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School Social Work NOW
Supporting Innovative Practice, Effective Leadership & Applied Research
June 2011 - Vol 1, Issue 32 |
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Professional Development Opportunities | |
This link includes state, national and international professional development opportunities.
Professional Development Opportunities
If you represent an organization with PDOs of interest to school social workers, please contact us with details. We will consider each request in terms of relevancy, timing, and interest level.
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Greetings! | |
The ACSSW National Summit . . . have you ever wondered about the difference between a Summit and a Conference? A summit is a gathering of the highest leaders and experts on a topic whose goal is to shape the program, shape the direction of an issue. A conference, on the other hand, is designed to disseminate information--often coming from the summit--to the broader populace.
A summit tends to be interactive and participatory as opposed to conferences at which attendees expect to essentially receive information about trends and developments in a particular field. Summits are often smaller, more intimate and goal oriented than conferences. Wanting to draw on the expertise of participants and to encourage dialogue and sharing among stakeholders, ACSSW has mindfully designed this second summit event for school social workers interested in the interdependence of research, practice, and leadership. This summit advocates for the future of the profession!
Summit Update
The interactive 2nd National School Social Work Research Summit, June 26th to 28th, is designed for you! It continues the theme of Transforming the Practice of School Social Work that was unveiled last year. This year's participants will explore and engage in dialogue around The Changing Role of School Social Work Practice which focuses on research-to-practice and practice-to-research.
An Experiential Highlight:
Program Evaluation Demystified:
Your Best Work in its Best Light
A Three-Hour Workshop
Producing clear, data-driven evidence for showing the school and the world that school social work programs and services are effective and essential can be intimidating for many of us. The truth is, it's just not all that hard, with some basic understanding and a few simple steps. This workshop will help participants achieve two things: First, how to create a simple, straightforward evaluation plan for every service that you provide in the school. Second is how to read articles on school social work research and evaluation to get the information that you need to have, without wasting half a day and getting a headache.
Using the Taking Charge group for adolescent mothers as a model, we will methodically explore and demystify the steps for developing and evaluating evidence-based and evidence-informed programs and practices. Come with a program idea that you want to make into a reality, or with an intervention that you already are doing and want to evaluate for its effectiveness. The second half of the workshop will be devoted to applying these steps to your own project.
Mary Beth Harris, PhD, a licensed clinical social worker, teaches in the Families and Children concentration, as well as in the foundation year practice sequence at the University of Southern California.
For more than 20 years, Harris was a clinical social worker with families and children in the border region of Mexico and West Texas. As a clinical administrator and family therapist, she worked with child sexual abuse and domestic violence victims, and served as an assessment trainer in the family court systems of West Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
More recently, Harris developed a school-based group intervention for adolescent mothers designed to support high school graduation and economic self-sufficiency. She has conducted several effectiveness studies of the program and co-authored the book Taking Charge: A School-Based Life Skills Program for Adolescent Mothers, which includes the treatment manual for the program. Harris is also co-editor with Cynthia Franklin and Paula Allen-Meares of School Services Sourcebook, a comprehensive resource for school social workers and mental health practitioners.
Visit the ACSSW website to read more and to download the brochure. On-line registration is available.
The Hilton Chicago Indian Lakes Resort in Bloomingdale, IL, is a lovely resort. Room reservations can be made online. Enter Group/Convention Code: ACS to insure special Summit rate of $99/night. Reservations may also be made by calling 1-800-334-3417; use the code to identify the group. Reservation deadline is June 6th but the hotel will offer the Summit rate as long as space allows. Some dates are sold out.
Don't miss this unique professional development opportunity. REGISTER NOW! Late fee of $25 applies June 20th and beyond.
Judith Kullas Shine President |
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Practice Points | |
Response to Intervention in the Social-Emotional-Behavioral Domain: Perspectives from Urban Schools
This article examines the application of the popular Response to Intervention (RTI) approach to the early identification and service delivery for students with social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties in schools. The article begins with an explanation of the RTI model as applied to the social behavior domain, based on the empirical research base. It proceeds to share data from focus group interviews with exemplary urban special education teachers about RTI strategies used in their schools and classrooms and what it would take to implement RTI in this domain. The article then discusses implications for school personnel who are interested in adopting an RTI model in this domain. Read full journal article.
