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School Social Work NOW!
Supporting Innovative Practice,
Effective Leadership, and Applied Research
Vol 4, Issue 13
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Happy New Year!!! By now, everyone is back in "the swing of things", rolling into the New Year as though there was no break. Isn't that how it always goes? But even though it's back to routine, there is still time in this school year to take a look at how we can help to better meet the school's goals and how we can best serve our students and families.
No, not a "New Year's Resolution" but, rather, something more enduring, a long-term commitment to continually examine our practice and delivery of services. Do we approach all kids with the same open-mindedness and intent to assist? Do we understand that the cranky teacher may be under some stress unknown to us? Do we really listen to the ideas of others? You are encouraged to think about your practice and commit to improving one or two areas in the next several months. You may find that you become even more effective and in demand!
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NEW ORLEANS!
Why?
- Become a stronger resource for your administrators and colleagues
- Learn new ways to address your district's or parish's goals
- Gain an understanding of national education initiatives and reforms that affect your school's students
- Increase your knowledge base and freshen old skills
- Participate in all-day Psychological First Aid training
- Challenge yourself with new ideas and ways of thinking
- Gain insight into programs that affect student learning
- Network with colleagues from across the country
- Meet and interact with expert presenters on various topics
- Have FUN!
Professionals from across the nation and beyond have been registering for the conference. It is interactive and enriching. The brochure is available online and has information about the hotels as well as the workshops and speakers. (Hotel deadlines are near!!) Register now and check it off your "To Do" list! Discounts are available for teams of 3 or more from the same school/parish/district.
Judith Kullas Shine
President
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Recommended Read for January
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Creating Conflict Resolution with Tough Workplace Adversaries
by Philip Sutton Chard
"...beast management is not about them so much as it is about you." p. 75
Most approaches to workplace conflict rely heavily on rational and "let's be reasonable" methods, such as mediation, crucial conversations, win-win negotiation, and the like. However, in dealing with people with low emotional intelligence, personality disorders, hidden agendas, and dysfunctional communication styles, rational approaches often fail or yield disappointing outcomes. Beast Management picks up where reasonable conflict resolution falls flat. It provides creative and powerful behavioral tactics that will significantly enhance your toolkit for addressing discord with difficult people in the workplace. Metaphorically depicting one's adversaries as "beasts," this book offers simple yet potent techniques for managing conflict when all else fails. Beast Management does not attempt to discredit or replace rational approaches to workplace strife, many of which can be effective when applied with the right kinds of people in appropriate circumstances. Rather, it offers unique methods for saving the day when reason has proven no match for the "beast" in your midst.
available for Kindle or Nook
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From alcohol use on the job to slapping employees, some social work supervisors behave badly. While the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics (1996) guides the everyday professional conduct of social workers, little instruction is provided when it is one's own social work supervisor who is behaving unethically (Corey, Corey, & Callahan, 2003).
This phenomenon does occur, albeit in a minority of cases of ethical dilemmas encountered in social work practice. Navigating ethical dilemmas can be difficult, but it is made much more complex when one's own boss is behaving badly. This study presents six types of supervisor-instigated ethical dilemmas, and utilizes descriptive qualitative analysis to outline how each was navigated. Practitioners and students can benefit from learning how dilemmas involving a supervisor were handled, and thus acquire skills better to manage such complex experiences. More.
This study considered out-of-school suspensions of African American children from the perspectives of their caregivers... Nationally, black children are three times more likely than white children to be suspended (Losen, 2011)... Suspensions are associated with lower educational achievement and have been implicated in the racial achievement gap (Gregory, Skiba, & Noguera, 2010). Yet little attention has been paid to the perspectives of caregivers of African American children who have experienced suspensions. Exploring the culturally specific meanings of suspensions for families provides an important lens for considering how families and schools can work together to promote equal educational opportunities in our pluralistic, racialized society. In this study we asked, How do caregivers of African American children interpret and experience the suspensions of their children? Then, we considered the implications of our findings for engaging parents and educators in addressing children's misbehavior using a collaborative, capacity-building approach. Learn more. |
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App - Psych Drugs Free for a limited time
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Come to NOLA
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SAVE THE DATES!
