Michigan SCECH Requirements: Renewal Hours, Reporting, and District Tracking

What Michigan SCECH Requirements Are

To renew a standard teaching license in Michigan, educators must complete 150 State Continuing Education Clock Hours (SCECHs), 6 semester credits, or a combination over a five-year renewal cycle. Hours must come from Michigan Department of Education (MDE) authorized sponsors and appear in the Michigan Online Educator Certification System (MOECS) before the certificate expiration date.

SCECH stands for State Continuing Education Clock Hour. One semester credit equals 25 SCECHs. One quarter credit equals 16.67 SCECHs. Educators may mix college coursework and SCECH workshops to reach the 150-hour total.

The requirement applies to holders of Professional Education, Standard Elementary, and Standard Secondary certificates issued by MDE. Temporary instruction permits and substitute permits do not require SCECHs for renewal. The 150-hour requirement applies to certificates with five-year renewal cycles beginning after January 1, 2018.

License Types and Renewal Cycles

Standard Teaching Certificates renew every five years and require 150 SCECHs or 6 semester credits. Professional Education Certificates for administrators, school counselors, and reading specialists also require 150 SCECHs per five-year cycle. Each certificate type carries its own expiration date. Educators holding multiple certificates must track each separately.

School counselors must complete 25 of the 150 SCECHs in career exploration, including at least 5 hours in military career options, and 25 SCECHs in college preparation. MDE verifies compliance by reviewing the program descriptions tied to each SCECH entry in MOECS.

Administrators holding both a teaching certificate and an administrator certificate must meet the 150-hour requirement for each certificate separately if both are active. Expired certificates cannot be renewed if the holder waited more than three years after expiration. A new application and testing are required in that case.

SCECH Sponsors and Approved Providers

Only MDE-authorized SCECH sponsors may offer professional learning that counts toward license renewal. SCECH sponsors include intermediate school districts, regional education service agencies, public universities, Michigan Virtual, and approved private vendors. Educators must verify sponsor status before enrolling in a program.

Each program must receive individual approval from MDE before SCECHs are awarded. A vendor authorized as a SCECH sponsor must still submit each workshop, online course, or conference session to MDE for review. MDE assigns each approved program a unique program number, which sponsors must use when reporting hours to MOECS.

Districts may become SCECH sponsors but must apply through MDE and meet sponsor requirements, including annual reporting and program evaluation. Many districts rely on intermediate school districts or regional agencies to act as sponsors for district-provided professional development.

District-Provided Professional Development and DPPD

Districts provide professional development (DPPD) that counts toward the 150-hour requirement if the district enters it into MOECS as SCECHs. After July 1, 2020, districts must report all DPPD used for recertification as SCECHs through MOECS. This change consolidated two parallel systems into one state tracking database.

DPPD must align with the educator's individual development plan and district improvement goals. The district superintendent or designee must approve DPPD hours before they are entered into MOECS. The designee must hold a MOECS account with district-level access and the authority to post professional learning records.

Districts are not automatically SCECH sponsors. They must apply to MDE if they want to offer programs beyond DPPD. For routine professional development days, the district superintendent approves the hours and enters them under the district's MOECS reporting authority.

Educators cannot count the same hours twice. If DPPD is reported as SCECHs in MOECS, it satisfies the 150-hour requirement without separate DPPD tracking.

How to Renew a Michigan Teaching License with SCECHs

Log in to MOECS using the educator's MEIS ID and password. Navigate to the Professional Learning section to view SCECH balance and expiration date. The balance updates each time a sponsor reports hours or MDE posts college transcript credits.

Complete professional learning from MDE-approved SCECH sponsors or earn college credits from accredited institutions. Hours appear in the educator's account within 30 days of completion. If hours do not appear, contact the sponsor directly. MDE does not retroactively add hours from non-approved providers.

If completing college coursework, submit official transcripts to MDE. MDE converts credits to SCECHs and updates the MOECS account. Transcripts must come from regionally accredited institutions.

Verify that the total SCECH balance meets or exceeds 150 hours before the certificate expiration date. Submit the renewal application in MOECS and pay the renewal fee no earlier than 180 days before expiration. MDE processes the renewal application and issues a new certificate if requirements are met.

Where Districts Get SCECH Tracking Wrong

Districts assume DPPD and SCECHs are separate requirements, creating duplicate tracking systems when DPPD must be reported as SCECHs in MOECS. Human resources departments maintain spreadsheets of DPPD hours from professional development days, unaware that those hours carry no weight unless posted to MOECS by an authorized district designee.

Human resources staff do not verify that internal professional development was reported to MOECS, leaving educators with zero reportable hours despite attending district trainings. Educators discover the gap only when they check their MOECS balance weeks before expiration.

Districts fail to designate a MOECS account holder authorized to enter DPPD hours. The superintendent may approve hours verbally but never log in to MOECS to post them. Without the MOECS entry, the hours do not exist for renewal purposes.

Administrators approve SCECH hours from non-authorized providers, such as vendor webinars or conference sessions that lack an MDE-assigned program number, and those hours are later rejected during license renewal.

Districts do not audit individual educator SCECH balances until weeks before certificate expiration, discovering shortfalls too late for educators to complete additional hours. A district with 200 teachers may find 30 educators in compliance jeopardy during a single renewal cycle.

Payroll or benefits staff rely on self-reported SCECH totals from educators instead of pulling verified data from MOECS, creating discrepancies when MDE reviews renewal applications. Self-reported totals often include non-qualifying hours from conferences or webinars that were never approved by an authorized sponsor.

Districts fail to track which staff members hold dual certificates, missing that these educators must meet the 150-hour requirement for each active certificate. An assistant principal with both a teaching certificate and an administrator certificate needs 300 SCECHs over five years, not 150.

District Systems for SCECH Compliance

A professional learning management system consolidates SCECH sponsor reporting, district DPPD entry, and individual educator tracking in one platform accessible to both HR staff and educators. The system must pull expiration dates from MOECS or maintain a parallel database that flags educators approaching renewal deadlines six months in advance.

Pre-approved SCECH sponsor catalogs within the system prevent educators from registering for non-qualifying programs that will not count toward the 150-hour requirement. The catalog links each workshop or course to its MDE program number.

Automated alerts notify district administrators when an educator's SCECH balance falls below pace or when MOECS has not updated with district-reported hours. Alerts escalate if an educator is within 90 days of expiration and still short of the 150-hour requirement.

Managing SCECH Compliance Across Your District

District human resources offices track certificate expirations, SCECH balances, and approved sponsor enrollments for every educator on staff. Manual MOECS lookups and spreadsheet reconciliation consume hours each month.

Solutionwhere provides Michigan districts and intermediate school districts with tools to track SCECH hours, approved sponsors, and certificate expirations. The platform allows superintendents or designees to approve DPPD hours and generate bulk MOECS upload files, ensuring district professional development appears in educator accounts without individual manual entry. Responsible for tracking this across your staff? See how districts manage it in Solutionwhere.