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School Social Work Now!
Supporting Innovative Practice, Effective
Leadership & Applied Research
September 2011 - Vol 2, Issue 2 |
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| Bookmark These |
Some Free, Some Not
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| Greetings! | |
Does it seem as though there was no summer break? School is in full swing and you need to call upon your skills and creativity as never before. Challenges are plentiful.
One of the challenges to start thinking about is bullying--once again and still. October is National Anti-Bullying Month. Plan ahead to promote anti-bullying in your schools during October. Check out Pacer's National Bullying Prevention Center for ideas to use in your school no matter what grade levels. Sign the digital petition, organize a community anti-bullying walk/run/roll for October 1st. If you care about students who are bullied and want bullying to end, make your color ORANGE on Unity Day, October 12th. Make it a school project!
Watch this spot for more ideas in weeks to come, but begin your planning NOW!
ACSSW has sent past issues of the newsletter to many colleagues in order to familiarize professionals with some of the issues facing education and school social work. School social workers have much to juggle! As much as we'd like to, as the readership grows we can no longer continue to send gratis issues to non-members.
If you are a member, please know that ACSSW appreciates your support immensely. If you have delayed joining, please join ACSSW now to show support for the profession, to demonstrate respect for colleagues, to advance the work being done on your behalf, and to continue receiving the weekly, informative e-letter uninterrupted. Don't delay! Practice, leadership and research is the path to the future of our profession. School social workers, like other education professionals, need to demonstrate their worth to decision-makers. Dues assist us in providing some of the tools to do that.
Judith Kullas Shine
President |
| Professional Development Opportunities | |
This link includes state, national and international professional development opportunities. New events are added several times a month. If you represent an organization with PDOs of interest to school social workers, please contact ACSSW with details. All submissions will be considered for posting based upon relevance, timing, and interest level. |
| Recommended Reads |
 A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy Leagueby Ron Suskind
At Ballou Senior High, a crime-infested school in Washington, D.C., honor students have learned to keep their heads down. Like most inner-city kids, they know that any special attention in a place this dangerous can make you a target of violence. But Cedric Jennings will not swallow his pride, and with unwavering support from his mother, he studies and strives as if his life depends on it--and it does. The summer after his junior year, at a program for minorities at MIT, he gets a fleeting glimpse of life outside, a glimpse that turns into a face-on challenge one year later: acceptance into Brown University, an Ivy League school.
At Brown, finding himself far behind most of the other freshmen, Cedric must manage a bewildering array of intellectual and social challenges. Cedric had hoped that at college he would finally find a place to fit in, but he discovers he has little in common with either the white students, many of whom come from privileged backgrounds, or the middle-class blacks. Having traveled too far to turn back, Cedric is left to rely on his faith, his intelligence, and his determination to keep alive his hope in the unseen--a future of acceptance and reward that he struggles, each day, to envision. True story of hope, resilience and courage. [1999; Broadway Books, Random House] |
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| Practice Points |
Children stigmatized because of ethnic-minority backgrounds often feeling devalued in school and feel more anxious about school, U.S. researchers say. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, and New York University say children who are stigmatized because of ethnicity are more likely to have less interest in school, yet ethnic-minority children in this study reported high interest in school in the face of stigma. More than 450 second- and fourth-graders in New York City with ethnic-minority backgrounds -- African-American, Chinese, Dominican and Russian -- or ethnic-majority backgrounds -- European American -- were studied. The children were asked questions about their awareness of stigma, anxiety about school, interest in school and feelings of belonging in school. Young children's awareness of stigma was similar to that of adults, with ethnic-minority children generally reporting more awareness and higher academic anxiety than ethnic-majority children, which researchers attributed to their greater awareness of stigma. The study, published in the journal Child Development, says some ethnic-minority students reported significantly higher interest in school than their ethnic-majority peers, despite research showing awareness of stigmatization is associated with lower interest in school. Read more.
Budget-Driven Personnel Take on New Roles in Many Districts
Many school districts across the country have been forced to reshuffle teachers and staff in the wake of budget cuts, attrition and layoffs. Some districts are moving educators into different roles to cover vacancies, while other shifts are being made to keep employees from being laid off. "Your goal [is] to avoid having to make a hire," said John Kuhn, the superintendent of a Texas district. "You have to get creative to make that happen sometimes. ... It's not ideal, but you're not going to get ideal in these budget times." Click here to continue.
