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Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE)

Missouri Contact Hour Requirements

Missouri has no renewal cycle. A Career Continuous Professional Classification stays continuous on 15 contact hours a year, verified by your district. Other certificate classes have their own annual totals.

15 Hours
Per school year, CCPC
No Cycle
Continuous, not renewed
30 Hours
In the IPC plan
Governing body: Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Official DESE site Portal: DESE Web Applications (DESE Web Applications)

Missouri Contact Hour Requirements Overview

Missouri keeps certificates continuous rather than renewing them on a cycle, and the annual total depends on which certificate you hold. For the Career Continuous Professional Classification (CCPC), the teaching certificate this page is about, 5 CSR 20-400.500 says it "is continuous upon verification by the employing school district that the certificate holder has completed fifteen (15) contact hours of professional development per school year."

So the unit of failure is the school year, not the cycle. There is no final year to catch up in, and the verification is your district's, which means the record has to satisfy someone else annually rather than you personally at renewal time. If you hold a career education, student services or adult education certificate, your number is different and the table below has it.

Before the CCPC there is the Initial Professional Classification (IPC), a four-year certificate for applicants with less than four years of state-approved teaching experience. Moving from one to the other takes more than hours, and the list is below.

Approved Activities

Sixty minutes is one contact hour

The regulation defines it precisely: sixty minutes of professional development equals one contact hour.

College credit

One hour of college credit equals fifteen contact hours of professional development.

Micro-credentials count, at the same rate

One professional micro-credential equals fifteen contact hours, the same as an hour of college credit. Missouri writes them into the rule rather than leaving them to interpretation.

Your district verifies it

The CCPC continues on the employing district's verification, so the evidence has to be in a form somebody else signs off each school year.

Required Topic Areas

The exemption most Missouri teachers have never been told about

A CCPC holder is exempt from the 15 contact hours entirely, given a local professional development plan in place with the school and at least two of the following three:

  • Ten years of state-approved teaching experience.
  • A master's degree from an accredited college or university.
  • National Board certification, or for school psychologists the certificate of nationally certified school psychologist issued by NASP.
  • Two of three plus the plan, and the annual hours requirement lifts. A veteran teacher with a master's has already met it.

Getting from IPC to CCPC takes five things, only one of which is hours

The four-year Initial Professional Classification upgrades on completion and verification of all of these:

  • Four years of state-approved teaching experience.
  • A professional development plan of at least 30 contact hours, approved by the employing district, with clearly stated goals for improvement and enrichment.
  • A mentoring program for a minimum of two school years, with guidelines set by the local board of education.
  • A beginning teacher assistance program, covering classroom management, instructional strategies and ongoing support.
  • Participation in the district's Performance-Based Teacher Evaluations.

Two details that catch people

Both are in the regulation and neither is intuitive.

  • Doctoral applicants are ineligible to advance to the CCPC level. The rule says so in a parenthesis, and it surprises people who assume more education is always more.
  • A Missouri professional classification is extended for a teacher whose service is interrupted by a reduction in force or by military service.

Fifteen hours is the teaching certificate. Other classes have their own totals

All of these are continuous rather than cycle-renewed, but the annual requirement is not the same. Check which certificate you actually hold before counting anything.

  • Career Continuous Professional (CCPC), the teaching certificate: 15 contact hours per school year.
  • Career Continuous Career Education (CCCE): 30 contact hours per school year in the specific career education subject area, plus participation in the district's performance-based teacher evaluation program. Miss them and you have two years to make up the shortfall, and the certificate goes inactive if you do not.
  • Career Continuous Student Services: 20 contact hours annually, plus continued participation in a performance-based evaluation.
  • Career Continuous Adult Education and Literacy: 20 contact hours, with its own exemption route.
  • A lapsed CCCE can be reactivated by completing 24 contact hours within six months either side of reactivation.

Every teacher, from hired to thriving

In EX in Education, the contact hours you track in Missouri 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 Missouri

Renewal Process

1

Work out which classification you hold

IPC is the four-year certificate for teachers with less than four years of state-approved experience. CCPC is the continuous one that follows it.

2

On a CCPC, log 15 contact hours every school year

Sixty minutes of professional development is one contact hour; an hour of college credit or one micro-credential is fifteen. There is no cycle to catch up in, so a missed year is a missed year.

3

Check whether the exemption applies to you

A local professional development plan plus two of: ten years of experience, a master's degree, National Board certification. If you qualify, the annual hours requirement lifts.

4

On an IPC, work the whole list

Four years of experience, a district-approved 30-contact-hour professional development plan, two school years of mentoring, a beginning teacher assistance program, and participation in the district's Performance-Based Teacher Evaluations.

Missouri Quick Summary

CCPC upkeep 15 contact hours a year
Certificate term Continuous
IPC term 4 years
IPC plan 30 contact hours
60 minutes of PD 1 contact hour
1 hour college credit 15 contact hours
1 micro-credential 15 contact hours
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Missouri Contact Hour FAQs

How many professional development hours does a Missouri teaching certificate require?

Fifteen contact hours per school year for the Career Continuous Professional Classification, the teaching certificate. The regulation makes it continuous on the employing school district verifying those hours each year rather than renewing it on a multi-year cycle. Other classes differ: career education needs 30 contact hours a year in its subject area plus evaluation participation, and student services and adult education need 20.

Does a Missouri teaching certificate expire?

The Career Continuous Professional Classification does not run on a renewal cycle. It is continuous as long as the district verifies fifteen contact hours of professional development per school year. The Initial Professional Classification that precedes it is a four-year certificate.

Can I be exempt from the 15 hours?

Yes. A CCPC holder is exempt if there is a local professional development plan in place with the school and the holder has at least two of: ten years of state-approved teaching experience, a master's degree from an accredited college or university, or National Board certification, which for school psychologists means the nationally certified school psychologist certificate from NASP.

How do college credit and micro-credentials convert?

Sixty minutes of professional development equals one contact hour. One hour of college credit equals fifteen contact hours, and one professional micro-credential also equals fifteen contact hours.

What does it take to move from IPC to CCPC?

Five things: four years of state-approved teaching experience, a professional development plan of at least thirty contact hours approved by the employing district, a mentoring program for a minimum of two school years, a beginning teacher assistance program, and participation in the district's Performance-Based Teacher Evaluations. Note that doctoral applicants are ineligible to advance to the CCPC level.

Does EX in Education track Missouri contact hours?

Yes. Select Missouri and the system tracks against a school year rather than a cycle, applies the college-credit and micro-credential conversions, and keeps the evidence in a form your district can verify. Set the annual target to match the certificate you hold - 15 contact hours on a CCPC, 30 on a career education certificate, 20 on student services or adult education - because Missouri does not use one number for all of them. For teachers still on an IPC it tracks the plan, the mentoring years and the evaluation participation alongside the hours.

PD Requirements for Other States

Not in Missouri? Find requirements for your state.

Evaluated in Missouri? See how Missouri teacher evaluation works, and how the evidence connects to the record you keep for renewal.

Part of EX in Education

One piece of the educator experience.

Contact 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.