Limitations of Evidence-Based Practice for Social Work Education: Unpacking the Complexity
In social work, proponents of EBP link this approach to social work values, noting the ethical imperative to offer clients treatments that are known to work and to use the best evidence available (McNeece & Thyer, 2004). Reviews of EBPs have been published in such diverse social work areas as the substance abuse field (O'Hare, 2002), direct practice in aging (Cummings, Kropf, Cassie, & Bride, 2004), and school-based interventions (Franklin & Hopson, 2004), and EBP in these areas appears to be increasing rapidly. . . Across the country, schools of social work are deciding where and how EBP will fit in their curricula. . . Whereas the idea of giving preference to practices with empirical support is not new, it is being redefined in today's social work EBP with renewed fervor. As Kirk and Reid (2002) describe in Science and Social Work, beginning in the 1970s with "the effectiveness crisis" in social work, efforts to make the profession more scientific have received strong academic support, most notably with the scientific-practitioner and the empirical-clinical practice models (e.g., Jayaratne & Levy, 1979 and others). Those models, emphasizing systematic evaluation of one's own practice and use of research evidence to inform practice, although not adopted wholesale by the practice community, nevertheless have been responsible for introducing a number of innovations into typical social work practice. Behaviorally oriented and cognitive-behavioral treatments (e.g., Thomas, 1967) and time-limited, structured intervention approaches (e.g., Reid & Epstein, 1972) have become commonplace in social work service delivery (Mullen & Streiner, 2004). . . In its latest incarnation, however, EBP focuses more exclusively on using the best available research to make practice decisions. To continue click here.
Deprivation and Neglect Found to Age Children's Chromosomes
Studies in institutionalized Romanian children have found that the length of time spent in conditions of social deprivation and neglect correlates with lower IQ and behavioral problems. A new study, led by researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and Tulane University, shows that early adversity even affects children's chromosomes -- prematurely shortening the chromosome tips, known as telomeres, and hastening how quickly their cells "age." Learn more. |
| Leadership News |
Leadership is defined in various ways, but common among them are that leaders are responsible for the performance of others and good leaders want those with whom they collaborate to perform their best work. Gardella and Haynes (2004) noted the need in human service agencies for more leaders with degrees in social work. As social workers, we challenge inequality and promote fair and equitable treatment of the persons we serve. The NASW Code of Ethics (1999) stipulates that we have an ethical responsibility to provide leadership in addressing the causes of social and economic injustice, poverty, oppression and discrimination and in helping those we serve to acquire the services they need.
You do not have to be an administrator to serve as a leader. Human service supervisors, managers, and directors play leadership roles, but so do agency board members, community organizers, political advocates, and social workers who lead professional organizations. Certain types of work experience and training are considered prerequisites for being hired, appointed, promoted, or elected to leadership roles. So how do you acquire this training and experience? Learn more. |
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Research Highlights |
Abstract: In the field of social work, practitioners must remain well informed regarding research advances in their respective areas. Proponents of evidence-based practice expect social workers to engage in practice informed by the best available evidence.Research studies conducted through the lens of qualitative inquiry provide important contributions to the social work knowledge base. In many cases, these studies can represent the best available research regarding emerging problems or application of evidence to diverse populations. Yet, despite the relevance of qualitative research, many social workers receive minimal training regarding qualitative methodology hindering their ability to conduct and evaluate research that uses qualitative methods. The purpose of this article is to provide students and practitioners some orientation regarding qualitative research methods and to highlight potential strategies researchers and consumers of research may use to evaluate the trustworthiness and quality of qualitative research. Specifically, the concept of trustworthiness is defined in the context of qualitative inquiry and questions social work practitioners can ask when evaluating the quality and applicability of a qualitative research study are provided. Full article.
Critical Realist Grounded Theory: A New Approach for Social Work Research
Abstract only: This article explores the potential for grounded theory to be adapted for use within a critical realist paradigm. Critical realism can provide a solid philosophical framework for social work research, but its lack of connection to a familiar research methodology may be limiting its application. Grounded theory is one of the most widely used and well-described methodologies in the social sciences. Its recent adaptation by constructivist and critical researchers demonstrates the ways in which concerns about the methodology's empiricism, individualism and focus on induction might be resolved to meet the needs of critical realist inquiry. Critical realism and grounded theory then become highly compatible, sharing a focus on abduction and commitment to fallibilism and the interconnectedness of practice and theory. Attending to evidence and meaning, individual agency and social structure, theory-building and the pursuit of practical emancipatory goals, the resulting approach is ideally suited to social work research. |
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In the News | |
Federal Money Pulls Out of War on Bullying
When Congress and the White House worked out their differences in early April concerning the Fiscal Year 2011 budget, it was clear that some programs important to the LGBT community would take a hit. But the consequences of their final agreement are now being felt. The two primary federal grant programs that address bullying are being drained of more than $100 million. Kevin Jennings, Assistant Deputy Secretary Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS), said the FY 11 budget for that office has been dropped by more than 25 percent from FY 10-from $393 million to $288 million. And the FY 10 numbers were themselves down from $690 million in 2009, the last year of the George W. Bush administration. Continue.
