Dear Colleagues:

The use of Title IV-E funding to support social work education programs is an important strategy for preparing BSW and MSW students to pursue child welfare careers.  Over time we know that there are changes in the status of the IV-E supported educational partnerships. Therefore, I am inviting you to complete a brief survey to gather information on the current status and implementation of Title IV-E funding in BSW and MSW programs. This research project is being carried out by the Social Work Policy Institute of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). Through your participation, we hope to understand the current status of Title IV-E partnerships and their evolution.  We hope that the results of the survey will be useful for examining the policy’s impact on social work education programs and on the public child welfare workforce.

The short questionnaire asks a variety of questions about your Title IV-E program.  Please complete the questionnaire on-line or you can request a hard copy from jzlotnik@naswdc.org.  Hard copies should be returned to NASW; ATTN: Joan Zlotnik via email (jzlotnik@naswdc.org) or via FAX, 202 336 8292. It should take you about 20-25 minutes to complete. The results of this project will be analyzed and written up in a formal report.

There is minimal risk to you if you decide to participate in this survey and your responses will not be identified with you personally. Information that identifies you will not be provided to anyone outside our research group which consists of Dr. Joan Levy Zlotnik, and Jessica Pryce, MSW.  Your participation is voluntary and there is no penalty if you do not participate. If you have any questions or concerns about completing the questionnaire or about this information gathering effort you may email Dr. Joan Zlotnik at jzlotnik@naswdc.org. You may also contact the researcher at JessPryce@gmail.com. This project has been approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of NASW.

Thank you for your participation.

Sincerely,

Joan Levy Zlotnik, PhD, ACSW
Director, NASW Social Work Policy Institute

Social Services in Cuba

In early 2011 NASW sponsored two professional research trips to Cuba to learn about social services in health care, child welfare, and aging. This report describes the activities of both social work delegations and information learned from the experience.

NASW Leads Delegations To Cuba

The country of Cuba, only 90 miles from Florida and a once-common destination for U.S. tourists, has been inaccessible to most Americans since the U.S. embargo of Cuba began in 1962.  With the Obama administration’s recent easing of travel restrictions to Cuba, more Americans have been able to experience the island through educational and cultural tours. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) sponsored two professional research trips to Cuba in early 2011. The first delegation focused on health and child welfare services (February) and the second on social services for older adults (March). Each delegation met special licensing requirements established by the U.S. Department of Commerce for travel to Cuba.

Click here for the full report.

Investing in the Social Work Workforce,

Presentations included

• SOCIAL WORK WORKFORCE – SHIFTING THE CONTEXT
  (Tracy Whitaker,  NASW Center for Workforce Studies & Social Work Practice)
• FEDERAL STRATEGIES AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR WORKFORCE CAPACITY BUILDING
  (Diana Espinosa, Bureau of Health Professions and Clare Anderson, Administration on Children, Youth and Families)
• SOCIAL WORK, CMS AND HEALTH CARE REFORM – NEW OPPORTUNITIES & ACCOUNTABILITY
  (Allan Dobson, Dobson|DaVanzo)
• SOCIAL WORK, CMS AND HEALTH CARE REFORM – NEW OPPORTUNITIES & ACCOUNTABILITY
  (Asua Ofosu, NASW and Wendy Naus, Council on Social Work Education)
• RESPONSE – FROM THE FRONT-LINE
  (Uma Ahluwalia, Montgomery County)
• RESPONSE – FROM AN INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVE
  (Cheri Latimer, Case Management Society of America).

This report is the 4^th major report released by the Social Work Policy Institute.  For more information view the Publications, Research and News/Events on the Social Work Policy Institute website, www.socialworkpolicy.org.

WASHINGTON, D.C.  //March 31, 2011// Every day a child in the U.S. dies from child abuse and neglect.  In many instances, these horrific deaths could be prevented.

Every day, public child welfare employees, many of whom are professional social workers, witness some of the most difficult challenges facing families. They are charged with investigating, and intervening, when children are exposed to drugs, sexual abuse and countless other forms of family violence and neglect.

No two cases are the same, and no two workers are exactly alike. Yet policy makers and the public demand immediate and uniform corrective action when the unthinkable occurs; and supervisors are accountable.