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| Leadership News |
Social work is experiencing an unprecedented degree of institutional instability, particularly in the advanced industrial nations which, to varying degrees and via differing paths, have abandoned the Keynesian Welfare State. It has been replaced with a fundamentally different workfare regime in which operates on quite different assumptions - all of which pose fundamental challenges to social work. The degree of change is such that it can be understood as institutional change. The profession needs a number of strategies in response the contemporary de-stabilization. Drawing on theoretical and empirical literature about institutional change we show why it is that professional leadership is crucial in the current environment. The paper reviews what in currently know about leadership, both in general and in relation to social work. Referring to the notion of institutional entrepreneurs and on the role played by other non-social work professional associations in situations of change, we articulate what role leadership can play. We conclude with recommendations about how leadership could be promoted, particularly by the professional associations. Read full article.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has issued Certification Staffing Policy Guidelines (CSPG) for School Social Workers. CSPG #201 does not create certified educator status for School Social Workers . . . Although they still are not fully integrated into the educational system, CSPG #201 creates a legitimacy for the role of the School Social Worker (SSW) in Pennsylvania and makes it easier for schools to employ them. Interestingly, the CSPG has been located in a new category, "Licensed Professionals", rather than the "Education Specialist" category that is the home of certified pupil services professionals including School Counselors, School Nurses, Home and School Visitors and School Psychologists. Read the bill. |
| Research Highlights | |
The Emotional Brain in Youth: Research Suggests How to Diagnose and Treat Mood Disorders in Children and Adolescents
Recognition of bipolar disorder in adolescents is now clearly established. However, whether bipolarity exists in children remains controversial despite numerous studies that have been conducted on this topic in the last fifteen years. Since the diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children has been rising for the past ten years, clinicians, researchers, parents, and others who care for children are left wondering what accounts for this dramatic increase in diagnosing pediatric bipolar disorder (Dickstein, 2010): is it better recognition of an important psychiatric disorder or is it due to overdiagnosis, misdiagnosis, or a diagnostic trend? In response to this increase, both clinical and research interest in pediatric bipolar disorders have surged, including a re-examination of the diagnostic criteria for this condition based on developmental and neurobiological findings... The younger the child, the rarer is the condition of bipolar disorder. However, there is no disputing that a substantial number of pre-adolescents have symptoms of mania, usually superimposed on a number of diverse developmental and psychiatric conditions (Carlson, 2005). Recent studies have shown that 'manic symptoms' in children may be more common than once thought. The need to avoid confusing terminology with bipolar disorder is now consensual (Dickstein, 2010). Whether chronic manic symptoms in children represent (1) a developmental disorder that will change during adulthood; (2) an early onset bipolar I disorder; (3) a new subtype of bipolar disorder (e.g. chronic with rapid cycling); or (4) a developmental risk of later bipolar I disorder (narrow phenotype) still needs further research (Carlson, 2005). Click for more.
Youth-Mentor Relationships Particularly Helpful for Those Experiencing Hardship
In a time of transition for rural African-American young adults, natural mentors in the community help them stay focused on their goals and avoid potential difficulties associated with emerging adulthood, according to findings from an ongoing University of Georgia study.
The study, published in the early online edition of American Journal of Community Psychology, is part of a broader research program called the Adults in the Making project, which is aimed at helping rural African Americans transition to adulthood. The researchers found that behaviors such as anger, breaking the law, and substance abuse were reduced when informal mentors provided support and helped them learn to deal with adult problems. These relationships were even more powerful for young adults experiencing hardship. Continue. |
| In the News | |
Many Autistic Teens Use School Mental Health Services
Many teens with autism rely on school-based mental health services, a new study finds. More than 46 percent of the teens with autism used a mental health service in the past year for behavioral issues and other conditions, such as anxiety and depression. Of those, 49 percent used mental health services at their school. Black teens and those from lower income families were more likely to use school-based mental health services, said the researchers at Washington University in St. Louis. The findings, published in the August issue of Psychiatric Services, show the need to make transition plans for mental health services as teens with autism leave high school, said study author Sarah Narendorf, a social work doctoral candidate. "Those that have accessed services at school are especially at risk for service discontinuities as they lose access to services through the school," she said in a university news release. "This is especially important for African-American and low-income students who are more likely to get their services in the school setting." Click here to continue.
