Michigan requirements · MDE
MDE School Social Worker Certificate Renewal and SCECHs
Your school social worker certificate comes from the Michigan Department of Education, not from LARA, and it runs on its own clock. Here is how the Professional and Preliminary certificates renew, and how SCECHs end up in MOECS.
The short version
- Professional School Social Worker Certificate: 75 professional learning hours every 5 years, expiring June 30.
- Earned as SCECHs, college credit or DPPD, and recorded in MOECS.
- Preliminary School Social Worker Certificate: valid 3 years, renewable once, and not based on hours.
- MDE renewal pathways vary. Confirm your exact requirement in MOECS.
The Professional certificate: 75 hours every 5 years
The Professional School Social Worker Certificate renews every 5 years and expires on June 30. To renew it you need 75 hours of education-related professional learning in the cycle. Unlike your LARA license, there are no required topics inside that total: it is a single professional learning number.
Those hours can come from three places: State Continuing Education Clock Hours (SCECHs), college credit, or DPPD. Hours earned in one cycle don't carry into the next.
About the 150-hour figure. You may see 150 hours quoted for MDE renewal. That number belongs to teaching certificates. The Professional School Social Worker Certificate requires 75.
What a SCECH is, and when it counts
A SCECH is a State Continuing Education Clock Hour, the unit MDE uses for professional learning. MOECS is the system of record: it is where MDE sees the hours you have earned.
A SCECH doesn't appear the moment the session ends. It lands in MOECS once the sponsor has uploaded it and you have completed the evaluation. Until both happen, treat it as pending rather than earned. Checking MOECS before your deadline, not on it, leaves time to chase a missing upload.
MOECS knows nothing about your LARA license. A workshop that counts toward both credentials shows up in MOECS as a SCECH and nowhere in LARA's records, which is why you track the license side yourself.
The Preliminary certificate
The Preliminary School Social Worker Certificate is valid for 3 years, expires June 30, and can be renewed only once. Its renewal doesn't turn on hours. MDE's criteria are:
- A valid LLMSW or LMSW issued by LARA.
- Documented supervision by a Professional School Social Worker Certificate holder (or a pre-2014 Full Approval holder).
You can still log your professional learning while you hold the Preliminary certificate. Those hours are for your own records; they count toward nothing at MDE.
| Professional | Preliminary | |
|---|---|---|
| Valid for | 5 years | 3 years, renewable once |
| Expires | June 30 | June 30 |
| Renewal based on | 75 professional learning hours | LLMSW or LMSW, plus documented supervision |
| Hours earned as | SCECHs, college credit or DPPD | Not required |
How it fits with your LARA license
Most school social workers hold an MDE certificate and a LARA license at the same time, and the two cycles end on different dates. Being caught up on one says nothing about the other. Social work CE often carries SCECHs too, so one course can count toward both. SCECH-only courses, such as district PD, usually don't count toward your license. The LARA CE page covers the license side.
Sources
Requirements verified 14 September 2026 against MDE's school social worker certification guidance and MDE's SCECH overview.
Social Work Hours is a personal tracking tool. It is not affiliated with LARA, MDE, or MOECS, and does not submit anything to the state on your behalf. Requirements change; always verify current rules with LARA (Board of Social Work) and MDE, and confirm SCECHs in your MOECS account. Retain your original certificates as required by state rules.
Track this automatically in Social Work Hours
Log a course once and Social Work Hours counts it toward your LARA license and your MDE certificate, tracks every minimum and deadline above, and keeps the record ready in case you are audited. Free during the pilot.