Pennsylvania Act 48: Requirements, Hours & PERMS Reporting

What is Act 48, and who has to comply?

Act 48 is Pennsylvania’s educator continuing-education law, passed in 1999 and effective July 1, 2000. It requires every holder of a Pennsylvania public-school certificate to complete ongoing professional development to keep that certificate active. That includes Instructional I and II, Educational Specialist I and II, Administrative, Supervisory, Letters of Eligibility, and all vocational certificates — whether you’re currently employed or not. Certified and non-certified teachers and administrators at charter schools are covered too. If you hold a Pennsylvania certificate, Act 48 applies to you.

How many Act 48 hours do I need, and how often?

You need 180 hours of professional development every five years. You can meet that requirement with six college credits, six PDE-approved continuing professional education (CPE) credits, 180 hours of approved CPE programs, or any combination of the three. The conversion is simple: one credit equals 30 Act 48 hours. So a single 3-credit graduate course counts as 90 hours, and a non-credit course completion typically counts for 45 hours. Put another way: two 3-credit graduate courses — or four non-credit courses — cover an entire five-year cycle. One more cushion: if you end a cycle with extra hours, PDE carries up to 50 unused Act 48 hours over into your next five-year period.

How do I check my Act 48 status and when my cycle ends?

Your five-year compliance period begins on the effective date of your initial Instructional certificate, and it renews for another five years each time you meet the requirement. You can check your progress anytime in PERMS — the Professional Education Record Management System — using your Professional Personnel ID (PPID). About 12 months before your period ends, PDE sends a notice listing any hours you still need, with another notice at the end of the period. Those go to the contact information PDE has on file, so keep your name and address current in TIMS (the Teacher Information Management System) to be sure you receive them.

How do Act 48 hours get reported to the state?

Act 48 hours are reported directly into PERMS — you don’t mail anything in for approved-provider coursework. When you finish a course with a PDE-approved Act 48 provider, the provider uploads your hours straight into your PERMS record (PDE asks providers to submit within 30 days of completion). College credit works a little differently: for graduate credit earned at an out-of-state university, PDE only accepts an official e-transcript sent directly by the institution to the Act 48 Office at ra-edact48etrscrpt@pa.gov — a transcript you forward yourself won’t be accepted. In-state Pennsylvania college credit is uploaded to PERMS by that college’s registrar.

What happens if I don’t meet Act 48 by my deadline?

If you don’t complete your 180 hours by the end of your five-year period, your certificate moves to inactive status. An inactive certificate doesn’t disappear — you can still work as a substitute for up to 180 days per school year, though individual districts can choose to require active certificates even for subs. To reactivate, you complete the 180 hours for that period, and the system automatically returns your certificate to active status with a new five-year period assigned. If you receive a notice of inactive status and believe it’s in error, you can appeal — appeals are due within 30 days of the notice date.

Can I earn Act 48 hours with online, self-paced courses?

Yes. Act 48 hours can be earned through any PDE-approved provider, and that includes fully online, self-paced courses — no in-person attendance, no live sessions. You’ll generally see two routes: non-credit continuing professional education, where a single course completion counts for 45 Act 48 hours, and graduate credit, where a 3-credit course counts for 90 Act 48 hours and also gives you an official university transcript. Which route you choose depends on whether you just need Act 48 hours or also want graduate credit for salary-lane purposes.

What’s the difference between Act 48 and Act 45?

Act 48 and Act 45 are two different Pennsylvania laws, and they’re easy to mix up. Act 48 (1999) is the one that applies to all certified educators — the 180-hours-every-five-years requirement described on this page. Act 45 (2007), also called PIL (the Pennsylvania Inspired Leadership program), applies specifically to educators serving as certified school and system leaders — principals, superintendents, and similar administrative roles — who have their own separate 180-hour requirement to maintain an administrative certificate. If you’re a classroom teacher, Act 48 is the one that applies to you.

Will these credits count toward a master’s, or move me up a salary lane?

Here’s the honest breakdown. On salary lanes: yes, graduate credits commonly help Pennsylvania teachers move across the lanes (columns) of their district’s salary schedule, and you don’t need a finished master’s degree to start — individual graduate credits can move you across a lane as soon as your district recognizes them. The key caveat is that Pennsylvania salary schedules are set by each district’s collective bargaining agreement, not by the state, so which credits count and which lanes they unlock vary district to district. Always confirm with your district’s HR or business office before you enroll.

On a master’s degree: these are graduate-level professional-development credits, not degree-program credits. They’re built for certificate renewal, Act 48 compliance, and salary-lane steps, and they do not stack into a master’s degree at UMass Global or CSU Pueblo. If a specific lane in your district requires holding a conferred master’s degree, these credits alone won’t satisfy it. When your goal is Act 48 hours plus district salary-lane movement, they’re a strong fit; when your goal is an actual master’s degree, they’re not the path.

Can the same credits count toward Level II certification?

Yes — and this is where the graduate-credit route really earns its keep. Pennsylvania’s Level II certificate — also written as Instructional II, and often just called the permanent certificate — requires 24 semester credits earned after your bachelor’s degree under PDE’s CSPG 7 guidelines. Qualifying credits must come from a regionally or nationally accredited, degree-granting college or university, be completed with a passing grade, and appear on an official transcript — fully online coursework qualifies. At least 6 of the 24 must be in the content area of your Level I certificate or in courses designed to improve professional practice.

One distinction trips people up: Act 48 hours and Level II credits are not the same currency. PDE classifies Act 48 hours as continuing education units, and CEUs do not count toward the 24 credits — only college credits do. The good news is it works in the other direction: college credits count for both. Each semester credit is worth 30 Act 48 hours, and PDE’s Act 48 FAQ confirms that credits earned for Level II certification can also be applied to your Act 48 requirement, as long as they were earned during your current five-year compliance period. So one 3-credit graduate course gives you 3 of your 24 Level II credits and 90 Act 48 hours at the same time. PDE even publishes the fix for paperwork overlap: if your transcript went to the Certification Division for your Level II application, email RA-EDACT48@PA.GOV and ask for the same credits to be applied to your Act 48 record.

The rest of the Level II picture: you apply through TIMS once you also have three years of satisfactory service on your Instructional I and a completed PDE-approved induction program, with your evaluation verified on the Level I to Level II assessment (Form PDE-427). Watch the clock — an Instructional I is valid for six years of service (service years, not calendar years), it lapses if you don’t convert in time, and PDE is explicit that tracking your service years is your responsibility. If Level II is on your horizon, credits you earn now do double duty from day one.

Want the full walkthrough? Our Pennsylvania Level II certification guide walks through the entire Instructional I → Instructional II conversion step by step — the 24 credits, the three years of satisfactory service, the PDE-approved induction program, and the PDE-427 evaluation.