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School Social Work NOW!
Supporting Innovative Practice,
Effective Leadership, and Applied Research
Vol 4, Issue 34
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Deadline fast approaching!
ACSSW is still accepting Call for Proposals submissions for the 4th National School Mental Health Institute, January 26-27, 2015 in fabulous New Orleans (NOLA). Submission deadline is August 15th.
You are strongly encouraged to consider submitting the form and sharing your wisdom, knowledge, and practice experience with your colleagues from across the country.
It is the experience of practitioners that "makes or breaks" the theories and provides other practitioners with ideas and thoughts that can be applied to their own practices. All submissions will be considered. Do it today. The 15th is sneaking up on you!
ACSSW is working with the Schools of Social Work at Tulane University and Louisiana State University to once again make this an informative and practical event. So, save the dates--January 26 and 27, 2015! Pre-registration is available at Registration.
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On October 6th, ACSSW will also be hosting its 2nd annual, multidisciplinary, Wisconsin-based Mental Health in Schools Institute. Check out the WI Mental Health in Schools Brochure to view the topics which include: child maltreatment and related trauma treatment, anxiety and school refusal, boundaries/ethics and technology, Signs of Suicide Program, bullying prevention, assisting students in military families, managing conflict in the workplace, violence assessment, and more! Register today. Seating is limited.
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Thank you to everyone who responded to our invitation to work on a leadership project. We have tremendously talented people who are interested in learning more and sharing their talents!
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For some, the summer break is quickly coming to a close. If you haven't already, be sure to engage in some activities that restore your soul and energize your body!!
Judith Kullas Shine
President
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 How to Integrate Social-Emotional Learning into Common Core
Do the Common Core Standards undermine social-emotional learning?
Many educators think so. In a recent Ed Week op-ed, an elementary principal argued that teachers were too busy teaching Common Core to address the social-emotional development of their students. I've heard the same argument from many teachers. This is troubling given that researchers strongly suggest that the learning process is 50 percent social-emotional and 50 percent cognitive.
Yet when I read through the Standards, I quickly realized that social-emotional skills are implicitly embedded in the Standards-whether or not teachers, school leaders, policy-makers, or even the creators of the Common Core realize it. In other words, for students to successfully meet the Standards, they must possess social-emotional skills. More.
Resource from ACSSW Member, Nic Dibble
The UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools has created an annotated list of empirically supported and evidence-based interventions organized into these areas:
- universal focus on promoting healthy development;
- prevention of problems and promotion of health factors;
- early intervention - targeted focus on specific problems or at-risk groups;
- treatment for problems; and
- review, consensus statements, compendia of evidence-based treatments.
You can find this document by clicking here.
The Center also has created a brief that summarizes evidence-based research in six areas That document can be accessed by here.
What Is Blended Learning?
Defining hybrid or blended education is a trickier task than one might think-opinions vary wildly on the matter. In a report on the merits and potential of blended education, the Sloan Consortium defined hybrid courses as those that "integrate online with traditional face-to-face class activities in a planned, pedagogically valuable manner." Educators probably disagree on what qualifies as "pedagogically valuable," but the essence is clear: Hybrid education uses online technology to not just supplement, but transform and improve the learning process. That does not mean a professor can simply start a chat room or upload lecture videos and say he is leading a hybrid classroom. Continue. |
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If you asked 10 entrepreneurs about which management style they found the most effective, you'd likely come back with 10 distinct answers, each as unique as the entrepreneur that provided them. While no one management style is ideal or applicable to every business, it's important to be mindful of what management style is used in yours. Identifying your management style means taking inventory of how you approach your business, especially in regards to employee interaction and crisis management. Knowing your management type can help you change it if necessary, as certain circumstances may call for such a shift. Learn more.
Ultimately, managers who fail to delegate tasks also involve themselves too closely in what should be the responsibility of their staff. While a micromanager may not feel they are being controlling, there are some sure signs that their perfectionism may be hurting rather than helping. You or a member of your management team may be a micromanager if you engage in any of [these behaviors]. More.
