Important Act 48 Updates
The Social Security Number is no longer used to report and retrieve Act 48
continuing education credits and hours.
In June of 2006, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) instituted
the use of a 7-digit individual Professional Personnel Identification Number
(PPID) to be used as a secure unique identifier for all certified educators.
The intended purpose of the PPID was to create a secure alternative to the use
of Social Security Numbers for reporting and retrieving Act 48 continuing
professional education credits and hours.
Effective July 1, 2013, the PPID became the sole identifying data element
used to identify individual educators when reporting Act 48 professional
development credits and hours into PDE's Professional Education Record
Management System. The Social Security Number is no longer used as the key
identifier to reference individual educators when uploading Act 48 hours into
the Professional Education Record Management System (PERMS).
Effective July 1, 2013, Act 48 providers were no longer able to use the
Social Security Number as the identifying data element to upload Act 48 hours to
an educator’s continuing professional education record in PERMS. Providers were
advised to cease collecting Social Security Numbers from educators on
professional development activity registration forms or sign-in/sign-out sheets
at professional development activities. Educators should be aware of the
necessity to know their PPID number and be able to provide it as their
individual identifier when participating in Act 48 professional development
activities.
Educators can find their PPID by going to PDE's website at www.education.pa.gov (scroll
to the bottom of the homepage and click "Act 48 Reporting System" under PDE
Online Services). School districts and LEAs are also advised that PPIDs must be
used when generating an Educator's Report in order to ascertain the Act 48
status of their employed educators.
Effective January 1, 2015, PDE began accepting official
electronic transcripts (eTranscripts) from out-of-state institutions of
higher education for the purpose of documenting completion of Act 48
continuing professional education requirements. eTranscripts must be submitted
to PDE by the out-of-state institution via the following email address: ra-edact48etrscrpt@pa.gov. Please
note that credits from Pennsylvania institutions of higher education must be
uploaded directly into PERMS by the institution. This is typically done by the
registrar’s office. PDE continues to accept hard copy official sealed
transcripts from out-of-state institutions.
For more information, contact
the Division of Planning at ra-edact48@pa.gov.