Most Washington certificates renew with 100 continuing education credit hours across five years. The part worth planning is what has to sit inside them, because that changes by role.
WAC 181-79A-240 sets the headline number: certificates have a five year validity period and are renewed with one hundred continuing education credit hours under chapter 181-85 WAC. Educators and providers usually call them clock hours. That is the general rule, and the rule says so - it applies unless otherwise provided for in Title 181 WAC. One certificate is otherwise provided for: a first peoples' language, culture, and oral tribal traditions certificate renews for a further five years on verification that the holder has met tribal renewal and continuing education requirements, not on 100 hours (WAC 181-79A-252).
The number most people get wrong is not 100. It is what has to sit inside the 100. WAC 181-79A-244 layers requirements on top of the total, and none of them applies to everybody. Teachers need 15 hours on equity-based school practices. Principals, program administrators, superintendents and CTE directors need 10 on equity, 10 on the PSEL leadership standards, and 5 on government-to-government relationships with federally recognized tribes. A further 15 STEM integration hours apply only to teachers in listed endorsement areas. Counselors, psychologists, nurses and social workers carry a suicide prevention requirement, and several roles have rules about what their hours may be about at all.
An annual professional growth plan is worth 25 continuing education credit hours (WAC 181-85-033(10)(d)), and only one may be completed each year, July 1 to June 30. Four of them come to 100. A PGP goal aligned to a given requirement satisfies that requirement - but it takes a goal aligned to each, and PESB is explicit that the same hours may not be counted toward two different minimums. The tribal government hours are excluded from the PGP route entirely.
Worth 25 continuing education credit hours. One per year, completed in the July 1 to June 30 window, and completion includes review by a professional growth team - the educator plus at least one colleague holding a valid Washington certificate. The colleague earns 3 hours for that, capped at 6 a year.
WAC 181-85-033(10)(c) says individuals may apply their focused evaluation professional growth activities from the evaluation system toward the professional growth plan for certificate renewal. The growth work in an evaluation cycle is not separate from renewal in Washington.
An educator officially designated as a mentor or field experience supervisor - by a district, ESD, PESB-approved preparation program, tribal compact school, charter school or OSPI - is eligible for 30 continuing education credit hours for that service, capped at 30 per school year.
One college semester hour converts to 15 clock hours and one quarter hour to 10. Sixty minutes of approved in-service education is one clock hour, including reasonable breaks and passing time. Routine staff meetings about operational policies do not count.
These sit inside the 100 hours rather than on top of them, and every one of them is scoped to particular certificate roles. A district tracking a single number for all staff is wrong for several groups at once.
WAC 181-79A-244(9) does not add hours. It constrains what the hours may cover, which is a harder thing to catch after the fact than a shortfall, because the total looks right.
WAC 181-79A-244(3) restricts who may provide the equity-based school practices and educational leadership learning to a named list, and only while they hold status as a Washington approved in-service education agency.
A professional growth plan with a goal aligned to a requirement meets that requirement - equity under WAC 181-79A-244(1)(e), the leadership standards under (2), STEM under (5). Read it as a goal per requirement, not one goal for all three.
In EX in Education, the clock hours you track in Washington 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 WashingtonRole decides it. A teacher with a secondary science endorsement carries 15 equity plus 15 STEM. A principal carries 10 plus 10 plus 5. A school counselor carries suicide prevention training. Nobody carries all of them.
For a certificate with a validity period of five years or more, the hours must be completed after the most recent certificate was issued. For a validity period under five years, they must fall within the five years before the renewal application.
Professional learning for renewal is recorded in OSPI eCertification. PESB is direct that educators are required to maintain their own records of professional learning, and that OSPI may audit them.
Educators may not serve on an expired certificate. A transitional certificate lets a district keep employing someone while they finish renewing, but it is valid for two years, is not renewable, and may not be reissued.
One hundred, as the general rule. WAC 181-79A-240 states that certificates have a five year validity period and are renewed with one hundred continuing education credit hours as described under chapter 181-85 WAC, and that all other requirements for renewal of the specific certificate type and role must also be met. The rule applies unless Title 181 WAC provides otherwise, and one certificate is provided for otherwise: a first peoples' language, culture, and oral tribal traditions certificate renews for a further five years on verification that the holder has met tribal renewal and continuing education requirements, under WAC 181-79A-252.
It depends on the role. Teachers need at least 15 continuing education credit hours on equity-based school practices - though someone who also holds a valid administrator certificate meets the 10-hour administrator version instead when renewing their teacher certificate, under WAC 181-79A-244(1)(c). Principals, program administrators, superintendents and CTE directors need 10 on equity, 10 on the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders, and 5 on government-to-government relationships with federally recognized tribes. A separate 15-hour STEM integration requirement applies to teachers in listed endorsement areas, and school counselors, psychologists, nurses and social workers must complete suicide prevention training of at least three hours. WAC 181-79A-244 also constrains the subject matter of the hours for CTE teachers, CTE directors, school counselors and school psychologists, and makes a current health-profession license or national certification a renewal condition for several educational staff associate roles.
Largely, yes. Completing an annual professional growth plan is worth 25 continuing education credit hours, and only one may be completed per year in the July 1 to June 30 window. A goal aligned to a given requirement satisfies that requirement - equity, educational leadership and STEM each have that route in WAC 181-79A-244. Two things to watch. It takes a goal aligned to each requirement rather than one goal covering them all, and PESB states that where a single plan or course meets more than one requirement the hours must be divided between them, so the same hours cannot satisfy two separate minimums. The government-to-government requirement is excluded from the PGP route by name in WAC 181-79A-244(4)(c).
Yes. WAC 181-85-033(10)(c) provides that individuals may apply their focused evaluation professional growth activities from the evaluation system toward the professional growth plan for certificate renewal. The growth side of an evaluation cycle feeds the renewal record rather than sitting beside it.
The educator does. Professional learning is recorded in OSPI eCertification, and PESB states that educators are required to maintain their own records and that OSPI may audit them. There is no automatic district ledger behind that, which is why what a district delivered often has to be reconstructed from calendars and sign-in sheets.
Yes, and Washington is a good fit for a reason specific to this state. Districts are on the approved provider list for the equity and leadership hours, and focused evaluation growth activities count toward the professional growth plan, so most of what earns renewal is work the district already runs. Select Washington and the system tracks toward 100 hours across the five years while keeping the equity, leadership, tribal government and STEM requirements separate by role, so a principal and a secondary science teacher are not measured against the same number.
Not in Washington? Find requirements for your state.
Evaluated in Washington? See how Washington 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.