Pupil Personnel Services Credential in School Social Work (SSW) and Child Welfare & Attendance (CWA) Authorization 

School social workers are the link between home, school, and community.  They give primary emphasis to helping public school pupils to achieve academic success by emphasizing the importance of academic advising.  As a potential member of the educational team comprised of teachers, administrators, pupil services staff, and parents, you, as a school social worker, will promote and support students’ academic and social success by providing specialized services that include:

  • individual and group counseling
  • support groups for students and parents
  • crisis intervention and prevention and response
  • home visits
  • social developmental assessments
  • parent education and training
  • professional case management
  • information and referral
  • collaboration with other pupil services professionals
  • collaboration with other community agencies and organizations
  • advocacy for students, parents, and the school system
  • administration and supervision of pupil services programs
  • coordination of programs such as mentoring, school-to-work, and peer counseling
  • staff development
  • policy development such as discipline and attendance policies

For more information about school social work, please visit: California Association of School Social Workers, School Social Work Association of America, American Council for School Social Work

State Certification, Legal Regulation, and Professional Credentials

As of June 1995, the majority of states require school social work certification by the state’s educational agency. California is one of those states. To practice in a public school system, a social worker must hold a Pupil Personnel Services Credential (PPSC). The credentialing of school social workers and child welfare and attendance workers is under the auspices of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. The Pupil Personnel Services Credential is comprised of several specializations including school social work, school psychology, and school counseling, and an additional authorization in child welfare and attendance services. PPSC in SSW holders must possess an MSW and meet the required state standards, which are comprised of three sections: Common Standards for all Service and Specialist Credentials, Generic Standards, and Specialized Standards pertaining to school social work and child welfare and attendance services.  Copies of the standards are available here.

REQUIREMENTS

State law requires that all candidates for a credential must hold a Certificate of Clearance prior to the first day of directed field experience. This certificate verifies that an individual has met commission standards as established by law for “personal and professional fitness.” If you already hold a teaching credential issued by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (expired or not) you do not have to apply for the Certificate of Clearance. Click here for more information.

All candidates for the Pupil Personnel Services School Social Work and/or Child Welfare and Attendance credentials must pass the Basic Skills Requirement prior to applying for the actual PPSC/SSW/CWA.

California Basic Educational Skills Test (CBEST)

Register for the exam using the CBEST registration bulletin. If you would like to obtain more information regarding the CBEST, you can call directly to Educational Evaluation Services at (916) 928-6150 or check out their website.  The cost of the test is $41 (paper) – $102 (computer).

Other Tests

In addition to the CBEST, the CCTC will allow other tests to meet the Basic Skills Requirement. For further information, click here and here.

If candidates have any questions about whether they met the Basic Skills Requirement via one of the tests listed, they should contact the CCTC, not UCLA. If you have met the requirement through one of the tests, you must provide a hard copy documentation of this.

In order to receive the PPSC with a specialization in School Social Work, the candidate must complete 450 hours of field practice under the supervision of someone who has two years post MSW experiences with the PPSC in SSW.   Through the Field Practicum and under the supervision of the Field Instructor, the student should acquire skills and knowledge in specified content areas. The distribution of hours should be decided in collaboration with the candidate, field supervisor, and university supervisor.  The 450 clock hours of field practice must consist of the following:

  • Candidate has completed fieldwork in at least two schooling levels (public pre-school, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, district-level and alternative schools)
  • Candidate has had a broad base of experience, including but not limited to: families and students identified for Free and Reduced Priced Meals, English Language Learners, Homeless, Foster Youth, Students in need of Special Education and Section 504 Plans, students who have been expelled from school, sexual minority youth (LGBTQ+), and students with mental health needs.

In order to receive the PPSC with an authorization in Child Welfare and Attendance (CWA) , each candidate must complete a minimum of 150 hours of supervised school-based field experience engaging in practice in the following areas: student attendance, student enrollment and discipline, educational records, parent engagement, and legal and ethical compliance related to pupil services.

