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School Social Work Now!
Supporting Innovative Practice,
Effective Leadership & Applied Research
May 2013 - Vol 3, Issue 33 |
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Greetings! | |
This weekend we celebrate Memorial Day, a national holiday honoring those who have given their lives to their country while in the Armed Forces. ACSSW joins with all of you who honor parents, grandparents, and other relatives and friends who have given this ultimate sacrifice. As you go about your holiday celebrations, please take several moments to honor these wonderful men and women.
ACSSWalso wishes to extend deepest sympathies to all those affected by the Oklahoma City hurricane. Loss of property is devastating but loss of life, especially young children, is incomprehnsible. IFor resources, click on the link in the left-hand column.
Help prevent cuts to IDEA's Personnel Preparation program. This program supports approximately 8,000 scholars per year across the nation, all of whom are preparing for a career dedicated to addressing the needs of children and youth with disabilities. As you know, the majority funding for this program goes directly to providing financial assistance to future special education teachers, specialized instructional support personnel (like school social workers!), administrators, researchers, and higher ed faculty, as one way to alleviate the shortages in these fields. The President's FY 2014 budget proposed to cut funding by $2.5 million.
Email Congress now. Use CEC's Legislative Action Center
to send a personal letter. Tell your story--email your story
and share how your preparation program made you a great special educator/school social worker!
Please keep promoting Mental Health Awareness. We can help to fight the stigma that many incur due to misinformation and fear. Download for free the new ACSSW Mental Health Awareness poster along with our Mental Health Awareness campaign materials. Green ribbon pins and the two pages of Talking Points sheets are still available so, please contact us if you want to order. Wear the pins year round to promote student mental health!! If you can not get a pin, make green ribbons to wear during the month of May.
Judith Kullas Shine
President |
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Recommended Read for May | |
Since May is Mental Health Awareness month and the week of May 5th through 11th is Children's Mental Health Awareness week, it seems appropriate to offer a wide array of books to expand our understanding of mental health and strengthen our practice in this area.
This link provides an extensive list of mental health topics as well as lists of books under each topic. School social workers will find it a useful tool. It may also help to develop a Bibliotherapy list for those who run groups in schools or who are working with parents who are searching to help their child.
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Come on . . . Follow Us!! | |
Social media has become one of the primary ways to ommunicate and "advertise" widely. Please help ACSSW become more widely known. Click on one or more of the links below and tell your friends about us. Thanks!!
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Practice Points | |
DSM-V: A Call to Opposition for Social Workers
As the debate over the impending publication of the DSM-5 continues, it seems that Social Workers are finally stepping up to the platform to chime in about their opposition to this newest version of the DSM. In April 2012, Psychology Today and Dr. Allen Frances, Chair of the DSM-IV and of Duke's Psychiatry Department, highlighted the opposition of two prominent social workers:Dr. Jack Carney, DSW and clinician and program director with over 40 years of experience in the mental health field, and Dr. Joanne Cacciatore grief researcher and founder of an international foundation addressing grief. In the article, both social workers kindly remind our profession of our Code of Ethics, and the standards which this code should uphold. . .
Dr. Carney and Dr. Cacciatore stress a very important reminder, that it is not only our responsibility to 'follow the rules' and simply provide services but to also address the larger macro system in which our clients and ourselves function. Not putting our voice into the debate about the new DMS is simply a misrepresentation of our profession as disinterested and disengaged, or perhaps it reflects our place as one of the most over burdened career paths in mental health and other fields. Furthermore, the mere fact that the entities which represent us, specifically the NASW, has also not voiced their outrage or even their opinions on the DSM-, shows that we are in a poor state when it comes to realistically servicing our clients to the best of our abilities. Full article. Related article.
Black Male Student Success
Dr. Tyrone Howard, executive director of the Black Male Institute and faculty director of Center X, both at UCLA, specializes in the influence of racial and cultural differences on learning and teaching and how these differences affect teaching and learning. In this video he comments on how to define success for these young men and changing the paradigm. He discusses misconceptions about black male learners and states that we need to recognize them outside of "traditional grade mechanisms." Click for video.
Understanding the Complexity of Service to Minors
Social workers, especially those who work with minors, face a myriad of dilemmas when it comes to effectively providing the best counseling and advisory services because those clients are minors. Some of the dilemmas faced apply to important areas like informed consent, confidentiality and decisions about how much of self-determination of life decisions their client is able to take part in. Download this white paper to learn how to provide service to minors in the most ethical way. Must register for complimentary download. (Remember, you can always "unsubscribe.") |
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Leadership News | 
Effective education leadership makes a difference in improving learning. There's nothing new or especially controversial about that idea. What's far less clear, even after several decades of school renewal efforts, is just how leadership matters, how important those effects are in promoting the learning of all children, and what the essential ingredients of successful leadership are. Lacking solid evidence to answer these questions, those who have sought to make the case for greater attention and investment in leadership as a pathway for large-scale education improvement have had to rely more on faith than fact. Executive summary & complete report.
