Guidelines for the implementation of the regulation concerning master's plus 30 and bachelor's plus 18 upgrades have been recently revised because of the adverse impact that it has on teachers at this time.

The State Board of Education adopted new regulations over a year ago that required all coursework for the bachelor's plus 18 and master's plus 30 certificates to be completed within a seven year timeframe. To ease the burden on individuals who will be adversely affected by this regulation change, the implementation was delayed until September 1, 2003, and then again until January 1, 2004. It has become apparent that the implementation timetable of this regulation change is creating considerable hardship for numerous individuals who have been pursuing these certificate upgrades, but who will be unable to complete all coursework by January 1, 2004.

Therefore, revised implementation guidelines have been developed that will allow all educators who had been issued a formal evaluation by the Office of Educator Certification for bachelor's plus 18 or master's plus 30 prior to September 1, 2003 (the original date the regulation change was to have been implemented), to complete requirements under that previous evaluation. In other words, the seven year timeframe will not apply to them. However, the new regulation changes will apply to all persons who request a formal evaluation for the first time after September 1, 2003

All evaluations for certificate upgrades for the master's plus 30 and bachelor's plus 18 that were issued previous to September 1, 2003 will be considered in effect until completion. If you have been given an official evaluation for the master's plus 30 or the bachelor's plus 18 from the Office of Educator Certification prior to September 1, 2003, you may complete that worksheet based on the previous requirements.

Any educator, who qualified for and was denied an upgrade of their certificate this fall because of the regulation requiring the seven year timeframe, should contact our office immediately. We will give priority to a review of those situations.

If you have questions about these new guidelines or any other certification issue you may contact our office by calling our toll free number, 1-877-885-5280 Monday through Friday between the hours of 1:00 - 4:30 PM. If you are calling from outside of South Carolina the number is 803-734-8466. 02/04/2012