School District Placement Sites 

We place in Los Angeles USD, Santa Monica-Malibu USD, East Whittier City USD, El Rancho USD, Long Beach USD, Pasadena USD and a few qualified agencies that contract with school districts.

In addition to all required MSW courses, PPSC/SSW/CWA students must take SW 202A, SW202B, “Child Psychopathology,” SW231A, SW231E “School Social Work,” SW290N and an Education and the Law course. If additional University-Specific PPSC/SSW/CWA seminars are held, students are expected to attend. You will need 95 units to graduate with your PPSC if you are in the Child & Family Well-Being AOC*.

*More units may be required if you are in the other AOCs.

Post-MSW PPSC/SSW/CWA Program at UCLA

UCLA offers a post-MSW PPSC program. Please note that you must have an MSW for this program; we cannot offer a PPSC/SSW to other disciplines. If  you have another degree, please go to ctc.ca.gov. To learn more about the program requirements and training, please click here. For UCLA CTC Accredited Professional Educator Program (UCAP) information please click here.

VERIFY ELIGIBILITY

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Post-MSW PPSC

The post-MSW PPSC/CWA and standalone CWA training is a total of $2,000. The training consist of five dates virtual sessions. Attendance is mandatory for all five sessions to successfully complete the training. To sign up for the training fill out the Google Form and submit payment.

The requirements are:

We do not have an admission process for the training. We just ask that participants submit the Google Form. Once all of the requirements are met students can submit paperwork to receive recommendation for PPSC/CWA. Participants do not have to complete all of the requirements prior to taking this class but all requirements must be met to receive a recommendation.

In order to receive the PPSC with a specialization in School Social Work, the candidate must complete 450 hours of field practice under the supervision of someone who has two years post MSW experiences with the PPSC in SSW.  Through the Field Practicum and under the supervision of the Field Instructor, the student should acquire skills and knowledge in specified content areas. The distribution of hours should be decided in collaboration with the candidate, field supervisor, and university supervisor. The 450 clock hours of field practice must consist of the following:

  • Candidate has completed fieldwork in at least two schooling levels (public pre-school, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, district-level and alternative schools)
  • Candidate has had a broad base of experience, including but not limited to: families and students identified for Free and Reduced Priced Meals, English Language Learners, Homeless, Foster Youth, Students in need of Special Education and Section 504 Plans, students who have been expelled from school, sexual minority youth (LGBTQ+), and students with mental health needs.

In order to receive the PPSC with an authorization in Child Welfare and Attendance (CWA), each candidate must complete a minimum of 150 hours of supervised school-based field experience engaging in practice in the following areas: student attendance, student enrollment and discipline, educational records, parent engagement, and legal and ethical compliance related to pupil services.

Please note, that you must have your Certificate Of Clearance before the accumulation of hours.

These are the steps to complete the COC process:

  1. Fingerprinting/LS-41 form

       https://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/fee-and-fingerprint

       2. Take form to fingerprinting service provider

        https://oag.ca.gov/fingerprints/locations

       3. Apply for the COC

        https://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/submit-online

       4. Submit application for COC

         https://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/ctc-online-written-instructions

       5. Checking results (under “Credentialing information”)

         https://www.ctc.ca.gov/

We also accept CEU issued courses to replace DSM coursework not taken as part of your MSW training.

Please submit documents to the following site: here

We require the following documentation:

  1. Proof of Certificate of Clearance
  2. Basic Skills Requirement
  3. Comprehensive Skills Evaluation
  4. Explanation of Standards

Once you submit payment and receive an automated receipt, you are confirmed for training. The professor will reach out with the syllabus two weeks prior to the start date. If you need a verification of enrollment letter, please reach out to PPSCredential@luskin.ucla.edu.

The purpose of the PPSC Standards Explanation is for you to gain a clearer sense of how

your course work and the activities you did during your fieldwork relate to the PPSC

standards. This is only required by UCLA Social Welfare.