To better understand the complex and crucial role supervisors play in the child welfare system, the NASW Social Work Policy Institute (SWPI) has published its final report from the November 2010 national symposium, “Supervision: The Safety Net for Frontline Child Welfare Practice.”

According to NASW, child welfare supervisors are expected to be:

• highly skilled practitioners who can implement ethical and culturally competent practices that result in improved outcomes for children and families
• mentors to frontline workers, many of whom do not have formal social work training
• actively involved in their communities
• skilled at transmitting agency policies and evaluating performance
• exemplary leaders who help others cope with the stress and trauma of the work

However, real world child welfare practice indicates that it is very difficult to be effective in each of these roles simultaneously, and nearly impossible to find all these attributes in one individual.

Experts from all areas of the child welfare system—federal, state and local leaders, public agencies, as well as private non-profits—conclude in this report that the lack of program research, consistent tools, adequate workplace supports and best practice models, coupled with repetitive experiences of trauma, service and resource gaps, and inconsistent hiring qualifications all contribute to troubling outcomes for children and overburdened foster care systems.

“We have reached an important crossroads in our country,” says Joan Levy Zlotnik, PhD, ACSW, director of the NASW Social Work Policy Institute. “As a society, we have increasingly high expectations of the system but we do not invest in the very innovations needed to keep up with service demand.”

Recent child death cases in New York, Florida, Oklahoma and Ohio have made it clear that new commitments to ensure better training and high quality supervision in child welfare are worth larger national discussions.

The full report, “The Safety Net for Frontline Child Welfare Practice,” can be found at www.socialworkpolicy.org.

To watch video presentations from the November 18, 2010 symposium, please click here.

Supervision: The Safety Net for Front-Line Child Welfare Practice Report

The quality of the direct services provided to children and families, the positive outcomes of service delivery, the successful recruitment and retention of workers, and the ability of child welfare organizations to function in times of change and stress depend on the recognition, development and affirmation of supervisors as crucial organizational and community leaders (National Child Welfare Workforce Institute [NCWWI] Leadership Academy for Supervisors [LAS], 2010).

To further our understanding of the complex and crucial role of supervisors in child welfare, the Social Work Policy Institute (SWPI) of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) convened an invitational symposium, Supervision: The Safety Net for Front-Line Child Welfare Practice, on November 18, 2010. It was planned in conjunction with the NASW Center for Workforce Studies & Social Work Practice and the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI), with Casey Family Programs (CFP) as a contributing partner.

The symposium highlighted the growing evidence that effective supervision is a critical ingredient in addressing child welfare staff retention, organizational culture and climate, culturally competent practice, transmission of evidence-based practices, and child and family outcomes.  It also highlighted the broad array of challenges that today’s child welfare supervisors face in performing their roles. The full report from the symposium, Supervision: The Safety Net for Front-Line Child Welfare Practice including an overview of research on child welfare supervision, and recommendations for action, as well as an Action Brief can be downloaded.

The Social Work Policy Institute is making the two hours of presenters and respondents available so that the social work and child welfare communities can benefit from the important information that was delivered at the symposium.  Social workers will be able to earn continuing education credits (CEUs) from NASW by viewing the video below and purchasing the Supervision: The Safety Net for Front-Line Child Welfare Practice post-test on NASW’s Continuing Education and Training Center.

Part 1

Part 2

The 4 presentations (with accompanying PowerPoint presentations) are:

Highlighting the Evidence-Base for Enhancing Supervision in Child Welfare Practice
Crystal Collins-Camargo,  PhD, MSW, Kent School of Social Work, University of Louisville

Supervising for Racial Equity
Carol W. Spigner, DSW, Associate Professor Emerita and Clinician Educator, School of Social Policy and Practice, University of Pennsylvania

Social Workers in Child Welfare:  Implications for Supervision
Tracy Whitaker, DSW, ACSW, Director, NASW Center for Workforce Studies & Social Work Practice

Supervisors as Leaders: Strategies to Support Knowledge Development and Competence
Mary McCarthy, MSW, PhD, National Child Welfare Workforce Institute, School of Social Welfare. University at Albany, SUNY)

Click on the links above to download the presentations and view the speaker biographies.