February 10-11, 2014
NEW ORLEANS!
School Social Workers:
Inspiring HOPE. . .
Advocating for JUSTICE
Learn More Now!
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What Is Social Justice?
Social workers by our adherence to a code of ethics are committed to promoting social justice. Yet, I wonder how many social workers understand what it means to pursue social justice and how many of us are congruent in our understanding of what it means and how we should go about getting results. There are many ways to pursue social justice. . . But how are we doing as a collective enterprise? Are social workers making a difference? Complete article.
Free Guides for School Social Workers
Columbia University Teachers College Press published 4 guides geared to support teachers, administrators, student personnel staff, and parents. For a limited period, and as supplies last, TCP has agreed to provide FREE copies of the guides to social workers and educators working with military kids in schools including: teachers, school administrators, PPS workers, and military parents. School social workers should be aware of this wonderful, time-limited, FREE offer from TCP. Many school social workers will benefit from these guides.
The process is simple. Each individual desiring a free book would need to click on the link, select the type of book s/he desires, and fill out name, mailing address, etc. on the Qualtrix form after selecting the book desired. The book will be mailed in a few weeks.
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Because of their long-term focus, we've all benefited from life-saving advances in areas such as vaccination, CT scanning, antibiotic development - and very many others. It's clear that people who maintain focus on long-term goals can achieve much bigger things than those who jump from idea to idea, or those who give up after the slightest setback. So, how can you keep focus on long-term goals, especially when you have to contend with everyday distractions and other urgent tasks? Read more.
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Abstract: This is a heuristic study of the current prevention and intervention efforts of clinical social workers working with traumatized clients. The purpose of the research was to identify the best mechanisms of prevention and interventions for secondary trauma stress (STS) and vicarious trauma (VT) to develop a systems protocol to shield therapists from the impact of working with traumatized clients. The data was collected through interviews with eight practicing licensed clinical social workers. Findings in this study suggest STS is normal and to be expected if working with traumatized clients and that VT may be prevented. The results of this study indicate that these trauma therapists identified trauma informed clinical supervisors as the most effective intervention, along with consistently practicing an individually determined self-care regime for protection from STS and VT. This study supports the importance of a trauma care system that has a 'culture' that is aware, recognizes and normalizes STS and VT. This research project highlights that it is not the sole responsibility of the trauma therapist to bear the burden of helping traumatized clients but the entire system must work as a team to support the trauma therapist which parallels effective quality services for the client. Full study.
With the expansion of regional and national economies into a global marketplace, education has critical importance as a primary factor in allowing young adults to enter the workforce and advance economically, as well as to share in the social, health, and other benefits associated with education and productive careers. Dropping out of school before completing the normal course of secondary education greatly undermines these opportunities and is associated with adverse personal and social consequences. Completion rates for secondary school vary widely, even across developed countries. To access complete study first click here and then scroll down to PDF link.
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In days gone by, a knock on the door by a teacher or school official used to mean a child was in trouble. Not anymore, at least for parents and students at Clay Elementary School [St. Louis, MO].
The urban public school is one of more than 30 in the St. Louis area that sends teachers on home visits several times a year. Unlike home visit programs that focus on truants and troublemakers, or efforts aimed exclusively at early childhood, the newer wave seeks to narrow the teacher-parent divide while providing glimpses at the factors that shape student learning before and after the school bells ring.
"I wish they had this when I had children in school," said Elmira Warren, a teacher's aide at Clay who has made home visits to her students and their parents. "I was fearful of what the teachers thought, and of not knowing enough." Read about the program.
School Police Should Stay Out of Discipline, Organization Says
Yesterday's first-of-its-kind federal guidance on school discipline included warnings to school district leaders that school resource officers are too frequently pulled into routine disciplinary matters, an action that can spark unnecessary interactions between students and the criminal justice system and lead to overly harsh penalties for nonviolent issues, leaders of the U.S. departments of Education and Justice said. Civil rights groups say the issue, along with overly broad zero-tolerance policies, are major contributors to the "school-to-prison pipeline."