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The U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics,, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, has released "Indicators of School Crime and Safety 2013." This annual report provides the most recent data on school crime and student safety. The indicators in this report are based on a variety data sources, including national surveys of students, teachers, principals, and post-secondary institutions. Topics covered include victimization at school, teacher injury, bullying and cyberbullying, school conditions, fights, weapons, availability and student use of drugs and alcohol, and student perceptions of personal safety at school. Complete report.
Zero-tolerance Disciplinary Policies: Influence of Student, School and Infraction Characteristics on Suspensions and Expulsions
Research findings "Zero tolerance" disciplinary policies arose in the late 1980s and early 1990s in response to perceptions of rising school violence. The concept was simple: Students who committed certain infractions were to be expelled or given out-of-school suspension regardless of individual circumstances...Recently, however, parents, school districts, policymakers and academics have begun to question the wisdom of such inflexible policies - highlighted by cases such as a 6-year-old child's being suspended for bringing his Cub Scout camping utensil to show off in class. A 2006 report by an American Psychological Association task force examined 10 years of scholarly research on school discipline and concluded, "schools are not any safer or more effective in disciplining children than before these zero tolerance policies were implemented in the mid 1980s." They have also been shown to increase dropout rates and reduce academic achievement. Read more.
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October 6, 2014
A multi-professional perspective
Pewaukee, WI
January 26-27, 2015
ACSSW National Institute on
Mental Health in Schools for School Social Workers
New Orleans, LA
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Recommended Read for June-July
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An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness
by Kay Redfield Jamison
Dr. Jamison is one of the foremost authorities on manic-depressive (bipolar) illness; she has also experienced it firsthand. For even while she was pursuing her career in academic medicine, Jamison found herself succumbing to the same exhilarating highs and catastrophic depressions that afflicted many of her patients, as her disorder launched her into ruinous spending sprees, episodes of violence, and an attempted suicide.
Here Jamison examines bipolar illness from the dual perspectives of the healer and the healed, revealing both its terrors and the cruel allure that at times prompted her to resist taking medication. An Unquiet Mind is a memoir of enormous candor, vividness, and wisdom--a deeply powerful book that has both transformed and saved lives.
This book will help you understand what it feels like to be bi-polar and how persons with this disorder think and why they so frequently go on/off their medication.
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Free 1.5 CEUs for School Social Workers
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). 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.
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.
Helping Traumatized Children Learn, vol. 1 & 2, are available for purchase or free download on the website. Click here to learn more about this.
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School Social Work Positions
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Continued - listed by state abbreviation
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Mt. Diablo, CA
Connecticut (various)
Washington, DC
Chicago, IL
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Dearborn Heights, MI
Grand Rapids, MI
Harper Woods, MI
Santa Fe, NM
Carson City, NV
Ohio Univ Assist/Assoc/Full Prof-Athens, OH
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Lancaster, PA
Austin, TX
Georgetown,TX
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... A closer look at restorative justice in action reveals the challenges the city [New York] is likely to face in spreading these programs. The schools currently using restorative approaches tend to be small, young, and emphasize social-emotional learning. Educators at these schools say the programs are essential to creating a safer, more respectful environment. But for an expansion to work, other schools must commit to rethinking the "why" and "how" of school discipline.
"Restorative justice is about creating new systems where we're building relationships," said Anne Looser, a special education teacher at the Urban Assembly Bronx Academy of Letters, which has a restorative justice program. "We're putting supports into place so young people don't get lost." Read more.
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August 6, 2014, 1-2:30 ET
When parents and youth understand the link between good attendance and their hopes and dreams for the future, they are motivated to do whatever they can to get to school every day. When they hear that message from friends, mentors, teachers, counselors, pastors, coaches, doctors, business owners, mayors - in short, the entire community speaking with one voice - it can have a tremendous impact on student attendance.
Join Hedy Chang, Director of Attendance Works, and a cross-section of speakers as they discuss how to engage youth and parents authentically in building a local culture of attendance, as well as share strategies for how to rally leaders from every walk of life to speak in unison during Attendance Awareness Month. This webinar will also feature the newest resources from Attendance Works including our teacher toolkit, Teaching Attendance, our principal toolkit, Leading Attendance and a new video tailored for parents of young children. Don't miss out on this free webinar! Register.
Archived
School Mental Health: A Federal Perspective
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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