Overview

Due to the recent change in the educator licensing structure, there are several options for renewal at this time.  You may choose to use the New Professional Educator License Renewal Form to renew your license; there is no penalty for renewing from an expired state. Please review the Utah Educator Licensing Renewals School Year 2020-2021 Google Docs resource for renewing educator license types that have been retired and are no longer available.  All previous Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 licenses will be automatically updated to the new Professional License upon renewal, which has a 5-year cycle. (The previous Licenses for the Level 1 with a 3-year cycle and the Level 3 with a 7-year cycle are no longer applicable.)  However, you may select to renew or upgrade your license using the process that was in place when your license was awarded.  Please review the Licensing Renewal Categories Conversion Google Docs to see how the old renewal activities relate to the new.

We understand the renewal process may seem a bit confusing at this time as we ask educators to go through a change on how they look for hours (formerly points). In an effort to make this process simpler, please review the following:

• The minimum hours you need to account for is 100 total from the past 5 years.
• Items such as Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), workshops, and other activities may count in multiple areas.
  • Example: If you are a Keynote Speaker of a workshop or conference, and you also facilitated organizing and conducting the conference, you could count hours in:
    • Professional Learning: X amount of hours you spent planning and executing the conference
    • Alternate Learning Opportunities: X amount of hours you spent attending and participating as the keynote speaker.

With this in mind, when listing your activity under Professional Learning, ask yourself if any of those experiences overlapped or crossed over to the other areas referenced on the Professional Educator License (PEL) Renewal Form.

Effective July 12, 2022, renewals will be done through Utah Schools Information Management System (USIMS).

Ask yourself the following questions about the Professional Development you completed and recorded:

• Was there ever a time you and other educators compared student growth, or techniques for helping students achieve a Student Learning Outcome (SLO)?
  
  • If yes, then hours spent could be recorded under Educator Collaboration Opportunities.
• Were there ever circumstances where you were gathering together as part of a committee to perform tasks and work on behalf of your Local Board, PTA, Utah Education Association (UEA), State Board, or United States Department of Education?
  • If yes, then hours spent could be recorded under Professional Service.
• Was there ever a time that you spent helping behind the scenes to organize PLOs, either off or on contract?
  • If yes, then hours spent could be recorded under Alternate Learning Opportunities (if it was off contract, think of it as volunteer efforts).

Basic Steps for License Renewal

1. Earn and document Professional Learning Hours based on license level:

1. Complete an appropriate Utah Educator Licensing Renewals Google Docs
2. Complete two hours of Youth Suicide Prevention Training within the license cycle through an educator's employing Local Education Agency (LEA)
   1. Youth Suicide Prevention Training for Employees
      Utah State Board of Education Suicide Prevention
3. Complete the Student Data Privacy Re-licensure Sign-in. This USBE Canvas online course may take approximately one hour to complete.

2. Have a cleared Utah State Board of Education Background Fingerprint Check (initiated after July 1, 2015): go to USIMS to begin.

3. Complete a Utah State Board of Education Ethics Review online in USIMS (refer to Step 2)

4. Meet with a Licensed Administrator for signatures and approval of the renewal form

5. Renew License Online at USIMS.

Definitions
A list of definitions pertaining to Licensing.