The Discussants used their practice, policy, academic, administrative, consultation and front-line experiences to comment on the presentations and bring their perspectives about supervision to the symposium.  The Discussants are

• Marva Hammons, MSW, Managing Director, Strategic Consulting, Casey Family Programs
• Agnes Leshner, MS, Director, Child Welfare Services, Department of Human Services,  Montgomery County, MD
• Peter Vaughan, PhD, Dean, Graduate School of Social Service,    Fordham University
• Roxana Torrico Meruvia, MSW, Senior Practice Associate, NASW Center for Workforce Studies and Practice
• Download the executive brief and the full report from the symposium.

Speaker Biographies

Crystal Collins-Camargo, MSW, PhD

Assistant Professor, University of Louisville Kent School of Social Work
crystal.collinscamargo@louisville.edu
Crystal Collins-Camargo teaches in the masters program at the University of Louisville Kent School of Social Work, specializing in child welfare, supervision and social policy.  Dr. Collins-Camargo directed the Southern Regional Quality Improvement Center for Child Protection, which worked in a ten state region to promote knowledge development through research and demonstration projects focusing on the impact of clinical supervision on agency and client outcomes in child welfare as well as forge public agency/university partnerships. She conducts applied research in child welfare and juvenile court systems using collaborative, participatory approaches to engage practitioners in social work and other fields in developing knowledge to promote practice improvement. She was formerly program director for Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky, and worked in the public child protection system as a worker, supervisor and statewide specialist.  Dr. Collins-Camargo holds a BSW degree from Cornell University and MSW and PhD degrees from the University of Kentucky.

Marva Hammons, MSW

Managing Director of Strategic Consulting, Casey Family Programs
mhammons@casey.org
Marva Hammons joined Casey Family Programs in 2007 as its first Managing Director of Strategic Consulting. She is one of the leads for the organization’s consulting work designed to support and partner with state and local child welfare jurisdictions to improve outcomes for child victims of abuse or neglect.  Casey Family Programs strategic consulting service proactively seeks ways to assess and support systems improvement in organizations and agencies providing child welfare services throughout the United States.

Before joining Casey Family Programs, Hammons was executive director of the Colorado Department of Human Services, executive director of the Family Independence Agency for the State of Michigan, Commissioner for New York City’s Human Resources Administration   Manager of the Denver, Colorado Department of Human Services. Hammons also served in the administration of Denver Colorado Mayor Federico Pena and on the policy staff of Colorado Governor Richard Lamm.  Hammons has served as president of the Board of Directors for the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City.  She is a graduate of the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government’s program for senior government executives and has taught at the University of Denver, Graduate School of Social Work and Denver’s Metropolitan State College.

Agnes Leshner, MS

Director, Child Welfare Services, Montgomery County, Maryland
Agnes.leshner@montgomerymd.gov
Agnes Leshner has been director of Montgomery County Maryland’s Child Welfare Services for 20 years.  Her staff of over 160 social workers provides an array of services to children and families, including investigations of reported child abuse and neglect, family preservation, kinship care, foster care, adoption, and foster home finding.

Previously, Ms. Leshner served as the Director of Research, Development and Training for the Montgomery County Department of Social Services. Before coming to the County, Ms. Leshner was the director of a partial hospitalization program for severely mentally ill adults at Geisinger Mental Health Center, and a consultant trainer of family therapists. Ms. Leshner holds a Masters degree in Psychology from Bucknell University and trained in family therapy through the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic. Throughout her tenure in Montgomery County, Ms. Leshner has focused on developing partnerships with other agencies and service providers. She has been recognized formally through awards from agencies concerned with housing, mental health services, and child protection, and from a variety of community commissions and task forces.

Mary L. McCarthy, PhD, LMSW

Co-Principal Investigator, National Child Welfare Workforce Institute, University at Albany
Mmccarthy@uamail.albany.edu
Mary McCarthy is the Co-Principal Investigator for National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI), a service of the Children’s Bureau’s TTA Network and is the Director of the Social Work Education Consortium in New York State.  The Consortium is New York’s Child Welfare University-Community partnership program. NCWWI is designed to build the capacity of the nation’s child welfare workforce and improve outcomes for children and families through activities that support the development of skilled child welfare leaders. A faculty member at the University at Albany, School of Social Welfare since 1988 she worked in the child welfare field for 11 years both before and after receiving her MSW from the University at Albany in 1982. She completed her PhD in 2003 at Memorial University in Newfoundland Canada. Her dissertation topic focused on supervision in public child welfare systems. Mary currently serves on the NASW Board of Directors as the Region III representative.

