To apply for certification
as a school social worker in New Jersey, you must do so through the licensing
office at the NJ Department of Education. The hours they take phone calls
are from 3:00 to 6:00 PM daily. The phone number is 609-292-2070.
An alternate way to do this is through a County Superintendent of Schools in
New Jersey. If you have an MSW, you automatically qualify, but you have
to apply and submit the required documentation. Unfortunately, when you
look on the website of the licensing/certification office, they mainly deal
with teacher credentialing.
http://www.nj.gov/education/educators/license/
REVISED SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKER
CERTIFICATE REGULATIONS
NJAC 6A:9-13.5 School Social Worker
(a) The school social worker endorsement authorizes the holder to serve as a
school social worker in any school district in the state in grades preschool
through 12.
(b) To be eligible for the standard educational services certificate with a
school social worker endorsement, the candidate shall hold a master’s
degree from a regionally accredited college or university and complete a total
of 30 graduate-level semester hour credits with a study in each of the areas
listed below:
1. Psychology, including general psychology, educational psychology, psychology
of adolescence and child growth and development;
2. Special education and/or learning disabilities;
3. Social problems, including study in dealing with delinquency, poverty, interracial
and intercultural problems;
4. A minimum of six semester-hour credits in social case work, introductory
and advanced, including principles and practices in social case work, interviewing,
and methods and skills in diagnosis;
5. Mental hygiene and social psychiatry, including dynamics of human behavior
and psychopathology;
6. Medical information, including the role of the social worker in health problems
or fundamentals of substance abuse and dependency;
7. Community organizations, agencies and resources; and
8. Social policy and public welfare services, including the care and protection
of at-risk children and families.
(c) Holders of a master’s degree in social work from a regionally accredited
college or university will be issued a standard educational services certificate
with a school social worker endorsement.
(d) An emergency certificate may be issued to a candidate who meets the following
requirements:
1. A bachelor’s degree in social work or a related area from a regionally
accredited college or university;
2. Study in at least three of the study topics listed in (b)1 through 8 above
to include a course in social casework; and
3. Matriculation in an approved [school] social worker master’s program
(e)Candidates in possession of a written evaluation completed by the Office
prior to (the effective date of this chapter) will have five years from (the
effective date of this chapter) to complete the requirements set forth in the
written evaluation.