The Maine Department of Education’s new online certification system has now been released to four pilot school districts: Gorham Public Schools, Bangor School Department, MSAD 15 and RSU 13. Those pilots have received access to the district portal, which will provide support chairs the ability to verify renewal requirements using the new online certification system.
Once those verifications are complete and the educator portal is released, educators from those districts will then be able to login and submit their renewal applications online.
By allowing access to the district portal first, support chairs will be able to manage their renewal lists and both the chair and the superintendent will have time to become familiar with the system and all its features.
As the Department transitions to the pilot phase of the online certification system, we want to assure the field that we are very aware that the deadline for submission of renewal applications is July 1, 2018 and that schools will be closing in early to mid-June.
In anticipation of the release to districts beyond the pilots, it is highly recommended that district support chairs have renewal verifications prepared ahead of time. Most will find the online process to be simple, but please be advised that advanced preparation will increase efficiency.
Please note that during the pilot phase, the certification office will continue to process paper applications for initial certification. The Certification office has been processing paper applications internally on the new system for several months and will continue to do so until the educator portal is fully released.
The highly anticipated online certification system has been a long time in the making and the Department greatly appreciates the patience and support of the field as we make this important transition.
Further communications and updates will be posted on the Maine Department of Education Certification Webpage well as on Maine DOE’s official Facebook and Twitter pages, in addition to the DOE newsroom.