Apply to the NASW CE Approval Program

Organizations eligible to offer continuing education programs for professional social workers must submit an application for each program for CE approval. Program types include workshops, conferences, and symposiums.

Applications must be complete and accurate before they are considered for review, including payment. Applications are considered complete once the CE Approval Team receives all the required application documents. Submit 1 application per program title. Application documents must be submitted as attachments via email. Links to application documents and materials are not accepted. Hand-written documents are not accepted.

Applications must be submitted no later than 30 business days prior to the scheduled start date of the program. Please submit only one application per email. Organizations may submit up to 5 applications per week.

Submit applications to NASW via email to CEU@Socialworkers.org.

Please review the application materials and guidelines on our site before you apply. Use the checklist below to ensure your application is complete. Incomplete applications are not accepted.

NASW reserves the right to deny CE approval, and will provide feedback to the provider as to the reason.

CE Application Checklist

• CE Payment Form
  • Organizations applying for the first time must include the one-time $125 new provider fee.
  • Applications submitted less than 30 business days prior to the start date of your event must include the $300 late fee.
• CE Application Form
  • CE Application Form must be completed and signed. Note: The social worker involved in the planning and evaluation of your program must have a degree in social work (BSW, MSW, DSW/PhD) and they may not also serve as speaker/presenter of your program. Please be sure to list both the Social Worker’s degree AND any credentials held (e.g., Sally Smith, MSW, LCSW)
• CE Program Information Form
  • The total number of requested CEs must be on the whole or half hour.
  • Programs and sessions must be a minimum of one hour.
• Agenda
  • The agenda must consist of a detailed outline and show how you are allocating the requested CEs. The total number of CEs allocated within your agenda must match the number of CEs requested on your CE Program Information Form.
• Learning Objectives
  • Programs must have a minimum of 3 learning objectives.
  • Conferences and Symposiums must have 3 overarching learning objectives in addition to learning objectives for each session.
• B1 Promotional Materials: brochures, flyers, conference packages, website, and/or email.
  • Promotional materials may not use language that indicates your program is “pending approval” or “under review.” You may indicate a program is approved by NASW once you receive an official approval notice from NASW. Organizations may not indicate that your organization is approved for CE approval by NASW as we do not offer blanket approvals to organizations.
• B2 Presenter(s) Resumes
  • Programs with 4 or less presenters should submit an individual resume for each presenter. The file name of each resume should have the first and last name of the presenter. For example, B2 Sally Smith. Resumes are required. Do not combine resumes into a single document.
  • If a program has 5 or more presenters, you must use our B2 CE Multiple Presenter Form in lieu of resumes.
• B3 CE Certificate
  • Refer to NASW’s Sample CE Certificate to ensure that your sample certificate contains all the required elements.
  • CE Certificates must include NASW’s boilerplate language. “This program is Approved by the National Association of Social Workers (Approval # xxxxxxxxx-xxxx) for (xx) continuing education contact hours.”
  • Please do not fill in the blank spaces. Your approval number and the number of CEs approved will be noted on your approval letter. You may then fill in this information on the final certificate you issue to participants.
• B4 CE Participant Evaluation
  • The participant evaluation must include at least one question that measures the stated learning objectives and for your program. A Likert rating scale is preferred for the development of evaluation questions.
• Organizational Chart
  
  

In addition to the items listed above, applications for distance-learning programs must also include:

• B6 Program content (i.e., PowerPoint, presentations, videos, written content (articles).
  • For programs with written materials 1 CEU = 10,000 words (not including references, graphics, headers, and sub headers). The reference list/citations must be within the last 10 years. NASW reserves the right to evaluate whether a lower word count can suffice.

• B5 Post-test
  • Post-tests must contain a minimum of 10 multiple-choice questions for the first credit hour. 5 multiple-choice test questions are required for each additional credit hour and/or half hour after the first credit hour. Providers are responsible for developing a policy that covers the number of attempts permitted and also re-testing. This should be communicated to all participants in advance of the training.
  • Each question must contain 4 answer choices (A.B.C.D.), with only 1 correct answer. No more than 10% of the total number of post-test questions can contain a true/false, none of the above/all the above/most of the above answer. The correct answers must be highlighted on your post-test to indicate correct answers. (Note: Participant must pass the post-test with a passing score of 80% or higher.)  

*Please contact NASW CE staff prior to submitting applications that contain multiple formats or mixed media for additional guidance and instructions.

**Changes to NASW CE approved programs (program title, content, CE hours, presenter, learning objectives, format type etc.) are not permitted and must be submitted as a new Application.