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School Social Work Now!
Supporting Innovative Practice, Effective
Leadership & Applied Research
October 2011 - Vol 2, Issue 5 |
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Bookmark These |
Some Free, Some Not
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Greetings! | |
October is Bullying Prevention Month. Links to the left are only the tip of the iceberg in the pursuit of stamping out bullying. There are many such sites. Please collaborate with building and district administrators, teachers, and support staff to make October a successful Bullying Prevention Month for your district. If it's not been done, make your plan today!
ACSSW is happy to announce that, along with the Louisiana Department of Education, Tulane University, and Lousiana State University, we are hosting the first ever Louisiana state school social work conference. Save the Dates: January 30th and 31st in exciting New Orleans! Details will be on the website shortly.
Typically, the start of a new school year brings with it renewed energy and commitment to improve school social work practice in order to provide effective services to children, families, schools, and the community. Goals can include learning more about a subject, becoming more time efficient, tracking more accurate data, keeping more meaningful case notes, expanding community connections, and supporting the efforts of colleagues, to name a few.
ACSSW asks that you help us help you to reach your goals! If you have found these e-newsletters of some interest or support and have not yet renewed your membership or joined the association, please do so today. As much as we'd like to, as the readership grows we can no longer continue to send gratis issues to non-members. This will be discontinued in the near future.
If you are a member, please know that ACSSW appreciates your support immensely. If you are not a member and understand, as members do, the value of belonging to this national school social work organization, 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.
Judith Kullas Shine
President |
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Professional Development Opportunities | |
It's Fall!! And that means it's time to take advantage of one or more of the many professional growth opportunities across the country. 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.
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Recommended Reads |
 | | Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard |
Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying
by Sameer Hinduja and Justin W. Patchin
Review by Liana Heitin
"While the media have picked up on the impacts of cyberbullying, there's been less definitive information on what to do about it. Hinduja and Patchin's Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard is an attempt to bridge that knowledge gap. The authors argue that taking away technology when cyberbullying occurs-the well-intentioned response from many parents-is ill-advised, akin to sheltering students from learning opportunities such as field trips for fear they could be dangerous. The authors contend that school staff can play a major role in decreasing and alleviating the effects of Internet misuse. In the book, they lay out the ways teachers and administrators can identify bullies and victims, help prevent online harassment, navigate the complicated legal terrain, and step in when harmful behavior occurs." Click for full review.
Barnes & Noble (Bullying Beyond)
Amazon (Bullying Beyond) |
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Practice Points | |
There is substantial need for interventions that effectively address family or community-based risk factors, which serve as barriers to school success for children with severe emotional and behavioral challenges. In response to this need, an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Louisville (Kent School and College of Education and Human Development) and the Oregon Research Institute are working to develop, implement, and refine the First Step to Success early intervention program to extend its applicability to tertiary-level students in grades K-3.
As described in [a] previous article, the First Step intervention was designed to target children with moderate or emerging behavior disorders. As a general rule, the program works well for these students in the great majority of cases. However, a small portion of the school population has severe behavior problems that are intense, often intractable, and are very difficult to manage. These students often bring very intense behavioral needs to the schooling process due to long-term, prior risk exposure. Such students usually require the investment of considerable amounts of school resources in terms of personnel time and specialized accommodations. The Enhanced version of the First Step program is a modification of the original intervention to deal effectively with this very at-risk student sub population. Read about Enhanced First Step.
This is an engaging way for clients to begin talking about and experience different degrees of a particular feeling. Designed for children and youth age 9 years and up, the technique encourages greater awareness of feelings, increased feelings vocabulary, and increased open expression of feelings. Visit Liana Lowenstein's website to learn more.
