Program Support

Course Planning
Since you are a valued customer of the American Red Cross, we want to ensure that the training you conduct is fully supported at the local level. It is our responsibility to make equipment and supplies available for those courses when you need them. To that end, course planning is critical. While we will do our best to ensure that an adequate inventory of materials are available at all times, your assistance in notifying us well in advance of the courses you plan to teach is important for planning purposes as well. As a general rule, authorized providers should notify the Red Cross of course dates and times prior to the scheduled start of the course as indicated on the Authorized Provider Agreement. This process will help your organization by ensuring—

• Course materials and equipment are available.
• Promotional materials and marketing support are available to you.
• The Red Cross can assist with any other course planning necessary to ensure the quality of your training programs.

Reporting Course Activity
Collection of information on course activity benefits both your organization and the Red Cross by—

• Providing records on students trained, which can also be used by your organization to verify training.
• Providing statistics that help in program evaluation.
• Allowing the Red Cross and you to identify trends for possible areas of improvement.
• Assisting in monitoring for quality assurance.
• Helping to ensure all areas of the community are reached with Red Cross programs.
• Tracking instructor activity for reauthorization and recognition purposes.

Course Records
The Course Record (6418R) and Course Record Addendum (6418AR) are the primary means of communicating course activity.  These forms are the official record of training and must be properly filled out. 
For selected Red Cross courses, program-specific course records are also available for your use. You may choose to use these forms in place of the Course Record and Course Record Addendum, but only for the indicated courses. These forms include the following:

• Water Safety Instructor Activity Report (used for the following programs: Parent and Child Aquatics, Longfellow’s WHALE Tales, GuardStart, and Levels 1-6 of the Learn-to-Swim Program)
• Lifeguard Training Course Record (used for the following programs: Lifeguarding, Waterfront Lifeguarding, Waterpark Lifeguarding, Shallow Water Attendant, Lifeguard Management, and optional Oxygen Administration and Preventing Disease Transmission courses) 
• Youth Activity Report (used for the following programs: Longfellow’s WHALE Tales, Basic Aid Training, First Aid for Children Today, GuardStart and ACT Smart)
• HIV/AIDS Prevention Education Activity Report (used for HIV/AIDS Education courses and sessions)

Your organization is responsible for ensuring that your instructors submit the Course Record and Course Record Addendum or the appropriate Instructor Activity Report to the Red Cross within 10 working days of the completion of each class. These forms can be submitted to the Red Cross via mail, fax or e-mail. Examples of these forms for the program taught by your organization are in Appendix D.

Note: Effective July 1, 2006, instructors are no longer required to enter course codes on the course records.  Instructors are still responsible for entering the correct course title.

For electronic Microsoft Word versions of the Course Record and Course Record Addendum as well as the program-specific forms listed above, please visit the Instructor’s Corner at www.redcross.org/instructorscorner. 

Course Completion Certificates

Most Red Cross training programs have course completion certificates that are awarded to participants who successfully complete the training. Individuals successfully completing Red Cross training deserve to be recognized by receiving a Red Cross course completion certificate. If Red Cross training is conducted, and a Course Record or Instructor Activity Report is completed, course completion certificates are to be issued to participants who successfully complete the course.

There are a number of different options for obtaining certificates depending on the program and the service levels agreed upon in the Authorized Provider Agreement. See Appendix A for the procedures for obtaining completion certificates.