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Research Highlights | 
Motivational interviewing (MI; Miller & Rollnick, 2002) is both a treatment philosophy and a set of methods employed to help people increase intrinsic motivation by exploring and resolving ambivalence about behavioral change. In the past decade, MI has become a well-recognized brand and has been used in psychotherapy, medicine, addictions, public health, and beyond. However, clinical popularity does not necessarily equate with evidentiary support.
In this article, we review the research support for MI so that practitioners can make informed decisions about the value of MI in their clinical work. The questions we pose and the answers we offer in this article start broadly-with the overarching theory and whether MI works-and then move toward more specific aspects of the evidence for MI. Read complete article.
Researchers at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that the number of vaccines a child received and their risk of being diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder are not related. Vaccines currently contain fewer antigens than in the past. These antigens are also found in bacteria and viruses that children are frequently exposed to. The researchers suggest that other factors, like prenatal nutrition, medication, and infections, may be more likely to impact the development of a baby's brain. Read more. |
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In the News | |
Teachers Call for Social Emotional Learning in School
Teachers across America believe that social and emotional learning is critical to student success in school, work and life, according to a new national survey released today at the 2013 CASEL Forum.
The survey, highlighted in "The Missing Piece," a report by Civic Enterprises with Hart Research for CASEL: Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, also found that teachers believe social and emotional skills can be taught, and that the development of those skills in all students should take far more priority in U.S. schools and state learning standards than they do today. The most comprehensive SEL research report of late, "The Missing Piece: A National Teacher Survey on How Social and Emotional Learning Can Empower Children and Transform Schools" is the centerpiece of a bi-annual gathering of national education leaders. Continue. Download full report.
Teens' Brains Are More Sensitive to Rewarding Feedback from Peers
Teenagers are risk-takers -- they're more likely than children or adults to experiment with illicit substances, have unprotected sex, and drive recklessly. But research shows that teenagers have the knowledge and ability to make competent decisions about risk, just like adults. So what explains their risky behavior?
...Teens spend an increasing amount of time with their peers, and the feedback they get from their friends and classmates may tune the brain's reward system to be more sensitive to the reward value of risky behavior. This sensitivity leads teens to focus on the short-term benefits of risky choices over the long-term value of safe alternatives. The brain's cognitive control system, which helps to "put the brakes" on risky behavior, matures more gradually. More.
Baton Rouge Struggles to Keep Control of Schools
Efforts to create a new school district and reshuffle student assignments in East Baton Rouge Parish, La., have set off a heated conversation between state and district officials about accountability and the future governance of schools in that area. A bill that would allow the creation of a new school district that includes the southeastern part of the city of Baton Rouge-home to many of the 43,000-student district's white and more affluent students-passed the state Senate and the state House of Representatives' education committee earlier this month. Continue.
Chicago Board Votes to Close 49 Elementary Schools
Chicago education officials today approved the largest-scale, single-year closure of public schools of any major school system in the nation, approving the shuttering of 49 elementary schools that are located mostly on the city's impoverished south and west sides. Despite months of protests, a citywide outcry against the closures, and two federal lawsuits, the board-all appointees of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel-voted for the closures after hearing last-minute pleas from parents, teachers, students, and clergy to reject the recommendations from the school system to shut down the schools and shift students to other campuses.
City and district officials say the closings must happen in order to deal with plummeting enrollment and to make progress on improving the struggling school system. Other cities are grappling with similar challenges. Philadelphia, the District of Columbia, and Detroit are also moving this year to shut down large numbers of underenrolled schools to address budget woes and lagging student achievement. Access here. |
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Survey Completion Requests |
Supporting Safe & Healthy Schools: A National Survey of School Counselors, Psychologists, and Social Workers
ACSSW is collaborating with GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) and other prominent national education organizations on a research study of school social workers, counselors, and psychologists, and their roles in creating safe and affirming learning environments for our nation's youth. Your participation in this survey can provide us with the tools to advocate for safer schools, strengthen school-based health and mental health services, and raise awareness to the important role that social workers play in students' healthy development.
If you are currently employed as a school social worker working with middle and/or high school students, please share your perspectives and experiences with us. You work with students each day who may benefit from the results of this survey! While this is a very busy time of year for school social workers, please carve out a few minutes to help us gather this important information. Survey participation is completely voluntary, and should only take about 20 minutes of your time. Be assured that your participation is confidential. Access survey and scroll to bottom of page to begin.
Smith College Study on SSW Practice
Sarah Wettenstein, a student at Smith College School for Social Work in Northampton, MA, is conducting a research study about how school social workers practice and the different types of interventions they use. In particular, she is interested in looking at the barriers to participation in different kinds of school social work practice.
