Complete guide to professional development point requirements for Virginia teaching license renewal through VALO.
Virginia PD point tracking is one piece of the educator experience. EX in Education connects license renewal to the coaching, goals, and PD your teachers are already doing, so nothing gets tracked twice.
Virginia uses a point-based system for license renewal. The number of points required depends on your license type. Since July 1, 2018, all new licenses are issued as 10-year renewable licenses.
Districts already run mentoring, workshops, and coaching that count toward these points. The work is that it is hard to sustain by hand across a whole staff. EX in Education connects walkthrough evidence, coaching cycles, and PD activity to each teacher's renewal progress, so the tracking is automatic instead of a spreadsheet.
180 points
Receives 10-year license upon renewal
270 points
Based on individualized PD plan
8VAC20-23-110 requires that proposed work toward renewal in certain options be approved in advance by the chief executive officer or designee of the employing educational agency. Points earned outside an approved plan may not count.
The regulation names specific content that must be covered, and which applies depends on what you teach. Confirm your own list with your division.
Effective July 1, 2018, in response to General Assembly legislation (HB 1125 and SB 349), the Board of Education now issues ten-year renewable licenses. Five-year renewable licenses are no longer issued. Teachers with existing 5-year licenses will receive a 10-year license upon renewal.
Every Virginia teacher seeking license renewal must complete training in the instruction of students with disabilities, including:
Courses from regionally accredited universities. Point values per activity are set by VDOE and applied by your division - confirm the count before you rely on it.
Workshops, conferences, in-service training, and other approved PD activities.
Serving as a mentor or instructional coach for other educators.
Initial certification or renewal through National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
Structured collaborative learning with colleagues focused on improving instruction.
Presenting professional development sessions to other educators.
Virginia requires all educators seeking license renewal to develop an individualized professional development plan. Your plan should include:
In EX in Education, this plan can live alongside a teacher's goals, coaching cycle, and observation history, so the plan reflects what is actually happening in the classroom, not a form filled out once a year.
In EX in Education, what you track for Virginia renewal sits 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 VirginiaEarn 180 points (5-year) or 270 points (10-year) through approved activities.
Fulfill the mandatory training requirement for instruction of students with disabilities.
Confirm the renewal window with your employing division, or with VDOE if you are not employed by one.
If you are employed by a Virginia public school division, your renewal goes through your employing division. Renewal through Virginia Licensure Online (VALO) is available only to individuals not currently employed with a Virginia public school division or nonpublic school.
Submit the required $50 fee to complete your renewal.
Point values vary by activity. Check with your school division or VDOE for specific point allocations.
It depends on your license type. Teachers with a 5-year renewable license need 180 points for renewal (and will receive a 10-year license). Those with a 10-year renewable license need 270 points. All points must be based on an individualized professional development plan.
VALO (Virginia Licensure Online) is the state's online portal for educator licensing. Renewal through VALO is available only to individuals not currently employed with a Virginia public school division or nonpublic school - if you are employed by a division, your renewal is handled through that division. VALO replaced the eGOV portal, which was taken offline on December 31, 2024.
8VAC20-23-110 sets what renewal requires - 180 professional development points on a five-year license, 270 on a ten-year one, an application, the emergency first aid, CPR and AED training, and for middle school civics or economics and high school government or history endorsements a five-point Virginia history or government module. It does not fix a submission window, and VDOE's licensure pages could not be read for this check, so confirm timing and the current fee with your division or VDOE rather than working from a date published elsewhere.
All Virginia teachers must complete training on instruction of students with disabilities, covering: differentiating instruction, the general education teacher's role on IEP teams, collaborative instruction models like co-teaching, and the goals and benefits of inclusive education.
Yes! When you select Virginia as your state, our system automatically configures your point requirement (180 or 270), tracks your progress toward renewal, and helps ensure you've completed mandatory training. You'll receive alerts as your renewal window approaches.
Not in Virginia? Find requirements for your state.
Evaluated in Virginia? See how Virginia teacher evaluation works, and how the evidence connects to the record you keep for renewal.
Part of EX in Education
Virginia PD point 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.