Settings :  Infants and Preschool
Program Code : 4103-SPC
Program Length :  20 Hours
IACET CEU Value :  2.0 CEUs
Program Start Date :  Rolling Enrollment – Start Anytime
Program End Date:  120 days from enrollment date

Textbook Information:  No textbook is required to complete this certificate program. 

Program Description: The Online National Head Start Association (NHSA) Parenting Certificate is based on the idea of parents as children’s first and most important teachers is central to Head Start’s philosophy of working with families. The program is broken into five instructional units. These instructional units rest on the assumption that children’s most important learning occurs through shared activities with family members. Each student in the Online NHSA Parenting Certificate program receives support from an Education Coach (EC). Each EC is an Early Childhood specialist and has previous experience working in a child care center or school.

Head Start Performance Standard Correlation:

• Provide opportunities to increase parents’ observation skills and share assessments with staff who plan learning experiences in the program
• Share with parents staff observations of children and discuss with parents their child’s behavior and development
• Discuss with parents how to create and sustain nurturing, supportive environments in the home and in the program
• Individualize family partnership agreements that describe family goals, responsibility, timetables, and strategies for achieving goals (especially related to family literacy) as well as progress in achieving them
• Provide parent involvement and education activities that are responsive to the ongoing and expressed needs of parents themselves
• Provide opportunities for parents to enhance their parenting skills, their knowledge and understanding of the educational and developmental needs of their children, and share concerns about their children with program staff
• Provide, either directly or through referrals to other agencies, opportunities for children and families to participate in family literacy services by increasing family access to materials, services, and activities essential to family literacy development
• Assist parents as adult learners to recognize and address their own literacy goals
• Conduct staff-parent conferences

Program Objectives:  Upon satisfactorily completing the Online NHSA Parenting Certificate program, students should be able to:

• List factors affecting children’s learning
• Identify ways that parents support children’s learning in the context of their everyday activities
• Identify how parental beliefs about children’s learning affect how and what children learn
• List how young children develop socially, emotionally, physically, and cognitively
• Identify everyday experiences that contribute to children’s learning
• Identify different approaches to promoting children’s thinking and learning
• Identify how programs can provide a range of family literacy activities to meet the needs of families
• Define the factors associated with quality in a child care setting

Student Assessment:  Students enrolled in the Online NHSA Parenting Certificate program are assessed using the following methods:

• Competency based multiple choice questions
• End of Course Quizzes in multiple choice format – Students must pass each quiz with a grade of 70% or better to complete the course.
• Cumulative Final Exam in multiple choice format – Students must pass with a grade of 70% or better to complete the certificate program.

Enrollment Requirements:

• Must be 18 years of age or older
• Must have access to a computer and printer
• Must have a valid email address
• Must have access to the Internet through a JavaScript enabled web browser (i.e. Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher, Mozilla Firefox 3.0 or higher, etc.)
• Must be able to speak, read, and write well enough in the language the course is presented in to understand and complete the course material

For an application, click here.