How to Obtain Certificates
If you are looking to see where our certificates are accepted, click here.
For Live Webinar Viewers
If you attend the live webinar and stay from the beginning to the very end, you will receive the official personalized certificate by email within 7 days of the live webinar.
Personalized certificates are emailed to participants within 7 days after the live webinar. Please do not contact us about personalized certificates prior to 7 full days after the live session!
If it has been more than 7 days please check your spam/junk filters for the email containing your certificate. The subject line will read “IMPORTANT: Your certificate is enclosed. OPEN“
You can create a free SimpleCert account and see all of your personalized certificates in one place. However, we recommend downloading & storing your certificates so you can easily keep track of your participation.
If you receive an email with the subject line “We’re sorry you could not attend the webinar”, the system did not record your presence, and you will not receive a personalized certificate. The email will include a link to the recording, and you can find all of the recordings here.
When you register for a webinar, you provide your email address. The system uses that email address to send confirmation and reminder emails about the webinar and instructions with a link to log in. We only send emails with the link to the certificate to people who have logged in by clicking on the link sent in the confirmation and reminder to watch the webinar. The system will not record your presence and send a certificate if you only call in and listen by phone. Our system retains attendance records and records the time you log in to the on-screen webinar and when you log off. It uses that information to send out the email with the link. If your supervisor or a licensing agency inquires about your attendance, we will check our records to verify your attendance.
We also announce and display on the screen a “shortened” link on the final two slides at the end of every session. This link is provided as a back-up in case you do not receive the email with your personalized certificate.
Store your certificates after you download them. If you download blank certificates, there will be no way to track which sessions you have taken or replace lost certificates.
You can also download the blank certificate using the link displayed at the end of the webinar.
For Recording Viewers
Late Arrivals & Recording Viewers
If you arrive late to the live webinar, leave early, or watch the recording download the blank certificate by following the link announced at the end of every webinar.
Recording viewers must enter the link announced and displayed at the end of the webinar into a browser to download the certificate. If you watch recordings you must capture the link to the certificate announced and displayed on the very last slide of the webinar.
Personalized certificates are not available to recording viewers or those who arrive late or leave the webinar before it is over.
Please note that we cannot send the link to people who view the recordings, and we cannot respond to email about problems with certificates.
You are responsible for your certificate. We do not offer technical support for, or respond to email about certificates.
Blank Certificates
Blank certificates are your responsibility, we will not email the blank certificate or the link to the blank certificate.
If you are watching the live webinar, you can click on the link shared in chat by the Early Childhood Investigations team to download the blank certificate. We strongly recommend also writing down the link to the certificate (shown on your screen at the end of the webinar).
If you are watching the recording, write down the link to your certificate shown at the end of the recording.
Certificate Fraud
We have faith in the early childhood educators who attend our webinars. Our relationships are based on trust. However, it has come to our attention that sometimes not everyone is honest, and they look for shortcuts to earning the certificates they need to demonstrate ongoing professional development. That’s a shame!
Cheating by not attending webinars and fraudulently using our certificates hurts the families that trust you to care for and educate their children. It ruins your reputation and the reputation of your employer, and it destroys Early Childhood Investigations credibility with the licensing agencies and registries that accept our certificates. Over time, the trust will erode to the point that our certificates will no longer be accepted, and we will no longer be able to help hundreds of thousands of early educators around the world by providing free conference-quality™ professional development webinars.
Be aware: Our system tracks registrants’ participation in webinars. We can and do often check up on the participation of specific registrants at the request of registries, licensing agencies, and supervisors upon request. If you provide a certificate of attendance for a webinar in which you did not participate, we can easily identify your fraudulent claim.
Where our certificates are accepted
Please be advised that we do not know every agency’s rules about accepting our certificates. You should check with your licensing agency or registry to find out.
We have been offering webinars since 2010 and very few attendees report problems with getting their certificates accepted but there are very specific rules in every state. It is your responsibility to know the rules that apply to your ongoing professional development hours.
With all of that said, we do have specific information about using certificates in the following states. Be aware that the vast majority of states accept our certificates, but we only have information from a few states.
Please note the following list of details about each state is incomplete. If your registry or licensing agency is not on this list, it does not mean the certificates are not accepted. It just means we do not have up to date information about their regulations about our certificates.
Canada
All Canadian Registries accept our certificates. Please refer to your agency for specific instructions about how to use our certificates in your registry.
United States
Alabama
No Information
Alaska
No Information
Arizona – Arizona Early Childhood Workforce Registry
Accepts certificates from live and recorded webinars.
Accepts certificates from live and recorded webinars with special directions
Colorado
No Information
Connecticut
No Information
Delaware
No Information
Accepts our certificates under specific conditions
Florida
No Information
Georgia
No Information
Hawaii – PATCH DHS Early Childhood Registry
Accepts certificates from live and recorded webinars
Idaho
No Information
Illinois
No Information
Indiana
No Information
Iowa
No Information
Kansas
No Information
Kentucky
No Information
Louisiana
No Information
Accepts our certificates under specific conditions
Only accept the OFFICIAL Personalized Certificate from the live session.
Massachusetts
No Information
Michigan
No Information
Accepts our certificates under specific conditions
Mississippi
No Information
Missouri
No Information
Montana
No Information
Nebraska
No Information
Nevada
No Information
New Hampshire
No Information
New Jersey Workforce Registry
State
New Mexico
No Information
New York
No Information
North Carolina
No Information
North Dakota
No Information
Ohio
No Information
Oklahoma
No Information
Accepts our certificates under specific conditions
Pennsylvania
No Information
Rhode Island
No Information
South Carolina
No Information
South Dakota
No Information
Tennessee
No Information
Texas TECPDS
State
Utah
No Information
Vermont
No Information
Virginia
No Information
Washington
No Information
Yes from the live webinars. Yes from the recorded webinars. The training must be at least one hour in length and must tie back to at least one of WV Early Childhood Core Knowledge and Competency document.
Wisconsin
No Information