New-teacher Hires Stir Debate at Memphis City Schools
When Memphis City Schools (MCS) accepted $90 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to improve teacher effectiveness, it agreed that 30-35 percent of new hires would come from talent pipelines that produce high-quality teacher applicants, according to The Commercial Appeal. For 2011-12, the district expected it would hire 190 teachers from those sources, and next year the number jumps to 235. But when 190 teachers without experience were hired over 100 teachers with lots of it, school board members wanted to know what they are supposed to tell angry constituents. With only 5 percent of MCS graduates ready to succeed in college, Superintendent Kriner Cash explained that the district had to do something different: "We have to do everything we can to give principals a choice -- that is what research shows -- give them the latitude to hire staff they need to move the needle." This year, MCS signed a contract to place 100 Teach For America corpsmen, paying their salary plus $4,000 per person to cover training and recruiting costs. The board is also voting on a $1.4 million contract to hire more teachers from an outside group, Memphis Teacher Residency, which since 2009 has placed 45 teachers in public and private schools in the area. Read more.
Gene Link to PTSD Found in Students After Shootings
A study of college students' reactions to shootings on their Illinois campus gives fresh insight into how genes may influence the psychological impact of traumatic events. The researchers found that symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder were more common in Northern Illinois University students who had certain variations in a gene that regulates levels of serotonin, a brain chemical linked with mood that is the target of popular antidepressants. The researchers say the results could someday lead to new treatments for PTSD, and also could help predict who will develop the condition, which could be useful for soldiers involved in combat. Overall symptoms similar to PTSD were found in almost half the women in the weeks after the shootings, and in nearly all the participants who were in the hall. These symptoms included flashbacks, nightmares and extreme jumpiness. Continue. |
| Webinars |
September 22, 2011, 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. EDT
What Every Educator Should Know About Internet Privacy
Register Now
Daniel Solove will discuss the challenges schools must face with Internet privacy: social media, cyberbullying, sexting and searching electronic devices. Through a series of concrete examples, Professor Solove will explain how various privacy problems can be addressed and prevented. What should educators know about new online technologies? What must they know about the law? What can they do to help educate students about the perils and pitfalls of the digital world? How can they better handle incidents involving cyberbullying and sexting?
Daniel Solove is the John Marshall Harlan Research Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School and the founder of TeachPrivacy, a company that helps schools handle privacy issues.
September 27, 2011, 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. EDT
Schools and Teen Suicide: How to Effectively Respond to Crisis and Help Prevent Future Tragedies
Register Online
In the devastating aftermath of teen suicide, a community typically turns to its schools for guidance. School professionals have had to mobilize and respond despite a dearth of evidence-based resources to support them.
This year, new consensus-based tools -- developed by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Suicide Prevention Resource Center - have been released to fill the information void.
Schools and Teen Suicide: How to Effectively Respond to Crisis and Help Prevent Future Tragedies will focus on how schools can implement proven strategies to address real-time crises, avoid suicide contagion, and prevent future tragedies.
Join Joanne L. Harpel, Senior Director for Public Affairs and Postvention at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and Marian Sheridan, Coordinator of School Health and Safety Programs in the Fond du Lac, Wisconsin School District for this critically important dialogue and Q&A.
October 5, 2011, 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. EDT
Creating Safe Spaces for LGBT Students
Register Online
In this webinar, participants will engage in careful consideration of the school experiences of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) students and learn how to create safe spaces for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. Through presentation of research, research-based strategies, and promising practices, participants will be provided with resources and a toolkit to assist them in ensuring a safe environment for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.
Robert McGarry, Ed.D. is the Director of Training and Curriculum Development for GLSEN-Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network. |
| Grants & Funding |
Libri Foundation: Books for Children
TheLibri Foundation Books for Children Grants donate new, quality, hardcover children's books for small, rural, public libraries across the country. Maximum award: varies. Eligibility: Libraries should be in a rural area, have a limited operating budget, and an active children's department. The average total operating budget of a Books for Children grant recipient must be less than $40,000. Deadline: January 23, 2011. Application Guidelines.
