School nurse requirements in mass

bergren · Nov 14, 2009

You should contact:

- your state school nurses association http://www.nasn.org/Default.aspx?tabid=60

- your state school nurse consultant http://www.nassnc.org/?q=node/26

To be licensed as a school nurse in Massachusetts, an individual must ultimately either earn a masters degree or NBCSN national certification, which requires a bachelors degree.

All school nurses working in Massachusetts must be licensed with the Department of Education as are all administrators, teachers and other support personnel.

As of September 1, 1998, all support personnel, including school nurses, who apply for initial licensure, will be required to meet the qualifying score on Department of Education communication and literacy skills test. This is the same requirement for all other support personnel, such as a school psychologist, school guidance counselor, school social worker, library media specialist, speech and language therapists, etc.

Licensure for any administrator, teacher or support personnel requires

A Bachelor's Degree

Passing Score(s) on MTEL

Additional Coursework per specialty

For school nurses, in addition to possession of the Initial License and completion of three years of employment, the school nurse must complete one of the following requirements before she/he may apply for the Professional Licensure:

1. Achievement and maintenance of certification or licensure by a nationally recognized professional nursing association as a school nurse, community health nurse or a pediatric/family/school nurse practitioner.

2. A Master's Degree program that may include credit earned in a Master's Degree program for the Initial License in community health, health education, nursing or public health.

In effect, a school nurse who is applying for the Professional License may take the NBCSN examination (or other national certification, as noted above) or present evidence of a Master's Degree in the stated specialty areas.

lorie101 · Nov 15, 2009

thanks so much!!