The Maine Department of Education is pleased to provide an update on the progress of the new online certification system.
- 8,474 individual renewal applications have been received (many of those with multiple endorsement renewals)
- 64% of teachers whose certificates expire have applied for renewal
- 6,995 endorsements have been auto issued back to applicants within minutes of submission
- An additional 2,205 applications have been processed by the certification team
- There are currently 2,700 applications in queue to be worked on
The Department’s certification team is fielding more than 500 calls a day and wait times can be significant. Many of the questions asked via phone have been addressed in the “Things to Know/Frequently Asked Questions” list below in this notification. In addition to the FAQ, please be sure to use the resources available on the Certification Webpage to help reduce the amount of calls for both wait time purposes and to enable the team to process additional applications.
Things to Know/Frequently Asked Questions:
- One contact point is sufficient – your inquiry will be answered as soon as possible. The certification team has noticed there are multiple emails in addition to multiple calls from the same individual at the same time. When applicants are reaching out in multiple ways to multiple department staff it causes longer wait times and inefficacies in the ability to get to everyone.
- Not all renewals will be auto issued. If yours is not auto issued, there is no need to call. The receipt you received during the renewal process shows that it was received and the website also indicates current processing times.
- If you need to have your fingerprints done, please select “new hire” and not “renewal” on the IdentoGo website. If you select renewal, you will be instructed to call the certification department unnecessarily.
- If you see that you are “missing” a transcript, please know that there are hundreds of thousands of files that all have historical scanned files in the new online system. Transcripts are in the historical file; therefore, educators will not be able to see them in the system but those transcripts are still utilized for any processing.
- The Certification Department is no longer accepting walk-in appointments. With this policy change, certification staff can increase the number of educators assisted by 80%.
- During the renewal process:
- Please do not use Firefox Internet Browser. Use Chrome, Safari or Internet Explorer.
- If you are prompted to upload documents and you have nothing to upload, please select “Next”.
- If you are having trouble uploading documents, please ensure the file is in PDF format and that your computer can support Adobe.
- If you are uploading contact hours, please upload those under the “Other Documentation” screen and not under the transcript screen.
Further communications and updates are available on the Maine Department of Education Certification Webpage, Maine DOE’s official Facebook and Twitter pages, and the DOE newsroom.