School Social Work Now!

Supporting Innovative Practice,

Effective Leadership & Applied Research 

Addressing School Violence    

Incidents, such as the recent ones at Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Northern Illinois University, produce horrifying, enduring images. Members of the mass media publicize and inadvertently glorify these events to capture the attention of viewers and readers. Unfortunately, many of the portrayals have led to faulty assumptions and stereotypes of the school violence perpetrator.

Further, researchers have devoted much attention to generating a working profile of these offenders and describing many typical characteristics.

However, it is important to caution against the use of a profile because many apparent warning signs may be irrelevant and restrictive and even could unfairly categorize a student who may not pose danger. Therefore, an awareness of the potential warning signs empirically based in making accurate threat assessments in the school setting proves critical.  Read this FBI Bulletin.

Those Terrible First Few Minutes: Revisiting Active-shooter Protocols for Schools   

. . . Although a tendency exists to argue that "you cannot plan for every conceivable situation," the history of school invasions, in fact, has encompassed a wide range of contingencies. For example, a fire alarm pulled by an accomplice emptied classrooms into the playground, providing a clear field of fire for a shooter concealed in the woods. In another incident, a shooter targeted his tormentors during a voluntary prayer meeting just before the start of school. Several different cases have seen shooters focus on administrators or teachers. Still other schools have been invaded by adults armed with a variety of weapons.

The authors assert that enough contingencies have occurred to justify developing flexible response plans that can account for and adjust to several broad categories of incidents. While even a limited plan is better than no plan at all, neither schools nor police should confine themselves to a "one size fits all" planning protocol. To this end, the authors address that time period between the first contact with an armed intruder on school grounds and the arrival of help. By examining this from the perspective of school personnel, they suggest that the police should be considered second responders. Unless a situation begins with the shooter confronting a school resource officer, the first reaction will come from individuals whose professional orientation is far removed from armed conflict. The authors' goal is to promote the development of better tactical and training options for the civilians whose reactions will define the incident until the police arrive.  Read about the protocols.

Tier 2 Supports to Improve Motivation and Performance of Elementary Students with Behavioral Challenges and Poor Work Completion 

 . . . Within the three-tiered framework, Tier 2 interventions and supports hold promise for intervening before the behavioral and academic challenges of students become resistant to intervention efforts (Walker et al., 2004). Tier 2 interventions are less intensive in terms of time and resources and can often be delivered to students by general education teachers within the structure of the school day during a designated intervention block of time (e.g., Oakes, Mathur, & Lane, 2010). Much attention has been devoted to primary and tertiary supports within the context of three-tiered models of prevention; less research examines supports and interventions offered at the secondary level of prevention (Bruhn, Lane, & Hirsh, 2012; Mitchell, Stormont, & Gage, 2011). Integrated models pose a particular benefit at Tier 2 given that behavioral, social, and academic concerns influence one another (Wentzel, 1993). For example, the strongest predictor of student achievement, after current level of academic achievement, is academic motivation followed by study skills (for older students) and then social skills (DiPerna, Volpe, & Elliott, 2002). So it follows that if students have the academic ability (acquired skills) but are not performing academically (e.g., not completing work), interventions should target improving academic enablers (e.g., interpersonal skills, motivation, engagement, study skills; DiPerna & Elliott, 2000). The critical nature of the relation between academic achievement and academic enablers supports the use of tiered models of prevention integrating academic, social, and behavioral supports in the school setting. Thus, interventions addressing improved student outcomes in all three areas must be explored.  Read complete study.   FL 

Response to Intervention (RtI) in the Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Domains: Current Challenges and Emerging Possibilities   

Education professionals continue to struggle to address the needs of an increasing number of students who have social, emotional, or behavioral difficulties (U.S. Department of Education, 2008). Social-emotional and behavioral problems among students are associated with a variety of poor school-related outcomes (Greenberg et al., 2003; Zins et al., 2004). Too frequently, schools address student behavior problems by employing consequences such as detention, suspension, and expulsion (Skiba & Rausch, 2006). A disproportionate amount of time and energy is spent on serving a small number of students with social-emotional and behavior problems. One potential remedy for this issue is early identification of and intervention with students at risk for such problems. This approach, known as Response to Intervention (RtI), has been recommended as an alternative to the "wait-to-fail" approach that some schools have historically used (Gresham, 2005). Until recently, RtI has been primarily utilized in the academic domain to identify students with specific learning disabilities (Jimerson, Burns, & VanDerHeyden, 2007). However, RtI may also serve as an effective approach for preventing and remedying the social, emotional, and behavioral problems of students who respond to behavioral interventions and therefore do not need more intensive services in special education. On the other hand, students who continue to display behavior problems despite early interventions should continue to receive increasingly targeted services.  The intent of this discussion is to explore RtI as a service delivery model for social, emotional, and behavioral problems in schools.  More.   FL

Asperger Leaders: Leadership from a Unique Perspective  

There is no doubt that one of our greatest challenges as Asperger Leaders revolves around that of communication and understanding or 'reading' people. The workplace still puts significant emphasis on teamwork, and working independently is often actively discouraged. Our preferences often include working independently, and therefore in order to succeed in a career we have had to learn to interact with others.

. . . Experience has shown that people with Aspergers' Syndrome in leadership roles tend to excel in such areas as strategy, programme management and creative projects.  Learn more.

What 100 Years of Research Tell Us About Effective Leadership   

What do we actually know about effective leadership? One hundred years of research on the topic has led to some clear answers.

First, are leaders born or made? The answer is both, but more made than born. Leadership is a complex and sophisticated social role. Although certain qualities do predispose some people to attain leadership positions and be better at leading, effective leaders actually hone their skills through experience, conscious self-development, education, and training.

Second, does leadership training work? Relatively recent analyses of over 100 years of leadership training and development efforts suggests that most programs do indeed lead to some positive change. Is the change dramatic? Sometimes. Certain crucible, or trigger, events can lead to substantial improvement in leadership ability. For the most part, however, leadership development is a long-term and incremental process.  Full article.

PTSD Can Persist Months After School Shooting  

Schoolwide mental health screening should be routinely conducted after a school shooting to identify at-risk students and help guide the selection of appropriate treatment strategies.

This conclusion is based on a study that showed roughly one-fourth of the 247 students directly exposed to the shootings at Santana High School in Santee, Calif., suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder or partial PTSD 8-9 months after the March 5, 2001, event in which 2 students died and 13 were injured.

Among all 1,160 students screened, 4.9% met criteria for PTSD and 12.5% met partial criteria for PTSD. Depression was present in 15.4% of all students and 18.7% of those with direct exposure.

This level of distress was present even after the immediate postevent development of a three-tier mental health program of psychological first-aid, specialized school-based interventions, and specialized community-based services.  Read more.

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 Dean, LSU, College of Human Sciences & Education

Ezra Jack Keats Foundation Accepting Minigrant Applications  

• increasing research projects and their application within the school environment;
• developing a national school social work role framework paper;
• establishing a National Center for School Social Work Practice, Leadership and Research, a long-term goal,
• hosting the 2nd Louisiana State-wide School Social Work Conference, February 18-19, 2013, in New Orleans, LA, at the Tulane University Lavin-Bernick Center.   
• presenting the 4th National School Social Work Research Summit.  Watch for details to come. 

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.