development activity offered by another CEU provider (such as CES), this organization will award you a paper certificate explicitly stating how many CEUs were earned during this workshop/activity/conference. In this case, the provider has already awarded you the CEUs; therefore, the district does not issue CEUs or equivalents for the workshop/activity/conference. You need to keep a paper copy certificate of completion for this activity, in your own records, as proof of your attendance. This information can then be logged unofficially, by you, on the EZTraxx website. To do so, log on at https://www.protraxx.com/login.aspx, click on "Reports" and then "Create Self Profile" to create the activity.
What is the timeline for awarding CEUs?
- Within 30 days after the activity occurs, the activity must be documented in EZTraxx with those individuals enrolled who attended the activity. CEU Coordinators must then send an email to all attendees notifying them that the evaluation is available to be completed online.
- Within 75 days after the activity occurs, participants must complete the evaluation in EZTraxx.
- Participants who have not completed evaluations within 90 days of the completion of the professional development activity will be issued a certificate of completion, which is not a CEU award. A certificate of completion is not sufficient to satisfy the requirements of a State audit. Approved Connecticut CEU provider must provide CEU certificates within 90 days of successful completion of an activity offered for CEUs.
If I plan and present a PD Activity, how many CEUs will I receive?
- A Presenter/Instructor will receive double the amount of recorded CEUs for an activity ranging from 1 to 4 hours in length. (ex. For presenting an activity lasting 3 hours, an instructor will receive a total of 0.6 CEUs).
- A Presenter/Instructor will receive an additional 6 hours of credit (beyond the time of the PD Activity itself) to account for planning and preparation of an activity lasting at least 5 hours in length. (ex. For presenting an activity lasting 5 hours, an instructor will receive a total of 1.1 CEUs)
- Please remember that PLCs should be jointly facilitated by all teachers involved, for instance, by rotating the responsibility for facilitation among the members. Therefore, no instructor CEUs will be awarded for these PD activities.