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School Social Work NOW!
Supporting Innovative Practice,
Effective Leadership, and Applied Research
Vol 4, Issue 20
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A request from school social work researcher, Professor Kerry Vandergrift, came to us. This represents an opportunity to assist in an area of research that is often overlooked--and in which we are not often included. If you work with ELL students or have an interest in them, please respond to this survey.
from Dr. Vandergrift:
You are invited to participate in a research study about school social worker perspectives on English language learners, administered by Dr. Kerry Fay Vandergrift at the Radford University School of Social Work. This online survey will take about 20 minutes and at the end of the survey you may choose to be entered into a drawing to win one of two $25 or one $50 Amazon gift cards. The survey has questions about your experiences with and knowledge of working with ELLs, resources, and your school. You do need to have a BSW or an MSW to participate, and over 18, but do not need to have any ELLs enrolled in your school. Feel free to share the link with other school social workers! Please click here (or copy and paste the following link into your browser:
http://radford.qualtrics.com//SE/?SID=SV_eR0WYOemVTTB79P )
to begin the survey. The survey will close April 18.
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Please spread the word! ACSSW is very pleased to offer an opportunity for any school social worker to earn 1.5 FREE CEUs due to ACSSW's sponsorship of an excellent program:
Plan, Prepare, Prevent: The SOS Online
Gatekeeper Training Module
The SOS Signs of Suicide® Prevention Program is an award winning, nationally recognized program designed for middle and high school-age students. The program teaches students how to identify the symptoms of depression and suicidality in themselves or their friends, and encourages help-seeking through the use of the ACT® technique (Acknowledge, Care, Tell).
The Middle and High School SOS Programs also include gatekeeper training tools. Plan, Prepare, Prevent: The SOS Online Gatekeeper Training Module is a 90-minute interactive course providing in-depth suicide prevention education and guidance on implementation of the SOS Program. This course is available free to school social workers. With sponsorship from ACSSW, all learners will receive 1.5 contact hours upon completion. Click to Learn More. To register call 781-239-0071 or email SOS Registration and mention that you'd like to register.
Judith Kullas Shine
President
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Recommended Read for March
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Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys
 by Dan Kindlon, PhD, & Michael Thompson, PhD
Amazon: Kindlon and Thompson make a compelling case that emotional literacy is the most valuable gift we can offer our sons, urging parents to recognize the price boys pay when we hold them to an impossible standard of manhood. They identify the social and emotional challenges that boys encounter in school and show how parents can help boys cultivate emotional awareness and empathy--giving them the vital connections and support they need to navigate the social pressures of youth.
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2nd National School Social Work Survey
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Do you have 20 minutes to advance the profession of school social work?
The 2nd National School Social Work Survey is underway. This important survey has two broad aims:
(1) to collect current data from the largest number of practicing SSWs; and
(2) to use that data to enhance our professional development and training.
This data can inform policy- and decision-makers at all levels, local to federal. Your input is essential. If you can't complete the survey in one sitting, you can return to it. Please participate. We need many, many more responses. Click:
National SSW Survey
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Once again, social work is wrestling with the tension between cause and function--how much resources and energy should be devoted to addressing the structural causes of what ails society's most vulnerable citizens versus efforts to help these citizens cope with their various sets of circumstances. What is encouraging is this appears to a credible effort to systematically examine the state of macro practice and arrive at some proposals for real change. Read more.
Students who are defiant or non-compliant can be among the most challenging to teach. They can frequently interrupt instruction, often do poorly academically, and may show little motivation to learn. There are no magic strategies for managing the behaviors of defiant students. However, research shows that certain techniques tend to work best with these children and youth...While you can never predict what behaviors your students might bring into your classroom, you will usually achieve the best outcomes by remaining calm, following pre-planned intervention strategies for misbehavior, and acting with consistency and fairness when intervening with or disciplining students. Click here for strategies to use with these students. |
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Dysregulation is a term which, widely defined, means imbalance. When it is applied to the realm of child mental health, the imbalances that are characterized as dysregulation can come in a variety of developmental arenas. Discerning the particular area of dysregulation with which a child is dealing is critical to providing skills training or other interventions to bring that area into balance. Read full article.
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.
Would You Like to Participate in Field Research of the NEW BASC-3?
Pearson is currently developing the Behavior Assessment System for Children-3 (BASC-3) and is seeking professionals to aid in field testing. Accepted examiners will be recruiting children and young adults to be assessed with BASC-3 and other rating forms as part of the Standardization. Enroll as an examiner now to ensure your place in this exciting project. Click here to learn more.
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Big decisions usually come after a considerable amount of research - discussions about the options available, about the criteria for choosing between them, and about the pros and cons of each possible choice. These kinds of investigations can take months. After you and others have invested so much time in choosing the best option, the last thing you'll often want to do is reject the whole idea, and stay with things as they are now. But is going ahead actually the best thing to do? Or has the environment changed since you first started considering the change, so that your preferred option is no longer worth going ahead with? Understand more.
