Alabama does not have one renewal requirement. It has six options, and the cheapest one for you depends on what you already have.
Alabama does not have a single renewal requirement. To continue a Professional Educator Certificate you document that one of six options was met during the certificate's valid period. Most summaries quote the 50-hour figure, which belongs to two of the six and is wrong on its own for everyone else.
The options trade experience, credit and clock hours against each other. If you have been teaching full time, Option 1 asks for the least. If you have not, Option 6 lets clock hours carry the whole thing at double the count.
This page is not about administration. ALSDE states these requirements do not apply to continuing certificates in Educational Administrator, Superintendent, Principal at any grade level, Supervisor, Superintendent-Principal, Career and Technical Administrator, or Instructional Leader.
1: three full years of full-time professional educational work experience plus 50 clock hours of allowable professional development. 2: three full years of experience plus 3 semester hours of allowable credit. 3: 3 semester hours plus 50 clock hours. 4: 6 semester hours of allowable credit. 5: National Board certification issued or renewed during the valid period. 6: 100 clock hours of allowable professional development.
The Educator Certification Section verifies allowable clock hours in your PowerSchool Professional Learning account. Where hours are already there, no additional documents need to be submitted for them.
Supplement VPD, Supplement EXP and certificates of completion cover clock hours that are not in the account. Experience is verified on Supplement EXP; credit on an official transcript, with Supplement RCR where the credit is part of a state-approved P-12 educator preparation program.
Option 5 is an initial issuance or a renewal of National Board certification, and the NBPTS certificate must have been initially issued or renewed during the valid period of the certificate being continued.
Alabama will not continue a certificate early, and the deadline is not the expiry date on the certificate.
The 100-clock-hour route is the one that does not need experience or credit, and in exchange ALSDE names who may verify the hours.
In EX in Education, the clock hours you track in Alabama sit beside new-hire onboarding, walkthroughs, coaching cycles, goals, evaluations, staff surveys and recognition. Leaders see how every educator is doing from their first week onward, not only whether they are current, and the renewal record builds out of the growth work already happening.
Start a conversation about AlabamaFull-time experience makes Option 1 or 2 cheapest. Coursework without experience points at Option 3 or 4. Neither one means Option 6, at 100 clock hours. National Board certification issued or renewed in the period is Option 5 on its own.
The Educator Certification Section verifies allowable clock hours in your PowerSchool Professional Learning account. Anything already recorded there needs no further documentation.
Requirements must be completed during the certificate's valid period and by the expiration date on the certificate, not by the application deadline.
Received by the Educator Certification Section in that window, or postmarked no later than June 30. Certificates are not continued before the calendar year of expiration.
It depends which of the six continuation options you use. Fifty clock hours of allowable professional development appears in Option 1, alongside three full years of full-time professional educational work experience, and in Option 3, alongside 3 semester hours of allowable credit. Option 6 uses 100 clock hours with no experience or credit requirement. Options 2, 4 and 5 involve no clock hours at all.
Option 1: three full years of full-time professional educational work experience plus 50 clock hours of allowable professional development. Option 2: three full years of experience plus 3 semester hours of allowable credit. Option 3: 3 semester hours of credit plus 50 clock hours. Option 4: 6 semester hours of allowable credit. Option 5: initial issuance or renewal of National Board certification during the valid period. Option 6: 100 clock hours of allowable professional development.
The application must be received in the Educator Certification Section between January 1 and June 30 of the calendar year of the certificate's expiration, or mailed with a postmark no later than June 30. Certificates are not continued prior to the calendar year of their expiration, so applying early is not possible.
For the 100-clock-hour option, ALSDE names the acceptable verifiers: a state or local public school, a church-related or parochial school, ALSDE-sponsored initiatives such as AMSTI, a State Department of Education, a professional education association, a college or university that was regionally accredited when the development was earned, an Alabama nonpublic or charter school, or an out-of-state P-12 nonpublic, private or charter school that was accredited or state-approved at the time, which must submit documentation of its accreditation.
No. ALSDE states the requirements are not applicable to continuing certificates in Educational Administrator, Superintendent, Principal at any grade level, Supervisor, Superintendent-Principal, Career and Technical Administrator, or Instructional Leader.
Yes. Select Alabama and the system tracks clock hours against whichever option you are working toward, keeps the certificates of completion that Supplement VPD and Supplement EXP need where PowerSchool does not already hold the hours, and records the experience and credit that Options 1 to 4 turn on. Because the options trade against each other, seeing all three quantities in one place is what tells you which route is closest.
Not in Alabama? Find requirements for your state.
Evaluated in Alabama? See how Alabama teacher evaluation works, and how the evidence connects to the record you keep for renewal.
Part of EX in Education
Clock Hour tracking is one part of how districts support educators. In EX in Education, it connects to the bigger picture: walkthroughs, coaching, evaluations, goals, PD, recognition, surveys, and retention. Bring your own process, or start from a template, then run it across every school so every educator moves from hired to thriving.