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Act 48 of 1999 requires all Pennsylvania educators who have been issued any "initial" certificates since June 1, 1987 to establish professional development plans every five years. These plans are to include additional continuing education or related experiences equivalent to 180 hours of professional development, such as six credits of approved college coursework, six credits of continuing professional education courses, 180 clock hours of continuing professional education, or any combination of collegiate studies, continuing professional education courses or other programs, activities or learning experiences equivalent to 180 hours. For the purposes of calculating hours and credits, one credit of collegiate study or continuing professional education course is equivalent to 30 hours of continuing professional education. Educators holding master's degrees may volunteer to develop these plans.

You may recall that reporting completed credit for Act 48 became difficult when Penn State changed student registration and transcript software. Regretfully, it may have caused confusion, anxiety, and unexpected work for you. Happily, the problem is resolved. Teachers with Vocational Instructional II certification and administrators now should use https://forms.outreach.psu.edu/f/132837/5db7/ to indicate which credit-bearing Penn State courses they want to be reported to PDE for Act 48. The Penn State Office of the Registrar will verify the courses, and then will submit the report to PDE. Teachers are advised to allow a few days for the credits to appear on their records at PDE.

Frequently Asked Questions can be viewed at Pennsylvania Department of Education or contact the PDE at (717) 787-3356.

Note that educators may place their Pennsylvania certificates on voluntary "inactive" status to suspend the continuing professional education requirements. This option requires PDE form 338R with a $75.00 fee.