Regrettably, students who are completing their degree at another institution and participating in the UCLA Post MSW Pupil Personnel Services Credential training are ineligible for the grant due to their non-UCLA admission/matriculation status. The California Student Aid Commission GSTG coordinators have verified that this group of students is not eligible for the grant.”

One of the way to fulfill BSR is through coursework if you think you meet the basic skills requirement via college-level coursework you will need to follow the format below so that the program can review your courses. Here is the link to the BSR Verification: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfDoxdf1v0vRcmt_TcjsaCquHyECyTZ7UzPAVc7cAN2sZUwyg/viewform?pli=1

Coursework
The coursework for satisfying Basic Skills Requirement (BSR) must meet the following:
• Earn a grade of “B” or better (B- would be acceptable) • Have been taken at a regionally accredited college or university
• Three semester units or four quarter units (or equivalent quarter units)
• Been taken for academic credit (earned units)
• Be degree applicable (AA degree applicable is OK)
• For Reading, be in the subject of critical thinking, literature, philosophy, reading, rhetoric, or textual analysis
• For Writing, be the subject of composition, English, rhetoric, written communications, or writing
• For Mathematics, be in the subject of algebra, geometry, mathematics, quantitative reasoning, or statistics

The following coursework is NOT acceptable:
• Professional development or continuing education units
• In-service training or workshops
• Courses where credits do not apply toward the requirements for an associate’s degree, baccalaureate degree, or higher degree A course that does not fall within the indicated areas may still qualify with additional letter of explanation. A letter from the registrar or relevant department chair of the college or university must state that a course passed by the applicant covered reading, writing, or mathematics at the same level as one of the listed courses. Such a letter could also attest that a single course sufficiently indicates proficiency in reading and writing combined.

Steps to Approve Coursework for PPSC: 

If you think you meet the basic skills requirement via college-level coursework you will need to

do the following so that the program can review your courses:

Please list all of courses you wish to reviewed by category:

Reading, Writing, Mathematics. In each category include the name of the institution, course number,

course title, and course description. Also include the links the course catalog in case we

need to reference it during the review process. If from the course description it is not clear that

the class meets the requirement, then a course outline or syllabus from the institution must be

submitted.

This is an example on how you should list the information on the email:

Reading

Institution: UCLA

Course Information: ENGL 000- English For BSR

Course Description: [copy and paste the official course description]

Link to the class catalog: [copy and paste the link to the class catalog]

Please do the same for Writing and Mathematics courses.

Summer 2024 PPSC/CWA Training Enrollment 

Thank you for your interest in the Summer 2024 PPSC/CWA training. Dates for the Summer training will be Saturday, August 3rd- August 31st. Trainings are from 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Classes will be virtual.

Applicants must meet these requirements to obtain the credential. While we normally require the tasks (Certificate of Clearance, Basic Skills Requirement, Field Experience and coursework) prior to enrollment in the PPSC training, we will be providing the training to interested participants even if they have not met all of the requirements at the time of enrollment. However, it will be the sole responsibility of the trainee to complete the necessary criteria in order to file the final PPSC application for processing.

Interest Form for Winter 2025 PPSC Training

If you are interested in the Winter 2025 PPSC/CWA training, please complete the Interest Form.

*Standalone CWA component information:

UCLA in partnership with LAUSD Pupil Services and Student Support Programs received approval from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) to meet some of the CWA coursework via identified training series and support in conjunction with their assignment as a PSA Counselor. These two departments are only providing the training and oversight and verification of hours to those newly hired PSA Counselors on a CWA waiver. Our programs cannot, unfortunately, provide this training to staff outside of our departments and/or LAUSD to meet the CWA course requirements for the UCLA CWA class.

You must be hired by LAUSD’s PSA department and must be able to complete the required trainings and hours with the PSA department.

Once you complete training and met all requirements, please submit paperwork via:

SUBMIT PAPERWORK 

For questions regarding UCLA’s post-MSW PPSC program, please contact us at PPSCredential@luskin.ucla.edu or call  (424) 259-5051.