The National Association of School Resource Officers, the nation's largest organization of school-based police officers, agrees with the recommendation that resource officers should stay out of school discipline. More from Education Week.
Louisiana School Voucher Program Needs Better Oversight, Auditor Says
Louisiana's controversial school voucher program doesn't have enough safeguards to ensure participating private schools spend public money properly and educate the students they admit, legislative auditor Daryl Purpera said in a report Monday. . .
In a written response to the new audit, state Education Superintendent John White said his department has already strengthened accounting requirements for voucher schools and will spell out how it approves schools to take significant numbers of new students. However, he disagreed that the program needs to codify its procedures for booting low-performing schools from the program. Continue.
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19th Annual Conference on Advancing School Mental Health
Proposals are now being accepted for the 19th Annual Conference on Advancing School Mental Health to be held September 18-20, 2014 at the Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Downtown in Pittsburgh, PA. Last year, there was an increase in school-employed presenters--school social workers, school psychologists, and school counselors--and this was not only well received but enriched the conference.
The Conference is hosted by the Center for School Mental Health (CSMH) and the IDEA Partnership (funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), sponsored by the National Association of State Directors of Special Education. The theme of the conference is School Mental Health: Enhancing Safe, Supportive and Healthy Schools. The conference features twelve specialty tracks, including one co-facilitated by ACSSW, ASCA and NASP, and also includes a special topic area on funding and sustainability in school mental health. This Annual Conference offers speakers and participants numerous opportunities to advance knowledge and skills related to school mental health practice, research, training, and policy. It emphasizes a shared school-family-community agenda to bring high quality and evidence-based mental health promotion, prevention, and intervention to students and families. The intended audience for the conference includes school mental health providers, clinicians, educators, administrators, youth and family members, researchers, primary care providers, advocates, and other youth-serving professionals.
The deadline for submissions is February 4, 2014.
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Deadline: February 14, 2014, 5 p.m. EST
For more than 65 years, Lowe's has supported the communities we call home. At a time when schools and community groups are struggling to support the basic needs of their communities, the Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation recognizes the importance of financial support. This year, as a foundation, we are challenging ourselves to seek ways to provide the tools that help our educators and parent groups through today's challenging times efficiently, while providing the greatest impact, with basic necessities taking priority.
The Spring 2014 cycle is now open. However, if 1500 applications are received before the application deadline, then the application process will close. Learn more.
Children's Foundation Medical Grants for Children in Need
These grants are designed to cover financial expenses for a child's medical needs beyond a family's health benefit plan. Families can directly apply online for these grants of up to $5,000. Details.
Do Something Seed Grants
Do Something Seed Grants for youth can be used towards project ideas and programs that are just getting started, or to jump-start a program and realize ideas for the first time. These grants can also be used towards projects that are already developed and sustainable, towards the next steps of a project and organization as it looks to expand and grow impact. Maximum award: $500. Eligibility: community projects that are youth-led and driven. Deadline: rolling. Application.
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Leadership Training That Sticks: Lessons Learned Over 21 Years
Thursday, January 16, 2014, 1 p.m. ET - Free
With over 21 years of customizing leadership and management programs for hundreds of clients - and training thousands of leaders and managers - we know what works, and what doesn't when it comes to making leadership and management programs "stick". Many leadership and management programs are events that come and go with little impact on the organization. However, when a leadership development program "sticks," productivity improves, innovation increases, leadership emerges, and employee engagement and loyalty soars!
In this short webinar, we will share five characteristics that increase the "sticky-ness" of your leadership program, moving it from an event to an effective, culture-defining initiative. . . We will provide real-world examples and tips for increasing the "sticky-ness" of your leadership and/or management development program. Info and Registration.
archived
Group mentoring is an increasingly popular strategy for providing positive relationships and activities to youth in need. In fact, over 20% of youth mentoring programs offer some form of group mentoring, while a survey of American volunteers finds that over half say they work with more than one young person at a time. But compared to one-to-one mentoring, the research on the group approach is still emerging, and programs often wonder when group mentoring might be the right fit and how to implement these models for maximum effectiveness. Access online.
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