Use the Professional Teaching Certificate Form (Form 4T) to:
Request renewal of a three (3) year or five (5) year professional teaching certificate.
Convert a three (3) year professional teaching certificate to a five (5) year professional teaching certificate. OR
Convert a three (3) year or a five (5) year professional teaching certificate to a permanent professional teaching certificate.
Review Policy 5202 for information on renewing or converting your certificate. If you are employed in a county school system, please contact your county certification officer for assistance with the renewal process.
Renewal applications can only be submitted after January 1 of the year the certificate expires. This does not apply to candidates seeking a permanent certification who have the following:
Five-year certificate.
Master's degree.
Five (5) years of full-time experience.
Completion of the Beginning Educator Internship/Induction or qualify for an exemption.
Candidate Requirements
If you are employed by the West Virginia public school system, Form 4T requires an official recommendation from the employing county Superintendent, multi-county CTE administrator, or West Virginia Schools of Diversion and Transition Superintendent or designee. If you are not employed by a county school, you must also submit Form 4B.
General Requirements
To apply, you must
Be a U.S. citizen or hold eligible documentation (see Policy 5202
Be at least 18 years old
Be physically, mentally, and emotionally qualified
Hold, or have previously held, a West Virginia Professional Teaching Certificate.
Renewal Requirements
To be eligible to renew or to convert your certificate, one of the following must apply:
Have completed three (3) hours of eligible coursework or WVLearns courses for a one (1) year certificate.
Have completed six (6) hours of eligible coursework or WVLearns coursework.
Hold a Master’s +30 advanced salary classification.
Have reached the age of 60.
A minimum of 3.0 GPA is required for all semester hour coursework for renewal. To send official transcripts to our office, please have your college or university email them to cert.transcripts.wvde@k12.wv.us. Transcripts must be received from the college or university and not the applicant.
Log in to the portal and select the "renew" button for the certificate you would like to renew.
Select the option to renew or convert your certificate.
Fill in the required information. Depending on the option you choose, you may need to include your work history. Please note that you may need to submit documentation verifying your experience. At this time, you will submit the application.
If you are employed in a West Virginia county school, your application will go to your county for approval. Following county approval, you will receive an email for payment. Log back in to the portal to pay the application fee.
If you are not employed, the "pay now" button will appear on your dashboard, and you will be able to pay immediately.
Following a review and approval of your application by the Office of Certification, you will receive an email with instructions to download your certificate. You may follow the status of your application on the Certification Portal or by checking the Application Status feature.
For more detailed instructions, watch our Form 4 How To video.