Minnesota does not use one number. A Tier 3 license takes 75 approved clock hours, a Tier 4 takes 125, and your local relicensure committee verifies them.
Minnesota does not have one renewal number. Minnesota Rules 8710.7200, subpart 2: verification by the local continuing education and relicensure committee that the applicant has completed 75 approved clock hours for a Tier 3 license and 125 approved clock hours for a Tier 4 license is required for renewal. Reading one figure and assuming it is yours is the easiest mistake to make here.
A "clock hour" is an hour of actual instruction, or a planned group or individual professional development activity, as approved by your local committee. That committee, not the state, is who you satisfy: it verifies your hours for the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board.
The part worth knowing before you start counting: for the professional growth requirement, an applicant "may satisfy the requirements of this subpart by submitting the teacher's most recent summative evaluation or improvement plan aligned to the district's teacher development and evaluation process." Work you have already done in your evaluation cycle can discharge part of your renewal.
Clock hours must be earned in two or more of nine categories: college coursework, workshops and conferences, staff development and in-service, curriculum development, formal peer coaching or mentorship, professional service, leadership experiences, experiences in diverse educational settings, and more.
Engagement in formal peer coaching or mentorship relationships with colleagues counts, provided it addresses one or more of the standards in part 8710.2000.
Supervising clinical experiences for teacher preparation students, serving on licensure or professional standards committees, participating in accreditation, publishing in a professional journal, and volunteer work in professional organizations all count.
For the professional reflection and growth requirement, the most recent summative evaluation or improvement plan aligned to the district's teacher development and evaluation process may be submitted to satisfy it.
Beyond the hours, a Tier 3 or Tier 4 applicant employed as a teacher during the renewal period must show professional development in specific areas. The rule ties each to the license expiry date it first applied from.
Minnesota devolves the judgement further than most states, which changes what your evidence has to look like.
Minnesota Rules 8710.7200, subpart 2b: where an emergency prevents an applicant from completing the renewal requirements, the applicant may apply to PELSB for an emergency extension of time. The board must decide within 30 days of receiving the application, based on documentation of the emergency.
In EX in Education, the clock hours you track in Minnesota 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 Minnesota75 approved clock hours renews a Tier 3 license. 125 renews a Tier 4. The rule states them in the same sentence, which is exactly why they get confused.
Coursework, workshops, staff development, curriculum development, peer coaching or mentorship, professional service, leadership, and diverse-settings experience. One category alone does not satisfy the rule.
Positive behavior interventions, reading preparation, mental illness training, at least one hour of suicide prevention, and evidence of professional reflection and growth including cultural competency and English learner training.
For the professional reflection and growth requirement, submit your most recent summative evaluation or improvement plan aligned to the district's teacher development and evaluation process.
It depends on the tier. Minnesota Rules 8710.7200, subpart 2 requires verification that the applicant has completed 75 approved clock hours for a Tier 3 license and 125 approved clock hours for a Tier 4 license. The local continuing education and relicensure committee does the verifying.
An hour of actual instruction, or a planned group or individual professional development activity as approved by the local continuing education and relicensure committee. Instruction and activities only count if they address one or more of the standards in part 8710.2000.
Toward the professional reflection and growth requirement, yes. The rule says an applicant may satisfy that subpart by submitting the teacher's most recent summative evaluation or improvement plan aligned to the district's teacher development and evaluation process. It does not replace the clock hour total.
Positive behavior interventions, reading preparation, mental illness training, and at least one hour of suicide prevention training, each applying from a stated license expiry date. Plus evidence of professional reflection and growth including cultural competency training and district-approved English learner training aligned with the InTASC standards.
Subpart 2b allows an application to PELSB for an emergency extension of time to renew. The board must determine whether to grant it within 30 days of receiving the application, based on documentation of the emergency.
Yes. Select Minnesota and the system tracks toward 75 or 125 depending on your tier, flags whether your hours span the two or more categories the rule requires, and keeps the required-topic evidence separate from the general total. Because the summative evaluation can satisfy the professional growth requirement, the evaluation record and the renewal record sit in the same place rather than being reconciled by hand.
Not in Minnesota? Find requirements for your state.
Evaluated in Minnesota? See how Minnesota 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.