Updated for 2026

Wisconsin Psychologist Continuing Education Requirements

Wisconsin psychologists must complete 40 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew their Psychologist license, including 6 hours of law & ethics.

total hours / 2 years

law & ethics hours

Biennial renewal · calculating the next statewide deadline

Wisconsin Psychologist requirements

Requirement	Notes
Total continuing education	40 hours every 2 years.
Renewal	Biennial cycle: CE due by September 30 of odd years.
Renewal fee	$66 board renewal fee every 2 years; a late (delinquent) renewal adds a $25 fee.
Law & Ethics	6 hours required each cycle.
New licensees	No continuing education is required before Wisconsin's first renewal: "During the time between initial Wisconsin licensure and commencement of a full 2-year licensure period, licensees shall not be required to meet continuing education requirements." (Wis. Admin. Code Psy 4.025(3)); "Continuing education requirements do not apply to the biennium in which the license was first issued." (DSPS psychologist CE page). The license itself still renews on the first September 30 of an odd-numbered year after issuance; the 40-hour obligation first attaches to the first FULL biennium.
Approved providers	Wisconsin approves continuing education by qualifying CLASS, not by provider roster: "The board shall approve all of the following programs and courses, if relevant to the professional practice of psychology" — programs sponsored by an organization approved by the American Psychological Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, or the Canadian Psychological Association; programs sponsored by the Wisconsin Psychological Association or the Wisconsin School Psychologists Association; AMA/AOA "category I" continuing medical education; courses approved by the psychology licensing board of another state where the psychologist is also licensed; and qualifying graduate coursework at regionally accredited institutions (Wis. Admin. Code Psy 4.035(1)). "The Department does not pre-approve continuing education programs. If the courses satisfy the requirements of the Wisconsin Administrative Code, they will be accepted" (DSPS psychologist CE page) — so no provider list is enforced as a gate. The must_be_within_cycle_window flag encodes the no-carryover rule: "Continuing education hours may apply only to the registration period in which the hours are acquired." (Psy 4.025(2)); excess hours can never be banked forward. The one exception runs BACKWARD only and requires board permission — after a lapse, the board "may grant permission to apply continuing education hours acquired after lapse of the license to a previous biennial period of licensure during which required continuing education was not acquired. In no case may continuing education hours be applied to more than one biennial period." (Psy 4.025(2)) — a discretionary remediation the engine never grants automatically. No attendee repeat-course prohibition exists in the current chapter (no_repeat_courses_per_cycle: false); only repeat TEACHING of the same program is barred (Psy 4.035(3)). A continuing education hour is "not less than 50 minutes" (Psy 4.015(2)).
Recordkeeping	Keep CE documentation for 6 years after each renewal.
Board audit	The board may audit licensees to verify CE compliance.
Late renewal	A late renewal allows a $25 late fee.

Limits on how the hours are earned

Board caps and floors on where the 40 hours can come from.

teachingmax 20 hrs
board servicemax 12 hrs
professional servicemax 12 hrs
publicationmax 20 hrs
providing supervisionmax 20 hrs

Keeping the proof in order: what to keep for a CE audit, with every state’s retention period and what the audit notice asks for.