This is yet another opportunity to inform the school social work and related educational communities about the profession! It costs nothing but your time--which often is in short supply. But original research about what we do and how we do it is so very important. Please assist in this research by learning about the project or, for more information, email Sarah or call 860-604-1204. |
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Webinars | |
Using Youth Courts as a Supportive School Discipline Practice
Wednesday, May 29th, 3-4:30 pm ET
The Webinar will feature Ms. Nancy Fishman, Project Director for the Center for Court Innovation's Youth Justice Programs, who will introduce the concept of youth courts and discuss various youth court models currently used in schools. She will be joined by Ms. Lorrie Hurckes, Assistant Director and Youth Court Coordinator with the Dane County TimeBank. Ms. Hurckes will share Madison, Wisconsin's unique approach to youth courts in schools, which builds on the success of the national TimeBank model for exchanging time and services in the community. The Webinar will also feature Ms. Kate Spaulding, who oversees the Pima Prevention Partnership's (Tucson, Arizona) Teen Court in the Schools (TCIS) program. She will discuss TCIS' models of peer-led court proceedings and highlight the program's success in Tucson-area high schools. Register.
Archived
Creating Trauma Sensitive Schools
In collaboration with the IDEA Partnership, the Quality and Evidence Base Practice (QEBP) Practice Group hosted a webinar on Wednesday April 17, 2013 titled "Creating Trauma Sensitive Schools" that featured two presentations. The first presentation featured Nic Dibble from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction who shared how Wisconsin is building on existing mental health initiatives to use a Response to Intervention (RtI) framework to help schools support students affected by trauma. Mr. Dibble shared resources including Wisconsin's toolkit for schools, links to publications and websites that describe how schools can become more trauma-informed, and specific strategies schools can adopt to be more trauma-sensitive. The second presentation featured Erin Butts from the University of Montana Institute for Educational Research and Service who discussed secondary traumatic stress (STS), burnout, and self-care. She identified STS signs and symptoms, discussed their significance, and provided recommendations for self-care. Her presentation included an interactive exercise that can be used during stressful situations. The webinar recording as well as the powerpoint. Please note that the webinar recording started a few minutes late so the introduction and first few slides were not audio recorded. The PowerPoint slides include the entire presentation. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Comprehensive School Mental Health: A Partnership Among Families, Schools, and Communities (A PDF)
In a webinar sponsored by the Maryland Coalition of Families for Children's Mental Health (MCF), CSMH Co-Directors Nancy Lever, Ph.D and Sharon Hoover Stephan, Ph.D. hosted a webinar titled Comprehensive School Mental Health: A partnership among families, schools, and communities on March 11, 2013. Since 1995, the National Center for School Mental Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine has been working to promote successful policies and programs to advance school mental health in the United States. The recent school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut has heightened the nation's awareness of the vulnerability of our children and communities to violent actions. However, it is important that we not respond by merely addressing security in schools. Rather, we must attend to comprehensive school mental health - promoting students' social-emotional learning, mental health and positive school climate; early screening and identification of youth mental health concerns; and effective school-based prevention and intervention. In this webinar, presenters discussed what comprehensive school mental health is and the role of families and schools in their partnership to address children's mental health. PDF here.
Free Podcast
Memories and experiences from childhood can have good and bad long-term effects on a person's physical and emotional well-being. A recent CDC study in five states found that more than half of respondents reported some type of adverse childhood experience that continues to affect them today. In this podcast, Dr. Valerie Edwards discusses the lingering effects of adverse childhood experiences. Access here. |
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Grants & Funding | |
Champion Creatively Alive Children
Crayola Creative Leadership Grants 2013
Crayola, in collaboration with the National Association of Elementary School Principals, is accepting applications for the 2013 Creative Leadership Grant program. The program will award up to twenty grants of $2,500 to elementary schools working to develop a team of leaders who can help increase arts-infused education within school and beyond. In addition, each program will receive an in-kind grant of Crayola products valued at $1,000.
Applications will only be accepted from principals who are members of NAESP. Every school that submits an application by June 10 will receive a Crayola product Classpack. Click to access application. Deadline: June 21, 2013.
NEA Foundation-Nickelodean Big Help Grant
Sponsored by Nickelodeon and the NEA Foundation, NEA Foundation-Nickelodeon Big Help Grants provide up to $5,000 to K-8 public school educators in the United States. The Big Help Grants program is dedicated to the development and implementation of ideas, techniques, and approaches to addressing four key concerns - environmental awareness, health and wellness, students' right to a quality public education, and active community involvement. The grants target these four concerns as areas of great promise in helping students in the twenty-first century develop a global awareness that encourages and enables them to make a difference in their world. Applicants must be practicing U.S public school teachers or public school education support professional. The application process is the same as for the NEA Foundation's Student Achievement grants. Applicants should specify that their request is for the Big Help Grants program in their application. Application deadline is June 1, 2013. Link to RFP. |
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SSW Job Links |
Coney Island, NY Cumberland, RI Danbury, CT Des Plaines, IL Elmhurst, IL Fayetteville, NC Flint, MI Fort Lee, NJ Henrico, VA Johnston, IA
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ACSSW Activities | |
ACSSW's present activities include:
- supporting 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,
- designing professional development opportunities that address current issues and real job challenges. Watch for details to come.
- staying on top of national educational reforms and trends.
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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