New Employee Certification Requests

This is the initial certification request that is processed for professional personnel. This process is initiated after the assignment of an employee. The employees shall be parties to requests to the State Board for certification by providing documentary proof of the employee's occupational, academic and teaching experience. Certification of individuals for first time appointments shall be considered on a priority basis by the District. Certification requests for such personnel shall be submitted to the State Board by the employing District or institution as soon as possible within the first six months after the new employee is hired.

To provide documentary proof of certifiability, the following information must be submitted:

1. Form VE-CE 112 - Certification Application -- This application is completed by the applicant. Use of the technical college application in lieu of VE-CE 112 is allowed, if approved by the State Consultant.
   

2. Certification Request -- This request must be in the form of a computer readable medium. Please refer to the User's Guide for complete information regarding the submission of requests. All required documentation must be on file when the request is submitted.
   

3. Transcripts of Academic Work -- This information is provided by the applicant. This includes legible copies of official transcripts, including ones "issued to students," of undergraduate or graduate credits as applicable. The name of the institution granting the transcript must appear on each transcript. Each transcript must contain the current name of the individual. Grade reports are not acceptable documentation.
   

   Copies of transcripts supporting certification requests for academic instructors must indicate the courses being utilized to support the request, when the individual does not have a major appropriate to the assignment.

   Courses meeting education requirements will be identified on the transcript(s) with the education requirement number noted; i.e. #50 (Curriculum or Course Construction). This number will be placed alongside of the credit value of the course. Form VE-CE 116 will also be completed.

4. Occupational Experience Verification -- This information is provided by the applicant. The occupational experience verification is written verification from previous employer(s) identifying all appropriate and required occupational experience. Hours of experience must be sufficient to meet requirements of the certification status sought by the applicant.
   

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These documents must identify the total time involved. This information shall be added to the form by district certification staff, if the employer fails to include the necessary information.

These documents must identify a job title that is commonly recognized as supporting the instructional area being requested. When this is not the case, the district must include additional information (such as job duties) that will support the certification being requested. Job titles such as "Engineer" and "Technician" do not support certification for an occupational area.

The technical college should note any former technical college(s) where an individual was previoulsy (or currently) employed, when requesting certification for someone.

When the required information has been submitted to the State Certification Officer, the State Board staff shall evaluate all materials submitted, and on behalf of the State Board, shall issue the appropriate certificates through the employing agency to eligible employees.

The district will not need to send any additional documentation when requesting certification for a supportive or common core course that relates to an area of certification already held by the individual.

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Requests for additional areas of certification, whether requested by the district or as individual requests, will follow the same procedure as for new certification requests. A new Form VE-CE 112 will not have to be completed, unless additional information must be added to that originally submitted. This will usually involve occupational experience omitted from the original application, or occupational experience that has occurred since the original application has been submitted.

Requests for certification for a single course, not regarded as a supportive or common core course, will generally be regarded as a request for an additional area.

Following the process outlined for new employee certification requests will insure that the district has made a thorough evaluation of the documentation available to support certification in an additional area. This will also insure that State Board staff are reviewing the same documents that formed the basis for the district's certification request. The process will eliminate unnecessary correspondence and help to insure prompt certification of individuals.

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Two important factors are involved when an individual is moved from approval status to provisional certification. The first factor is the documentation originally submitted. Transcripts or occupational experience frequently support only the minimum standards. Provisional certification for academic instructors requires additional credits. Provisional certification for academic and occupational instructors requires additional occupational experience, depending upon when the approval status was granted.

Secondly, the process for provisional certification must identify the outstanding educational requirements that must be met before the five-year certificate can be issued. A VE-CE 116 form is used in this process.

Again, as in the case with certification for additional areas, additional documentation becomes available after the original certification has been requested. There is no occasion when this documentation would have been provided to the State Board.

For these reasons, districts will follow the process as outlined for new employee certification requests when an individual is moved from approval status to provisional certification. A new Form VE-CE 112 will not have to be completed, unless additional information must be added to that originally submitted. This will usually involve occupational experience omitted from the original application, or occupational experience that has occurred since the original application has been submitted.

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Only documentation necessary to support the request must be submitted. This documentation will be a transcript or verified occupational experience depending upon the outstanding requirements. Since this documentation will often consist of a few sheets of paper, it is important that the sheets be identified by the name of the WTCS district, the name of the individual as it appears on the certification file, and the social security number of the individual. A completed VE-CE 116 form must also be submitted.

The district will not submit any documentation to the State Board when requesting renewal of these certificates. The district must have the necessary documentation on file in the district prior to submitting the request for renewal. These renewals are referred to as automatic renewals since the State Board will process them automatically when requested by the district. These requests are subject to a sample audit.

Last reviewed: January 29, 2002

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