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.
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
Have recommendation of county Superintendent
If you are not employed by a county school, you must also submit Form 4B.
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.
Application Submission
For instructions on how to apply for a license to work in West Virginia public schools, follow the steps detailed in the certification application process.
For more detailed instructions, watch our Form 4 How To video.