The Domains and Demands of School Social Work Practice: A Guide to Working Effectively with Students, Families and Schools

by Michael S Kelly

Overview

School social work enters its second century as a profession still conflicted about its central mission. Are school social workers meant to be "in-house" clinicians providing services to kids in need, or are they meant to be involved in program development to enhance the social and emotional learning of all students in a school? How much time should they devote to serving whole families, or consulting with teachers? Whatever school social workers claim to do in their schools, it's clear that they are going to have to prove that they are effective doing it. The demands of federal legislation like No Child Left Behind and state requirements for certification are making it increasingly necessary that school social workers demonstrate that they are highly qualified school-based mental health and social service professionals who can demonstrate outcomes that impact school "bottom line" issues like student achievement, attendance, and behavior. Rather than recoil from this pressure, school social workers can utilize the skills of evidence based practice (EBP) to help them enhance both their effectiveness and their knowledge of interventions that work to help students, teachers, parents, and staff in school contexts. A succinct SSWAA Workshop volume, The Domains and Demands of School Social Work Practice demonstrates how EBP can be integrated into school social worker's daily practice, advancing the debate about where social workers can and should intervene, and how to do so effectively. Highlighting primary clinical issues, family problems, and school-wide needs faced by school social workers, it helps practitioners make the best use of evidence to be flexible, effective advocates at all levels of practice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190451134
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/14/2008
Series:	SSWAA Workshop Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Chapter 1 Introduction: School Social Work in the 21st Century-Making Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) Work in School Social Work Practice 3

Chapter 2 A Short Chapter on EBP 15

Chapter 3 Surveying the Landscape of School Social Work Practice: What Are We doing, and Why? 31

Chapter 4 Where to Intervene, and How? The Debate Over the Best Treatment Options for School Social Workers to Use 55

Chapter 5 Why Johnny Needs Help: The Most Common Clinical Issues School Social Workers Face 71

Chapter 6 EBP, Special Education, and Response to Intervention (RTI): How RTI Could Reshape School Social Work Practice to Become (Hopefully) More Effective and Evidence Based 95

Chapter 7 Helping Families and School Communities: EBP in Action 103

Chapter 8 EBP Is Just the Beginning: Defining a National School Social Work Practice and Research Agenda 121

References 127

Index 139

Editorial Reviews

"The book's effective organization, contemporary examples, and coherent procedures for executing EBP make it an exceptional read for any school social worker."—School Social Work Journal

From the Publisher