Indiana Licensure Information

INDIANA SCHOOL SOCIAL WORK LICENSE UPDATE
Michelle Alvarez, MSW, EdD
Chair, DPS School Social Work Advisory Committee

As you may be aware, changes to the Indiana Department of Education, Division of Professional Standards (DPS), School Services Personnel-School Social Work License took effect July 1, 2006. Many school social workers are wondering how this might affect them, especially those that are licensed under Rules 46-47, Bulletin 400 and previous licenses. The following is an attempt to summarize the changes.

If you were licensed under Rules 46-47 Reference IAC 515 1-1-78: http://www.in.gov/legislative/iac/T05150/A00010.PDF, Bulletin 400 and prior Licenses then you are probably concerned about the renewal process for your DPS School Social Work License. You will be glad to know that you can continue to renew your school social work license with a copy of your current  LSW or LCSW OR CRU/coursework OR you may choose to do a Professional Growth Plan (PGP)  http://www.doe.state.in.us/dps/renewal/growth/schools.html.  However, you must know that if you decide to do a PGP you must continue to complete a PGP  for each subsequent renewal and cannot revert back to either or the other options (current social work license or CRU/coursework). Everything else about your school social work license remains the same. You can professionalize your license with 5 years experience as a SSW (and must have a master’s degree). It is recommended that you submit your application to professionalize your license 2 months prior to the renewal date.

If you are applying for an Indiana School Social Work license after July 1, 2006 either because you have recently earned your Master of Social Work, you are entering the field of school social work from another social work position, or you are moving from another state to Indiana, you will be licensed under RULES 2002  (Rules 2002 Article 8) which went into effect July 1, 2006 (Reference 515 IAC 8-1-48: http://www.in.gov/legislative/iac/T05150/A00080.PDF). Under Rules 2002, the LSW or LCSW is no longer required in order to apply for the Initial Practitioner (SSW) license. You will be required to hold a Master of Social Work (MSW) in school social work, have met DPS school services/school social work standards, and be recommended by the university licensing advisor.  If you complete an in-state MSW program, contact the university licensing advisor for instructions on how to apply for the initial license. If you completed an out-of-state MSW program, the forms to apply for a school social work license are available at http://ideanet.doe.state.in.us/dps/quicklinks.html

Note to current MSW students: If you will receive a MSW from an in-state university and are interviewed by a school system before your MSW is posted on your transcript, a letter from the university verifying that you will receive a MSW prior to starting the position and a letter from the university licensing advisor stating you will be eligible for a school services/school social work license by a specified date must be presented to the school system in order for you to be hired. If you will receive your MSW from an out-of state university you will not be able to apply for an out-of-state license application evaluation until the degree and date conferred are officially posted on your transcript.

Under Rules 2002, if your application for a DPS School Services-School Social Work license is approved you will receive a 2 year initial practitioner license. Following receipt of this license you will begin a two year mentoring program called the Indiana Mentoring and Assessment Program (IMAP-SW) that will culminate in the submission of a portfolio of your work. To begin the mentoring program you must coordinate the application process with your hiring school corporation (see http://www.doe.state.in.us/super/2006/10-October/101306/IMAP.html for more information). You will work with that mentor for two years. During the second year you are enrolled in the IMAP, you will work with your mentor to develop a portfolio that will be scored by a team of experienced school social workers. Once you successfully complete the mentoring/portfolio process, you will receive a 5 year practitioner’s license at which time you may begin developing a Professional Growth Plan (PGP) that will be required for license renewal. You will then continue to renew your practitioner’s license every 5 years based on successfully completing your PGP. Note that unlike licensing under the previous rules, you can not send in your LSW or LCSW for renewal but you can use continuing education activities as part of PGP for renewal.

The final licensing level available to you under Rules 2002 is that of an accomplished practitioner which is a 10 year license that requires you to have an PhD in social work or an EdS (Education Specialist degree) or higher in a related area, and 5 years experience as a school social worker. After receiving this level of licensing a PGP plan in not required until the last five years of the 10-year license. This level of licensing is then renewed every 5 years following the first 10 year period as an accomplished practitioner.

As of July 1, 2007, applicants for a School Social Work license will have to have CPR-Heimlich Maneuver Certification. Please click this link for further information.