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All You Need To Know About OSPA’s
MCE Program
Every two year renewal period for State Board of Psychology Licensure
brings with it some confusion about the Ohio law’s requirements
and how the OSPA-MCE Program is administered.
As the current two year licensure period begins, this article
will hopefully clarify what the requirements are and what the
process is for assuring that all licenses MCE hours are accurately
recorded and then transmitted to the State Board of Psychology.
Ohio Law and Administrative Code Requirements
As required by ORC 4732.14. and OAC 4732-2, in order to renew
their license all State Board of Psychology licensees must accrue
23 contact hours of continuing education in each biennium (two
year) renewal period; three of the 23 hours must be in the area
of ethics. The two year renewal period begins on September 1 and
ends on August 31, continuing education hours must be accrued
in this time period and cannot apply towards future renewal time
periods except in the case where a license has expired and the
licensee applies for reinstatement. The current renewal period
began on September 1, 2006 and will end on August 31, 2008.
The law authorizes OSPA and OPA to be the registering agencies
of licensees mandatory continuing education (MCE).
OSPA MCE Registration Process
The State Board of Psychology sends all licensees renewal information,
including what the State Board fee is for renewal – which
must be sent back to the State Board offices, and the two forms
which can be used to either register with OSPA or OPA. This information
is sent out in July preceding the renewal period, which begins
September 1.
Licensees who choose OSPA as their registering agency must send
the OSPA-MCE Registration form, with the registration fee to the
OSPA-MCE office. The current fees and deadlines are as follows:
2006-2008 Biennium Fee: $125.00
OSPA Members Only $75.00
Late Fees: If paying after:
December 1, 2006 add $20.00
March 1, 2007 add $40.00
June 1, 2007 add $60.00
September 1, 2007 add $80.00
December 1, 2007 add $110.00
March 1, 2008 add $150.00
June 1, 2008 add $200.00
August 31, 2006 add $300.00
Please note the OSPA member discount, and to take advantage of
this, make sure that you have renewed your OSPA membership before
you send in your OSPA-MCE registration fee. You may also send
in the membership form and fee with the OSPA-MCE registration
form and fee.
Also, please take special notice of the late fees, these are
necessary to enable OSPA to efficiently register licensee’s
MCE and to assure accuracy of their record. Late fees will be
applied, and unfortunately every renewal period several licensees
are required to pay them. The best advice to avoid such fees is
to mark your calendar in the July preceding the renewal period,
so that you will be reminded to look for the State Board of Psychology
materials in the mail, and then send in the registration forms
to OSPA-MCE, as soon as possible after receiving them.
OSPA sends a transcript update to all registrants every six months
– if licensees do not receive these updates that indicates
they have not registered. Occasionally licensees send in MCE attendance
documentation and have not registered with OSPA – such MCE
hours will not be recorded. It is the responsibility of the licensee
to register, OSPA does not send out registration reminders to
former registrants.
Recording MCE Hours from Accredited Providers
and Approved Providers
Providers that are accredited by law to offer CE in Ohio are:
OSPA, OPA, The Association of Black Psychologists, NASP, APA ,
the State Board of Psychology and the State Board of Education.
Courses taken by these providers are added to OSPA registrants
transcripts upon receipt of a certificate of attendance or other
official attendance documentation. Except for OSPA conferences
or workshops, it is the registrants responsibility to send in
attendance documentation from all accredited providers.
Copies of original certificates of attendance should be sent to
the OSPA-MCE office as soon as possible after attending the professional
development. Certificates must contain your name , name of accredited
or approved provider, date and contact hours of offering.(Attendance
documentation is collected at OSPA conferences and then recorded
on transcripts.)
OSPA, OPA and The Association of Black Psychologists are also
authorized to approve providers of MCE, such providers must indicate
on their promotional materials that they are an approved provider
of State Board of Psychology continuing education hours, and they
must issue to attendees certificates of attendance. OSPA-MCE
registrants must send in copies of certificates of attendance
from these approved providers to assure that their MCE hours will
be recorded properly.
Recording MCE Hours from Non-Approved
Providers
All other (Non-approved) courses must be accompanied by the OSPA-MCE
Request for Single Course Review Form, which is available upon
request from the OSPA-MCE office, and on the OSPA website in the
MCE section. The OSPA-MCE Review Committee will consider such
requests. With the form registrants must send course content information,
the date of the course, the contact hours, and the certificate
of attendance with the registrants name included. Courses must
be relevant to the profession of school psychology in order to
be approved for MCE.
Credit will be considered for such activities as: (must be related
to the profession of school psychology) : taking graduate courses
(actual contact hours), teaching a graduate course (contact hours),
writing an article or other publication (up to ten hours per article)
writing a book (up to 20 hours). Credit is only granted once for
each course taught or for conducting a workshop. All such credit
must take place in the biennium renewal period.
Distance Learning Courses
Because of the difficulty in evaluating distance learning courses
OSPA-MCE will only accept such courses taken from providers approved
and accredited by the organizations empowered to do so under Ohio
law: the Ohio State Board of Psychology, the National Association
of School Psychologists (NASP), the Ohio School Psychologists
Association (OSPA), the American Psychological Association (APA),
the Ohio Psychological Association (OPA), the Ohio State Board
of Education/Ohio Department of Education and the Association
of Black Psychologists. No other distance learning courses will
be approved.
MCE Record Updates
OSPA-MCE will send registrants updates every six months and when
registrants meet the 23 hour requirement they will be issued a
final notice and copy of their MCE record.
Questions about the MCE program or about individual registrants
record should be directed to Cheryl VanDenBerge, MCE program manager,
at 614-414-5980 or e-mail: ospa1997@aol.com
Written by Ann Brennan
9-6-06
Click here for printer friendly version (PDF).
Please contact OSPA at telephone number above for MCE Registration
form.
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