The Mississippi Department of Education(MDE) has established a full-time team of Licensure Call Center customer service representatives to better serve educators and reduce the impact of the number of calls received to the center and will soon launch an interactive telephone voice response system.
During peak season, the number of calls received by representatives in the MDE Licensure Call Center ranges between 6,000 to 15,000 telephone calls per month from prospective and practicing educators seeking to obtain general information or inquiring about the status of a licensure application submitted for processing.
On Jan. 5, MDE began onboarding 15 new representatives to serve alongside the four existing MDE Licensure Call Center representatives who provide information to prospective and practicing educators seeking to obtain or maintain a Mississippi issued educator license. Beginning Feb. 1, call center hours were expanded from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to new hours of operation, 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
To provide more ways to obtain the latest information regarding licensure application status when contacting the Division of Educator Licensure via telephone, the MDE will also offer an automated voice response feature that will be integrated with the applicant’s Educator Licensure Management System (ELMS) account. This Interactive Voice Response (IVR) feature is a self-service communications portal that will provide the caller with information regarding the status of the most recently submitted licensure application and other licensure related account activity, as appropriate.
For added security, to obtain information found in the ELMS account by way of the automated IVR system, a four-digit personal identification number (PIN) must be entered as one criterion for authenticating the caller’s identity. This four-digit PIN will also be required when seeking to obtain ELMS contained licensure application related information from a Licensure Call Center customer service representative.
Educator Licensure Management Account (ELMS) holders must complete the steps provided below to setup the unique four-digit personal identification number in their ELMS account:
Steps for setup of Four-digit Educator Personal Identification Number (PIN) via ELMS
Go to https://sso.mde.k12.ms.us/Login/Login.aspx
- Sign into your Educator Licensure Management Account (ELMS)
- When you access your ELMS account, you will see a new feature banner on the Home Page. To set your Educator PIN, click the Set PIN button.
- Enter a four-digit PIN and then verify the PIN. To save your Educator PIN, click the Save PIN button.
- The Home Page will show that your Educator PIN has been set after you save the PIN.
Complete instructions for setting up the four-digit Educator PIN are provided herein as an attachment. The four-digit Educator PIN will be required when seeking to obtain ELMS contained licensure application related information from a Licensure Call Center customer service representative beginning Tuesday, March 1, 2022. However, the four-digit Educator PIN will be required to obtain information via the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, when the automated service launches in the coming weeks.
Should you have questions, please contact a Licensure Call Center customer service representative via telephone at (601) 359-3483.
See complete memorandum at Memorandum – Launch of MDE Licensure Call Center and Interactive Voice Response System 2102022