What Makes a Leader Effective? U.S. Boomers, Xers, and Millennials Weigh In
Conventional wisdom suggests that Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials in the United States are fundamentally different from one another. And certainly there are real differences - including the way we dress, the way we consume information, the music we listen to, and ideas about appropriate personal behavior. Many organizational leaders are anticipating a substantial upheaval in work culture and expectations as more Millennials enter the workforce and more Baby Boomers retire. But will there need to be wholesale changes in how leaders need to behave to be effective? To better understand the generational dynamics at work, we asked a cross section of leaders what they think makes a leader effective. What we found is that - when it comes to leadership - the generations are more alike than different. Complete report.
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Following widespread recognition that many interventions found to be effective in health services research are not implemented into real world service contexts, attention has turned to models and studies of implementation and behavior change that can inform the process...This research has identified barriers...and facilitators...to implementation, and factors that likely play a role in implementation success or lack thereof...
According to a review of the commonalities of successfully implemented practices and programs (Fixsen et al., 2005), practitioner training is considered to be one of seven core components of implementation. Along with staff selection, consultation and coaching, performance evaluation, program evaluation, facilitative administrative supports, and system interventions, practitioner training works withthese other elements as interactive implementation drivers. Continue.
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USC Offers Summer Program Opportunity to Military-Connected Students
April 1 Deadline
The USC Provost is offering eight four-week scholarships to its on-campus Summer Program for high school students who have a parent that is an active or veteran U.S. service member.
To qualify for the 2014 Provost's Pre-College Summer Scholarship for Military High School Students, students must currently be in 10th, 11th or 12th grade and must demonstrate academic ability, maturity and a commitment to education and developing community.
The USC Office of Continuing Education and Summer Programs, which is part of the Provost's office, will cover all expenses, including tuition, fees, airfare, room and board and course materials.
USC's Summer Program offers a wide range of subject areas and offers students a chance to preview freshman year at one of the the world's leading private research universities.
Completed applications, which are available here, as well as supplemental materials, must be postmarked by Tuesday, April 1. For additional information, email Sonny Hayes or call between 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific time at (213) 740-5679.
In May 2011, Mt. Diablo High School in Concord, CA, hired social worker Deonne Wesley to coordinate a grant from the U.S. Department of Education Safe and Supportive Schools program. The program was set up to "create and support safe and drug-free learning environments and to increase academic success for students in these high-risk schools". It took a year for California to lay the foundation for the program, and another year for each of the 58 participating school districts to hire staff.
The good news: The program is teaching kids how to change their behavior so that they stop fighting...The bad news: The grant runs out in 2014, at the end of this school year. Next school year, Mt. Diablo won't have peer mediators or a drug counselor. Read more.
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Demystifying the Language in Medicaid
March 10, 2014, 3-4 pm ET
The IDEA Partnership and the Learning the Language Practice Group of the National Community of Practice on School Mental Health will be hosting a free one hour webinar on the language in Medicaid. The goal of the presentation is to help understand and access mental health services by simplifying and clarifying Medicaid language, history, and process. The presentation will review terminology and types of reimbursement and include vignettes, audience polling, and sample documents. Please join us! Click here for registration and access details.
SAMHSA launched the Girls Matter! webinar series to discuss challenges, opportunities, and strategies for supporting adolescent girls. Professionals working with adolescents will have a chance to learn more about the unique needs of girls ages 12-18, and how those needs impact their behavioral health and development. Each month, Girls Matter! features a free 90-minute webinar, which covers a related behavioral health topic. Review archived webinars and register for the next 4. Next webinar is April 22nd.
Archived
The CSMH and the IDEA Partnership presented a webinar, School Mental Health: A Federal Perspective, on January 30, 2014. Following the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, the President put forward a number of initiatives aimed at making schools and communities safer and to increase access to mental health services in his plan, Now is the Time. As he said, "We won't be able to stop every violent act, but if there is even one thing we can do to prevent any of these events, we have a deep obligation, all of us, to try." This webinar provided an overview of federal efforts that have already been put in place, as well as those that have been proposed for the upcoming years. Presenters David Esquith, Director for the Office of Safe and Healthy Students (OSHS) Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), U.S. Department of Education, and Ingrid Donato, Branch Chief, Mental Health Promotion, Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), provided participants with information about other existing federal initiatives to prevent youth violence and promote positive student outcomes. Strategies that support students, schools, and communities as well as the importance of cross-system partnerships were highlighted. The webinar recording is available as well as the PowerPoint. Access here.
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Kohl's Cares
Kohl's is seeking nominations for its Kohl's Cares Program of young people who have made a difference in their communities. Maximum award: $10,000 in scholarships. Eligibility: Students between the ages of 6 and 18 as of March 15, 2014, and not yet high school graduates; each must be nominated by someone 21 years or older. Deadline: March 15, 2014. More info here.
The Libri 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: May 15, 2014. Details.
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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