Guardianship Certification

• Continuing Education Requirements
• Applying for CE Approval
• Online CE Courses
• CE Calculations
• Frequently Asked Questions

To search our list of approved continuing education courses, please go to the online certification and licensing system on our home page.

Continuing Education Requirements

Certified guardians and provisionally certified guardians must complete twelve hours of continuing education during each two-year certification period. The twelve hours of continuing education must include two hours of ethics and one hour of legislative update. You can carry forward 4 hours of CE to your next certification period. Ethics and Legislative Update hours cannot be carried forward.

• To clarify, this means, if you reported 16 hours of approved CE for your 2020 renewal, a maximum of 4 hours of non-ethics\legislative update CE can be used towards your 2022 renewal. You must select the course and upload the certificate again so that it is attached to your 2022 online renewal application though.

Refer to sections 4.0 and 7.7 of the JBCC Rules for additional details on CE requirements.

We are accepting applications for approval of continuing education from both course providers and certified guardians. A course outline must be submitted with each request for approval as well as copies of the speaker bios. The course outline must contain the following information:

a. Describe course content (i.e., detailed description of each session of the program)
b. Indicate the time allotted to each segment (i.e., the start and end time of each session of the program in quarter hours for in-person courses , or listing each session duration using quarter hour increments for online courses). See examples below:

• • In-person course example: 8:00-8:15, 9:45-11:30, etc.
  • Online course example: .25 hrs, .50 hrs, .75, hrs, 1.0 hrs, 2.5 hrs, etc.

c. The date and location of the course (i.e., city/state for in-person courses, or website for online courses)
d. Any sessions in Ethics or Legislative Update must be identified on the outline as well.

When submitting CE applications online, enter data in the "Course Location" field, as follows:
a. For in-person courses: enter just the city/cities (for TX courses), or city/cities and state (for non-TX courses), or
b. For online courses: enter the website address where the course is offered 
c. skip the City, State and Zip fields.
Entering the location this way helps to ensure it is displayed properly for those searching our system to see what is available in their area(s). 

For Course Type, please only select Seminar, Online, or Other.

The following information must be included on the certificates of completion issued to attendees:

1. 1. The JBCC assigned program number.
   2. The name of the course provider.
   3. The title of the course.
   4. The date the attendee completed the course.
   5. The number of hours completed by the attendee.
   6. The list of sessions completed by the attendee.
   7. The signature of the course provider.

Approved courses can be found in our online licensing system. A course must be JBCC approved before a certified guardian can claim the hours for renewal purposes.

Applying for Continuing Education Course Approval

To apply for approval of a continuing education course, you must submit a request for CE approval by way of our online certification and licensing system located on our  home page. Please refer to the pdf Guide to Using the Online System, as well as the pdf slideshow for how to apply for course approval online, on our home page for instructions on the online application process.

Note: If the course is already approved (i.e., it already has a JBCC program number shown on the certificate), you do not have to apply for CE approval.

Providers, online courses and in-person courses must be applied for separately. If you have a course you offered in-person and wish to offer all (or part of) it online, you must submit the required course approval form. Each will be assigned its own program number.

Applications will be reviewed to determine compliance with Commission's rules. Applicants will be notified of the determination via email.

Online Continuing Education Courses

When applying for approval of a course being offered online, you must include the following information on your CE form:

• How you will track the time of each attendee to ensure credit for time actual participation time, and
• How you will confirm the identity of the individual who signed up and the individual taking the course are the same.

Options for Verifying Identification of Online Course Attendees:

1. Two-factor Authentication,
2. Proctored courses (live proctor or remote proctor), or
3. Photo identification required at sign up and at start of course.

Inquiries Regarding Paperwork

Applications are processed as soon as possible, in the order of which they are received. Due to the volume of applications received, processing times can vary; therefore, we are unable to provide more specific timeframes.

Applicants must confirm receipt of their applications, and the status of their applications, by referring to the View Pending Applications page of their online profiles. All applicants are sent automated email confirmations of successful application submission, and when applications are approved. Inquiries for application status checks or receipt confirmation will not be replied to unless determined by staff that there’s been a delay in processing your application, and you have not received prior notification. We receive many of these inquiries and each email takes time to research and respond to which delays the processing of applications. Thank you for your understanding.

CE Hours Calculations

• CE Calculations Conversion Chart (pdf)

Continuing education hours are to be calculated and reported in quarter hour increments. 

For example:

.25= 15 min., .50=30 min., .75=45 min., and 1 or 1.0=1 hr.