Anti-Bullying Crusader, Kevin Jennings, to Leave Obama Administration
5/20/11: Anti-bullying groups were shocked this week to learn that their top ally in the Obama Administration is leaving his appointed position at the U.S. Department of Education to lead the nonprofit organization Be the Change. In a time of declining budgets, Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education Kevin Jennings was perceived as a forceful supporter of programs that sought to improve the conditions for learning, as well as a force in elevating bullying to a national issues. He heads the department's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools and helped organize the first ever White House Conference on Bullying. So advocates were surprised Thursday when Be the Change announced that Jennings would join the group as president and CEO. Be the Change describes itself as "a nonprofit that creates national issue based campaigns by organizing coalitions of non-profits, social entrepreneurs, policymakers, private sector and civic leaders, academics, and citizens." Click here for full story. |
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Webinars | |
School-Based Health Centers & Academic Outcomes: New Research and Future Directions from a Seattle-Based Academic Community Partnership
Monday, June 6th 1 p.m. Eastern Time
In collaboration with the IDEA Partnership, the Quality and Evidence Based Practice (QEBP) Practice Group will be hosting a webinar presented by Dr. Eric Bruns, Associate Professor, and Dr. Aaron Lyon, Postdoctoral Fellow, from the University of Washington School Medicine. They will be presenting research on the connection between school-based health center service utilization (both health and mental health services) and academic outcomes, as well as several projects that are underway to promote positive social emotional and academic outcomes via effective school-based mental health services.
Please follow these instructions to join the online meeting.
1. To join the meeting go to Join Meeting. This allows you to view the powerpoint slides, participate in instant messaging during the webinar, and listen to the presenters talk (speakers must be turned on your computer).
2. To listen to the meeting and participate in the discussion, please call in via telephone.
Primary Dial-In: 1-800-201-2375 Alternate Dial-In: 1-469-759-7753 Passcode: 434706
3. If you are listening via telephone, please turn off your computer's speakers.
4. If you want to prepare your system ahead of time, please visit Prepare Ahead. |
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SSW Jobs Links | |
If linked-to page looks blank, scroll down.
New this week: Various Locations Detroit, MI Milton, MA Burlington, VT Ithaca, NY
Chicago, IL (private school) Brooklyn, NY
Continuing posts: New York, NY (fluent bi-lingual; charter) Revere, MA Washington, CT
NY, NY: Director of Student Services Kankakee, IL Beach Park, IL Tolleson, AZ (LCSW) Johnston, IA Monticello, MN ConnecticutJobs Harlem, NYC, NY |
| Requests for Research Assistance | |
School Social Workers and Reactive Attachment Disorder
Ms. Francesca Bautista is studying Reactive Attachment Disorder at the University of Wisconsin- La Crosse. If you are a social worker, please respond to this short 26 question survey regarding Reactive Attachment Disorder. The results will be used to assess current training and knowledge on Reactive Attachment Disorder. Reactive Attachment Disorder Survey. |
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Grants & Funding | |
CVS: Caremark Community Grants
The CVS Caremark Community Grants Program is currently accepting proposals for programs targeting children with disabilities that address: health and rehabilitation services; a greater level of inclusion in student activities and extracurricular programs; opportunities or facilities that give greater access to physical movement and play; provision to uninsured individuals with needed care, in particular programs where the care received is of higher quality and delivered by providers who participate in accountable community health care programs. Maximum award: $5,000. Eligibility: nonprofit organizations. Deadline: October 31, 2011. Learn more.
Nominations Invited for Mario Savio Young Activist Award
A cash prize of $6,000 will be given to a social change activist between the ages of 16 and 26 who is working within an organization or community effort to promote peace, human rights, economic or social justice, or freedom of speech. Deadline: June 30, 2011. For more click here.
Captain Planet Foundation: Grants for the Environment
The Captain Planet Foundation funds hands-on environmental projects that encourage innovative programs that empower children and youth around the world to work individually and collectively to solve environmental problems in their neighborhoods and communities. Maximum award: $2,500. Eligibility: 501(c)3 organizations. Deadline: June 30, 2011. For more information, click here. |
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ACSSW Activities | |
ACSSW's present major activities include:
- increasing research projects and their application within the school environment,
- developing a national school social work role paper,
- a more long-term goal, establishing a National Center for School Social Work Research, and,
- developing the 2nd National School Social Work Research Summit to be held June 26-28 in Bloomingdale, IL, at the Hilton Indian Lakes Resort.
If you have interest in assisting with one or more of these projects, don't hesitate to contact Judie Shine. ACSSW strives to be inclusive and transparent in all of its activities and welcomes the participation, whether short or lengthy, of its members. |
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