The Updated CEU Approval Process
Tonia Harding
Senior Certification Evaluator, ACSI
Whether you are new to ACSI or you have been involved with ACSI for a while, you have probably come in contact with the term CEUs. Continuing Education Units, or CEUs, are credits that a person receives for completing professional development courses. You can obtain CEUs through an CSI CEU provider. ACSI approves schools, individuals, and organizations as CEU providers in biblical studies and professional studies.
You may ask, “Why would a school want to become a CEU provider approved by ACSI?” Becoming an ACSI-approved CEU provider opens up a wide door of opportunity to provide teachers and administrators with continuing education units in biblical or professional studies.
When a school becomes an ACSI-approved CEU provider, it can issue CEUs for in-services that it holds in the school, conferences in the area, staff devotions, and many more options. The staff members can obtain the CEUs they need without having to look very far. The school can also know hat the staff members are receiving instruction that is beneficial to the school. When a school is a CEU provider, it as well as its staff members can save money and time by not having to pay for additional classes. The school does not need to bring in substitutes for times when its staff members would have had to attend other in-services that interfere with their teaching assignments.
On January 1, 2009, the ACSI CEU approval process changed. We in the ACSI Certification Department reviewed our process for approving CEUs, and we realized that the additional time it took to complete and submit a CEU Approval Request Form for each in-service, as well as other approval issues, made the process somewhat difficult for schools. For these reasons, ACSI decided to modify the steps for approving CEUs in a desire to alleviate some of the possible stress, frustration, and confusion.
Before January 1, 2009, to obtain ACSI approval of any inservice, workshop, video series, or other source of CEU credit, CEU providers had to submit a CEU Approval Request Form to the ACSI Certification Department and receive an approval number to list on the CEU certificates that they issued. As of January 1, 2009, CEU providers need to submit a CEU Approval Request Form only if the in-service will result in more than five CEUs. This change should make it easier and more time efficient for CEU providers when offering opportunities for professional or spiritual development.
Also beginning January 1, 2009, new guidelines for offering continuing education units and a new model CEU certificate went into effect. There are many excellent topics in biblical studies and professional studies, but they may not fit into the guidelines for offering CEUs. We ask that CEU providers please read and follow the guidelines closely. We have set up the guidelines to help CEU providers make sure that the certificates submitted to the ACSI Certification Department will be accepted toward certification. If CEU providers follow the guidelines, those providers will not have a problem regarding CEU acceptance. We also ask that providers check the ACSI website often because the guidelines are subject to change.
Before schools, organizations, or individuals issue CEU credit, they must be current, CSI-approved CEU providers. We waive the application fee for ACSI-accredited schools. The application fee for ACSI member schools that have not yet obtained ACSI accreditation, as well as for organizations, is $100. The application fee for individuals is $25. The approval remains current for five years.
If you become a provider, we ask that you offer CEUs that help with the professional and spiritual development of educators; the CEUs should provide ideas and information that educators can integrate into the classroom. If there is ever any question of whether we would accept a course for CEU credit, please do not hesitate to contact us in the ACSI Certification Department. We are available to answer any questions you may have regarding the CEU process.
We hope that these changes will help CEU providers as they offer continuing education to teachers and administrators. If you are a school and not a CEU provider with ACSI or if you have been a CEU provider and your approval to offer CEUs has expired, we encourage you to visit the ACSI website, www.acsi.org, download an application for offering continuing education units, and apply to be a provider today. Being a CEU provider is a great tool for helping educators keep their certification current.
For more information or questions regarding CEUs, please call the ACSI Certification Department at toll-free 888-839-8101, e-mail certification@acsi.org, or visit the ACSI website, www.acsi.org.
Approval 12.3