Wisconsin does not count PD hours. The Tier III license is lifetime, and what keeps it valid is employment and a background check every five years.
Wisconsin does not require professional development hours to keep a teaching license. If you came here looking for a number, there is not one. Since the 2018 rewrite of PI 34, Wisconsin licenses run on tiers, and the Tier III license is a lifetime license.
What keeps it valid is not hours. PI 34.041(5) says the license "remains valid unless" one of two things happens: you have not been regularly employed in education for five or more consecutive years, or you do not meet the background check requirement. That is the whole list.
"Regularly employed in education" is a lower bar than it sounds. The rule defines it as providing services directly to students, families or fellow educators from prekindergarten through college, or administrative oversight in a prekindergarten through grade 12 setting, for one hour per day per semester or its equivalent.
The holder submits a request to the department for a new background check once every five years, made between January 1 and June 30 of the fifth year since the last one, and by the same dates every five years after. The department may charge a reasonable fee.
Five or more consecutive years without regular employment in education invalidates the license. One hour per day per semester, or the equivalent, counts as regularly employed.
A license invalidated for the background check is restored if the holder obtains a satisfactory check within 180 calendar days of invalidation.
Tier II to Tier III takes six semesters of experience in the license area of the Tier II license, completed within the five years preceding the start date of the new license.
The master educator license is the one place Wisconsin asks for a record of what you have actually done, and it is not an hours count.
The absence of a state PD mandate moves the question rather than removing it. Districts still set their own expectations, and the things Wisconsin does ask for are records rather than hours.
In EX in Education, the PD hours you track in Wisconsin 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 WisconsinTier I licenses are the stipulated, short-term and substitute categories. Tier II is the provisional educator license. Tier III is lifetime. Tier IV is the master educator license.
No hours, no cycle, no application. The license remains valid unless you go five or more consecutive years without regular employment in education, or you miss the background check requirement.
Submit the request between January 1 and June 30 of the fifth year since your last check, and on the same dates every five years after that.
For the background check, a satisfactory check within 180 calendar days of invalidation restores it. For the employment condition, the route back is through the tier requirements again.
None for license maintenance. Wisconsin's Tier III license is a lifetime license under PI 34.041, and the rule conditions its validity on regular employment in education and a five-yearly background check rather than on professional development hours.
A Tier III license does not expire on a cycle. It remains valid unless the holder has not been regularly employed in education for five or more consecutive years, or does not meet the background check requirement.
An individual holding a Tier III license submits a request to the department for a new background check once every five years. The request is made between January 1 and June 30 of the fifth year since the last background check, and by the same dates every five years thereafter. The department may charge a reasonable fee.
PI 34.041 defines it as being employed as an educator providing services directly to students, families or fellow educators in a prekindergarten through college setting, or providing administrative oversight in a prekindergarten through grade 12 setting, for one hour per day per semester or its equivalent.
Hold or have held a valid Tier II license and complete six semesters of experience in the license area of that Tier II license, with the six semesters completed within the five years preceding the start date of the new Tier III license.
Because the requirements that do exist are about evidence rather than hours, and because districts set their own. Tier IV asks for contributions to the profession and evidence of improved pupil learning, accumulated over years. EX in Education keeps that record alongside coaching, evaluations and goals, so it is there when someone asks rather than reconstructed from memory.
Not in Wisconsin? Find requirements for your state.
Evaluated in Wisconsin? See how Wisconsin teacher evaluation works, and how the evidence connects to the record you keep for renewal.
Part of EX in Education
PD 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.