Parent Education Certificate Program

Complete this program in one year!

The parent education certificate program is designed to prepare professionals to plan, coordinate, and teach parent education programs and services for families with children from early childhood through adolescence.

The 16-credit program prepares professionals who are well qualified to deliver programs designed to address the intellectual, emotional, cultural, social, and physical needs of parents and children. In addition to educational settings that may include public-school parent education programs, preschools, child care centers, and Head Start programs, parent educators may also work in health care and social-service agencies and institutions, and faith-based settings.

Certificate courses are offered online. Online coursework is designed to meet the needs of local and distance learners in Minnesota, around the country and the world.

Students participate in live online chat sessions and weekly reflections with their course instructors. They interview parents, read the latest research, and view presentations by University of Minnesota faculty and noted experts in the field.

The capstone course (CI 5949—Student Teaching in Parent Education) allows students to teach and interact with parents in a parent education setting under the supervision of a licensed or highly qualified parent educator approved by core faculty. This individualized student teaching allows each program participant to integrate and apply what they have learned to parent education experiences, preparing them for professional work in the field.

Students must complete the parent education program within four years, beginning with the first completed course, and maintain a 2.80 overall grade point average (GPA).

In Minnesota, a parent educator license is required for employment in ECFE (early childhood family education) programs offered by public school districts. Visit the parent and family education licensure page to learn more about that program in FSoS.

Parent Education Certificate: One-Year Option

The one-year program covers 16 credits in three semesters (summer, fall and spring) with 2 or 3 courses taken each semester. All courses are offered online, generally in 8-week blocks, with weekly interactive discussion, live chats and written assignments. The Parent Education program at the University of Minnesota has a long history of excellence and is unique in its focus on graduate preparation of professionals and distance learning for a global student body.

Parent Education Certificate: One-Year Option - Course Schedule

Semester	Courses
Summer	CI 5932 Introduction to Parent Education (1 cr.) CI 5942 Everyday Experiences of Families* (2 cr.) CI 5943 Parent Learning and Development: Implications for Parent Education (2 cr.)+child development credits, if needed* *
Fall	CI 5937 Parent-Child Interaction (3 cr.) CI 5944 Parent Education Curriculum (2 cr.) CI 5945 Teaching and Learning in Parent Education (2 cr.) +child development credits, if needed* *
Spring	CI 5946 Assessment and Evaluation in Parent Education (2 cr.) CI 5949 Student Teaching in Parent Education (2 cr.)

* CI 5942 can be completed summer or spring semester 
* * Six credits of child development are a pre-requisite of the parent education certificate program. Students may be provisionally admitted to program without meeting the pre-requisite. Those students must complete the child development requirement prior to student teaching.