Prudential Spirit of Community Awards
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based exclusively on volunteer community service. The program was created in 1995 by Prudential in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) to honor middle level and high school students for outstanding service to others at the local, state, and national level. A trip to Washington, DC and $1000 is the top award for students in grades 5 to 12 who have completed a colunteer service activity. Deadline: November 1, 2011. More information.
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.
Fulbright Teacher Exchange
The Fulbright Classroom Teacher Exchange Program provides opportunities for teachers to participate in direct exchanges of positions with colleagues from other countries for a semester or academic year. By living and working in the cultures of their host countries, Fulbright teachers gain an understanding and appreciation of the similarities and differences in national cultures and education systems. Maximum award: year-long or semester-long direct exchange of teaching positions with a counterpart in another country teaching the same subject(s) at the same level. Eligibility: full-time U.S. teachers. Deadline: October 15, 2011. Details.
NEA Foundation: Learning & Leadership Grants
NEA Foundation Learning & Leadership Grants support public school teachers, public education support professionals, and/or faculty and staff in public institutions of higher education for one of two purposes. Grants to individuals fund participation in high-quality professional development experiences, such as summer institutes or action research; grants to groups fund collegial study, including study groups, action research, lesson study, or mentoring experiences for faculty or staff new to an assignment. Maximum award: $2,000 for individuals and $5,000 for groups engaged in collegial study. Eligibility: public school teachers grades K-12; public school education support professionals; or faculty and staff at public higher education institutions. Deadline: October 15, 2011. Learning & Leadership Guidelines
NEA Foundation: Student Achievement Grants
The NEA Foundation Student Achievement Grants provide funds to improve the academic achievement of students by engaging in critical thinking and problem-solving that deepen knowledge of standards-based subject matter. The work should also improve students' habits of inquiry, self-directed learning, and critical reflection. Maximum award: $5,000. Eligibility: practicing U.S. public school teachers, public school education support professionals, or faculty or staff at public higher education institutions. Deadline: October 15, 2011. Student Achievement Grants
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Foundation Invites School Personnel to Apply
A total of $150,000 in grants will be awarded to school personnel working in 2012 to help school-aged children reduce their cardiovascular risk, increase their physical activity, and/or learn healthy eating habits . . . Deadline: October 14, 2011. Click for details.
Target K-12 Field Trip Grants Program
Target Corporation is accepting applications from education professionals for the Target Field Trip Grants program to bring K-12 students in the United States to museums, historical sites, and cultural organizations. Over five thousand grants of up to $700 will be awarded in January 2012. Grants are available to applicants from the U.S. for trips to be taken between January 1, 2012, and the end of the 2011-12 academic year (May/June 2012). Funds may be used to cover field trip-related costs such as transportation, ticket fees, food, resource materials, and supplies. Deadline: October 3, 2011. Link to Complete RFP.
Kids in Need Foundation Offers Teacher Grants for Creative Classroom Projects
Grants between $100 and $500 will be awarded to U.S. K-12 teachers working to provide innovative learning opportunities for their students. Deadline: September 30, 2011. Details here.
Clorox: Power a Bright Future
Clorox Power a Bright Future Grants aim to provide necessary resources to help support school programs that enrich kids' lives. Maximum award: $50,000. Eligibility: Anyone at least 18 years old at time of entry can nominate an accredited K-12 public or private school program. Deadline: September 27, 2011. More.
Sodexo Foundation and Youth Service America Invite Applications for Youth-Led Children's Hunger Volunteer Projects
Twenty-five $500 grants will be awarded to volunteer projects that address the issue of childhood hunger at the community level and are conducted by young people between the ages of 5 and 25 who live in the United States. Deadline: September 16, 2011. Link to complete RFP. |
| ACSSW Activities | |
ACSSW's present activities include:
- increasing research projects and their application within the school environment;
- developing a national school social work role paper;
- establishing a National Center for School Social Work Research, a long-term goal, and
- developing the 3rd National School Social Work Research Summit to be held June 24-26, 2012, in Bloomingdale, IL (a Chicago suburb) at the Hilton Chicago/Indian Lakes Resort.
If you have interest in participating in any of these activities, contact Judie Shine. ACSSW strives to be inclusive and transparent in all of its activities and welcomes, whether lengthy or short, the participation of its members. |
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