Full board policy details

STRUCTURE: Wisconsin organizes CE by crediting basis, not by named or lettered activity groups, and no rule requires hours from a minimum number of categories — no such rule exists in chapter Psy 4. The only subject floor is the 6-hour ethics/risk-management/jurisprudence minimum (ethics_risk_jurisprudence). The distinctly-credited activity pathways of Psy 4.035 are encoded as credit conversions with their stated per-biennium ceilings (teaching 20; professional activity 12; peer review 12; authorship 20; providing supervision 20); the graduate course, ABPP certification, psychopharmacology degree, and DHS evaluation pathways carry no stated per-biennium ceiling and are encoded uncapped. All 40 hours may come from ordinary approved courses.
PER-DAY COURSE CAP: "No more than eight hours of continuing education hours may be credited per day for courses and programs in sub. (1) (a) through (d)." (Wis. Admin. Code Psy 4.035(2)). The cap affirmatively limits how many COURSE hours may be credited within a single calendar day and reaches only the ordinary course pathways — not the flat 20-hour graduate-course grant of Psy 4.035(1)(e) and not the activity credits of Psy 4.035(3)-(10). It is recorded here rather than as a structured cap because the engine's caps bind per cycle or per credit entry across all categories: a structured 8-hour per-entry cap would falsely clamp the 20-hour graduate-course and 40-hour certification/degree grants that the rule exempts. Every per-cycle verdict is identical under this encoding; the only undetectable case — more than eight course hours packed into one calendar day — is a documentation-level audit question, and licensees should split multi-day course credits by day in their records (certificates must show dates of attendance, Psy 4.05(1)(a)).
FORMAT: The current chapter imposes no delivery-format quotas — no self-study or online cap, no live or in-person minimum, and no live/self-study classification anywhere in Psy 4.025 or Psy 4.035. A former subsection of the CE rule (Psy 4.025(4)) was repealed by CR 21-084 effective March 1, 2022; no format restriction survives in the current text. Every engine verdict is identical to having no format quotas at all.
LICENSE STATUS RULES: Chapter Psy 4 provides no inactive class. A licensee who certifies permanent retirement from the practice of psychology (or the private practice of school psychology) may be granted a CE exemption (Psy 4.04(2); Wis. Stat. § 455.065(7)); DSPS administers it at renewal — "Attesting to being permanently retired during renewal waives the Continuing Education requirement, and updates the license status to 'Non-Practicing' ... Non-practicing licenses are current, but not eligible for practice. Non-practicing status must be renewed every biennium." (DSPS psychologist page). Return to active practice requires "evidence satisfactory to the board of having completed 40 credits of continuing education hours obtained within 2 years prior to the return to the practice of psychology" (Psy 4.04(3)) — a 2-year window ending at the return date rather than the standard cycle window, so it is recorded here and in compliance_admin rather than as a structured requirement. Postponements and waivers are available "on grounds of prolonged illness or disability, or on other grounds constituting extreme hardship", considered individually, with partial or total waivers possible (Psy 4.04(1); § 455.065(6)); service members may request extensions and hardship CE waivers via DSPS form R210 (DSPS psychologist page).
LAPSED AND EXPIRED LICENSES: Renewal within 5 years of expiration requires the renewal fee, any late renewal fee, and certification of "40 hours of continuing education during the last biennium" (Psy 4.017(2)). Renewal after more than 5 years requires the fees plus either an active credential in good standing in another state or "[c]ompletion of 80 hours of approved continuing education, including 12 hours of ethics, risk management, or jurisprudence, within the preceding 2 years" (Psy 4.017(3)) — an application-anchored window the engine does not evaluate; recorded in compliance_admin.reactivation. Reinstatement after discipline, surrender, or revocation layers disciplinary-completion and rehabilitation evidence on top (Psy 4.017(4)-(5)). An expired license may not be renewed through the initial-application process (Psy 4.017(1)).
OVERLAYS AND ADJACENT CREDENTIALS: Wisconsin ratified PSYPACT — Wis. Stat. §§ 455.50-455.51, created by 2021 Wis. Act 131. PSYPACT authority (APIT telepsychology or temporary in-person authorization, built on an ASPPB E.Passport or IPC) is a mobility overlay on the Wisconsin license with its own ASPPB obligations; nothing in chapter Psy 4 attaches CE hours to it. Wisconsin grants psychologists NO prescriptive authority — the psychopharmacology degree of Psy 4.035(8) earns CE credit only. The interim psychologist license (Wis. Stat. § 455.04(2); Psy 2.012) is a supervised, time-limited credential expressly EXEMPT from CE ("An individual holding an interim psychologist license is not required to complete continuing education.", Psy 2.012(2); § 455.06 (1)(b)) and is excluded from this rule. The grandfathered private practice school psychologist license (held on May 31, 2021; no new licenses since June 1, 2021 per 2021 Wis. Act 22, Wis. Stat. § 455.04(4)) renews on the same date with the same Psy 4.025 CE requirement (Psy 4.017(7)) but is a separate, school-limited credential, not covered by this rule file.

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Wisconsin Psychologist CE: frequently asked questions

How many CE hours do Wisconsin Psychologist licensees need?

Wisconsin requires 40 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew a Psychologist license. Biennial cycle: CE due by September 30 of odd years.

How many ethics hours are required for Wisconsin Psychologist licensees?

Of the total, 6 hours must be in law & ethics.

How often do Wisconsin Psychologist licensees renew?

Biennial cycle: CE due by September 30 of odd years.

How much does Wisconsin Psychologist license renewal cost?

The board's renewal fee is $66 every 2 years, per the Wisconsin board fee schedule. Renewing late adds a $25 delinquency fee on top. CE course costs are separate and set by course providers.

Is the first renewal different for new Wisconsin Psychologist licensees?

No continuing education is required before Wisconsin's first renewal: "During the time between initial Wisconsin licensure and commencement of a full 2-year licensure period, licensees shall not be required to meet continuing education requirements." (Wis. Admin. Code Psy 4.025(3)); "Continuing education requirements do not apply to the biennium in which the license was first issued." (DSPS psychologist CE page). The license itself still renews on the first September 30 of an odd-numbered year after issuance; the 40-hour obligation first attaches to the first FULL biennium.

Sources & verification

State source: Wisconsin board rule
Fee schedule: Wisconsin board fee schedule
Last verified: August 2026
Ruleset version: 2026.1

Reviewed against the Wisconsin board source and refreshed from the compiled ruleset above. Methodology and disclaimer. Compliance data is for guidance only, not legal or board advice. Always confirm requirements with your licensing board before renewing. See something wrong? Report it →

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Wisconsinguides & data

What to keep for a CE audit

What boards ask for in a CE audit, how long each state says to keep certificates, what the notice looks like, and a printable checklist.

Wisconsin mental health workforce data

20,848 active providers, or 349 per 100,000 residents, ranked 37 of 51. County density map and free CSV downloads.

Other Wisconsin CE requirement pages

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