"Studies estimate 3.3 - 10 million children in the United States witness violence in their own homes each year (1). There is growing research on the psychological, emotional and neurobiological impact of trauma and highly stressful events. Trauma impacts all aspects of a child's development, including emotional regulation, memory, cognitive processing, social skills, and physical health (2, 3, 4). Trauma can undermine children's ability to learn, form relationships, and function appropriately in the classroom, including their development of language and communication skills, organization of narrative material, ability to understand cause and effect relationships and to take another person's perspective, attentiveness to classroom tasks and executive functions (e.g., goal setting and planning, anticipating consequences), and ability to engage the classroom curriculum and instruction (1). These limitations make it challenging for these children to meet classroom learning expectations.
The principles of Trauma-Informed Care, a growing and powerful national movement in the human services system, hold great potential for helping people to recover from the effects of adverse childhood experiences (5). Their application in schools can help to create supportive school environments with positive relationships that empower trauma survivors to flourish and learn to their potential. These changes can help schools to support all children in the development of healthy coping strategies and resilience in facing future struggles." Access complete WI DPI Article here.
How to Implement Response to Intervention at the Secondary Level
"In the past five years, Response to Intervention (RtI) has become one of the most discussed, researched, and implemented educational improvement programs. The process -- which was originally designed to improve core curriculum and the interventions given to students whose needs were not being met by the core curriculum -- has been transformed into a cookie-cutter three-tier system. Furthermore, this over-simplified approach is now almost universally accepted, as evidenced by the model being displayed on the Pearson Assessment: Welcome to RtI Web page.
While the canned RtI model may correlate to school improvement at the primary and middle levels, it does not do so at the secondary level. Simply implementing RtI, or having designated RtI time, does very little to lead to positive school improvement at the secondary level when it's not implemented appropriately. It is the responsibility of secondary school leaders to make RtI apply to the personality, climate, and the needs of their school. While my sincere belief is that there is no boxed plan, curriculum, or intervention that can (on its own) improve schools, I do believe that identifying and applying principles of successful programs can make a significant impact on students throughout the country." Read article by Philip Caposey, high school principal.
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Leadership News |
Learn to Care's leadership strategy for social work and social care, published today, outlines a pathway of progression for frontline practitioners and managers. It found many social work and social care leaders are sent on general in-house or externally provided courses, which do not necessarily take into account the unique nature of the profession. . . The report adds: "The 152 differenct local authorities [in England] and many more areas where social work interventions occur have their own local and unique challenges, requiring the skilled commissioning of workforce development to accurately match future needs. Leadership programmes should not only satisfy national standards, governance and best evidence base, but also future proof and creatively develop individuals who will take the professionalisation and personalisation agendas forward."
The strategy includes guiding principles on leadership development, a review of psychometric assessments, an overview of leadership traits and advice on how to build effective relationship between employers and educators. Read Leadership Strategy Recommendations. |
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Research Highlights | |
 Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010
The U.S. Census Bureau announced on September 13 that in 2010, median household income declined, the poverty rate increased and the percentage without health insurance coverage was not statistically different from the previous year. Real median household income in the United States in 2010 was $49,445, a 2.3 percent decline from the 2009 median. The nation's official poverty rate in 2010 was 15.1 percent, up from 14.3 percent in 2009 ─ the third consecutive annual increase in the poverty rate. There were 46.2 million people in poverty in 2010, up from 43.6 million in 2009 ─ the fourth consecutive annual increase and the largest number in the 52 years for which poverty estimates have been published. The number of people without health insurance coverage rose from 49.0 million in 2009 to 49.9 million in 2010, while the percentage without coverage −16.3 percent - was not statistically different from the rate in 2009. This information covers the first full calendar year after the December 2007-June 2009 recession. These findings are contained in the report Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010. Click here here for full access to these data results.
