Certification

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.

https://www.nj.gov/education/license/esp/

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.