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Changes to ISBE Certification Database

8/3/2006

On Monday, August 14, 2006, ISBE will disable the capability for teachers and administrators to record professional development activities or submit any documents to their LPDC or ROE through CeRTS.

CeRTS will be replaced with the Educator Certification System (ECS) on September 5, 2006. Activities currently entered in CeRTS will transfer to ECS. The exception will be incorrectly entered activities. This is most likely to affect teachers� CPDU entries since all but one of those activities (conferences and workshops) have a specific amount of credit that is possible to earn, and many teachers are entering credit for those activities based on contact hours rather than what is allowable by law. Since ECS is designed to eliminate incorrect entries, it will not transfer incorrectly entered activities.

The CeRTS system will be available for viewing entries during and after the transfer to ECS. Educators who feel they have lost entries due to the transfer can enter CeRTS to review what was entered. Because the law requires educators to maintain evidence of completion for all activities submitted, they can also verify what they have completed by reviewing their portfolio of evidence of completion.

Educators who have submitted professional development for the current cycle through CeRTS and who have already been approved for renewal and registered do not have access to past submitted and approved statements or verification forms, which have been archived and are inaccessible. (ECS will allow for the retention of future approved statements and verification forms.)