The Impact of Enhancing Students' Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions
Abstract This article presents findings from a meta-analysis of 213 school-based, universal social and emotional learning (SEL) programs involving 270,034 kindergarten through high school students. Compared to controls, SELparticipants demonstrated significantly improved social and emotional skills, attitudes, behavior, and academic performance that reflected an 11-percentile-point gain in achievement. School teaching staff successfully conducted SEL programs. The use of 4 recommended practices for developing skills and the presence of implementation problems moderated program outcomes. The findings add to the growing empirical evidence regarding the positive impact of SEL programs. Policy makers, educators, and the public can contribute to healthy development of children by supporting the incorporation of evidence-based SEL programming into standard educational practice. Read full article. |
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In the News | |
A new U.S. government report highlights serious gaps in mental health care for many American Indians and Alaska Natives, groups that suffer from problems including a teenage suicide rate more than twice the national average. One in five hospitals and clinics in Indian Country provide no mental health services, according to the Inspector General's Office of the Department of Health and Human Services. Only half provide drug therapy treatments, and at dozens of facilities some drug treatments are handled by non-licensed social workers, counselors and nurses. The inspector general's report covers a government health system that serves almost 2 million people, belonging to more than 500 tribes scattered across 35 states. It was released Friday by Montana U.S. Sen. Max Baucus. "The demand for mental health services outstrips capacity at some IHS (Indian Health Service) and tribal facilities," the report's authors wrote, adding that American Indians and Native Alaskans "rank first among ethnic groups as likely to suffer mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression." ... The consequences of those problems came into dramatic focus over the last two years on Montana's Fort Peck reservation. Five suicides and 20 attempts in one year at the rural reservation's Poplar Middle School prompted tribal leaders last year to declare a crisis and the government to dispatch an emergency team from the U.S. Public Health Service. At least two more teenagers have killed themselves since and dozens of other children across the reservation have tried. Read article.
It gets better. That's the message many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth have heard since last fall when multiple cases received high-profile media attention concerning teens being bullied and/or committing suicide for being gay, or perceived to be gay. But is it safer for LGBT students entering school this year?
Some LGBT leaders are doubtful, despite the positive changes that are occurring, according to an article by the Keen News Service. Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, acknowledges that more schools are aware of what to do and more resources exist, but she told a reporter for the news service that there is still "a lot of work to be done." Read more.
CA Lawmakers Propose Autism Funding for Applied Behavioral Analysis
State law requires insurers to include coverage for autism in comprehensive healthcare policies. Now, lawmakers want to go a step further, requiring coverage of a particular autism treatment: applied behavioral analysis. Insurers are resisting. They don't question the effectiveness of the therapy; they just say it doesn't fit the definition of "medical" treatment. Their position reflects how crucial parts of the healthcare system are wedded to the status quo, regardless of what's best for patients. State lawmakers have passed a bill to overcome the insurers' resistance, and Gov. Jerry Brown should sign it. To continue click here. |
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Webinars |
October 12, 2011, 4:00-5:30 EDT and
October 13, 2011, 11:00-12:30 EDT
School Climate Webinar Series: Substance Abuse Prevention
Safe and Supportive Schools is sponsoring a "School Climate Webinar Series: Substance Abuse Prevention" for School Administrators, Teacher Leaders, Guidance Counselors, and Social Workers. The session will present recent information on effective practices for substance abuse prevention. The session will provide suggestions for developing and managing an alcohol and drug prevention and intervention program, as well as strategies to improve school climate. For more information and to register click here.
October 17, 2011, 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. EDT
The Other Achievement Gap
No need to register.
A trio of recent studies and articles raises troubling questions about America's "Achievement-Gap Mania." Are we leaving our highest performing students behind in the quest to raise the test scores of students at the bottom? If so, what will this mean for our future international competitiveness?
This event, presented by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, will be webcast so there is no need to register. Simply visit the Fordham website at 4 p.m. and watch the proceedings live. |
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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. |
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Call for Papers |
The 25th Annual Children's Mental Health Research and Policy Conference
Deadline: October 31, 2011
The Conference Planning Committee invites you to submit proposal applications for research topics benefiting children, youth and their families, policy and practice. Special themes this year include: understanding the impact of a changing health care environment on system of care evaluators, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners; and a heightened focus on transition age youth and young adults up to the age of 30. Click here for more information. |
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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 Practice, Leadership and Research, a long-term goal,
- hosting the first Louisiana State-wide School Social Work Conference, January 30-31, 2012, in New Orleans, LA, 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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