School Social Work Now!

Supporting Innovative Practice, Effective

Leadership & Applied Research 

Text Message Bullying Increases 14% In One Year  

Twenty-four percent of more than 1,500 youths aged 10 to 15 who were surveyed in 2008 said they were harassed via text messages, up from about 14% in a 2007 survey of the same respondents, according to a study in the journal Pediatrics. However, researchers found no increase in rates of exposure to violence, harassment, bullying or unwanted sexual encounters online during the same time frame.  Related article.

Strategies for Social and Emotional Learning:  Preschool and Elementary Grade Student Learning Standards and Assessment       

  
Desired Characteristics for MSW Students and Social Work Employees:  Cognitive Versus Personal Attributes        

School social work leaders often volunteer to act as field supervisors and mentors for MSW students interested in the field of school social work.  This article shares results of a study that compares desirable personal and cognitive attributes for social workers.  Information from the study is useful for persons who are acting as field supervisors for social work students placed in local schools.  Read full article.

Scaling Up School and Community Partnerships:  The Community Schools Strategy - An Interactive Guide   

The Coalition for Community Schools has released an interactive web-based tool to help school and community leaders understand the community school strategy and learn about building a system of community schools.  The guide draws from the work of local community schools initiatives that are directly impacting student achievement, attendance, family engagement, and other factors.  It presents end-state benchmarks for scale-up, and includes stories from successful community school systems.  The web-based tool offers videos of community leaders talking about scale-up, literature on scale-up stories, and answers questions to the field about each scale-up stage using LinkedIn. The guide is written for a wide audience and for communities at different points in planning for, implementing, and sustaining a community schools strategy.  Guide.

The Art of Diplomatic Leadership     

"As leaders encounter entirely new kinds of challenges and responsibilities, they find that they have the strength and resources to meet these challenges. For example, some first-time leaders ultimately learn that they have a gift for leading and inspiring others. Others find that they're especially talented at gauging others' motivations and values. Each time you make something happen as a leader-whether it's shaping your group's culture in positive ways, helping someone master a new task, or assembling a top-notch team-leaders expand their abilities. They become more seasoned, experienced, and confident leaders, and have a sharper awareness of their own strengths and areas for improvement. Not only do they learn more about themselves as they progress in a leadership role; they also learn more about organizational life in general."  Click here for complete article.

The Challenges of Implementing Evidence Based Practice:  Ethical Considerations in Practice, Education, Policy, and Research  

Abstract:  Over the past century, the field of social work has evolved from grass-roots community-based movements to an intricate network of formally trained professionals promoting social research, education and practice (Klein and Bloom 1994). While social work professionals vary widely in their roles, skills, and attitudes toward the nature and future of the profession, they are united through the shared embrace of underlying ethical principles-beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice (Freeman 2006; NASW 2008)-that guide their interactions with clients. Social workers hold in highest regard the intention to provide ethical and competent services to their clients. Nevertheless, the questions remain: How do social workers know the services they offer are ethical and competent? How do they know that they are providing the best available treatment or intervention, or that services are offered in a way that benefits clients? Is evidence-based practice (EBP) the answer to these questions?  Full article can be downloaded.      

Increased Student Achievement Through Increased Student Support Act - H.R. 3405 

Bibliotherapy & School Social Workers

I am a doctoral student at Dominican University's Graduate School of Library and Information Science, River Forest, Illinois. I am seeking school social workers to complete an online survey about bibliotherapy for use towards research for a doctoral dissertation. For the purposes of this research bibliotherapy is defined as the use of books or other reading materials (poetry, magazines, comic books, etc) to assist with the counseling process.  Participation is voluntary, confidential and anonymous.  Even if you do not currently use the bibliotherapy counseling technique, any feedback on this topic will help with this study. Completion of the survey should take approximately 30 minutes and can be done from any computer with internet access.  If you are an interested school social worker, or know of a school social worker who would be interested, the survey link is below.  For more information, contact: Elizabeth Garcia, Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Dominican University. Thank you in advance for your participation.  Bibliotherapy Survey Link.  

New this week:    Belle Mead, NJ     Valparaiso, IN          

Search Tool Helps Users Find Grants to Fund Youth Programs 

The Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs has created an online Web Tool that allows users to search for federal grant opportunities by youth topic or federal agency. The tool uses a filter to search for grants that are likely to fund youth programs. To learn more and determine if you are eligible, click here.

ING Unsung Heroes Award  

ING Unsung Heroes began in 1995as a way for ING to demonstrate its commitment to the education community. Grants are given to K-12 educators utilizing new teaching methods and techniques that improve learning.  Each year, educators submit applications for an ING Unsung Heroes grant by describing projects they have initiated or would like to pursue. Each project is judged on its:

innovative method, creativity, and ability to positively influence the students.  All K-12 education professionals, whether or not they are clients of ING, are eligible. Specifically, these individuals must be:  (1)  Employed by an accredited K-12 public or private school located in the United States, or (2)  Full-time educators, teachers, principals, paraprofessionals, orclassified staff with effective  projects that improve student learning.  Deadline:  April 30, 2012.  Details here.   

Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Invites Applications for Dissertation Fellowships in Education    

• 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.