Roxana Torrico Meruvia, MSW

Senior Practice Associate, National Association of Social Workers
Rtorrico@naswdc.org
Roxana Torrico Meruvia is a Senior Practice Associate with the National Association of Social Workers. Ms. Torrico Meruvia conducts research and develops written products on issues related to children, youth and families. Prior to joining NASW, Ms. Torrico Meruvia worked at The Finance Project where she co-authored several publications including Financing Housing Supports for Youth Transitioning Out of Care. Ms. Torrico Meruvia has also worked as the Director of the Housing and Homelessness department at the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA). There she provided direction and technical assistance specific to the development and knowledge regarding the intersection of foster care and homelessness. Through the coordination of regional, state and local efforts, Ms. Torrico Meruvia facilitated the integration and collaborations of child welfare and housing/homeless systems. In addition, Ms. Torrico Meruvia worked closely with CWLA’s National Foster Youth Advisory Council.  She also has several years experience working with diverse, low-income youth and families in the non-profit and public systems. Ms. Torrico Meruvia holds a Master of Social Work degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Bachelor’s Degree from Marymount University.

Carol Wilson Spigner, DSW

Emerita Associate Professor/ Clinician Educator, University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice
spignerdsw@aol.com
Carol W. Spigner retired from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice in June of 2010 after having served as associate professor/ clinician educator for a decade.  At Penn, Spigner directed the social policy program and taught policy and macro practice.  Prior to her arrival at Penn, Dr. Spigner had been the Associate Commissioner of the Children’s Bureau at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and was responsible for the administration of federal child welfare programs. Most recently Spigner has served on: the Pew Commission for Children in Foster Care; the Mayor’s Child Welfare Review Panel for the City of Philadelphia; and the Workgroup for the Michigan Racial Equity Task Force. She also chairs the Board of the Center for the Study of Social Policy

Dr. Spigner has served as a senior associate at the Center for the Study of Social Policy, Washington, DC and as the director of the National Child Welfare Leadership Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Dr. Spigner has published a variety of articles in the areas of cultural competency, permanency planning and relative care. Dr. Spigner has received numerous awards including: the Black Administrators in Child Welfare’s 2008 George Silcott Award for Lifetime Achievement; University of Southern California’s award for “Lifetime Contributor to the Development of Policies and Programs for Underserved Populations;” the National Association of Black Social Workers’, “Outstanding Contributors Award,” and the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators’, “Award for Leadership in Public Child Welfare.”  A native of Los Angeles Dr. Spigner began her career working for the Los Angeles County Departments of Adoption and Probation and received her undergraduate degree from the University of California at Riverside and her graduate degrees from the University of Southern California.

Peter B. Vaughan, PhD, MSW

Dean, Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service
Vaughan@fordham.edu
Peter B. Vaughan is dean at the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service. Until October 2000, he was the associate dean for academic programs and associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work. Prior to joining that faculty in 1981, he was an associate professor of social work at Wayne State University and Chief of the Life Stress Center at University Health Center/Detroit Receiving Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. His teaching has been primarily in the areas of social work practice, interdisciplinary collaboration in health care settings, and human behavior. Recent research is concerned with enhancing health, social health, and life chances of African American boys. He has been a member of a number of boards of community organizations and agencies, and he also served in several capacities with local chapters of NASW, the Council on Social Work Education and as a member on several national advisory boards. He is a Social Work Pioneer. He received a BA in Sociology from Temple University, an MSW in Group Work from Wayne State University, an MA in Psychology and a PhD in Social Work and Psychology from the University of Michigan.

Tracy Whitaker, DSW, ACSW

Director, NASW Center for Workforce Studies and Social Work Practice
twhitaker@naswdc.org
Tracy Whitaker is the Director of the NASW Center for Workforce Studies & Social Work Practice.   Dr. Whitaker directed the 2004 national benchmark study of licensed social workers and was the lead author of five reports emanating from that study.  She also led the first compensation and benefits study of the social work profession in 2009 and has conducted multiple studies of the NASW membership.  In 2003, Dr. Whitaker conducted a study of NASW members in child welfare practice, resulting in the publication, If You’re Right for the Job, It’s the Best Job in the World. Recent publications include:  Child Welfare Social Workers’  Attitudes Towards Mobile Technology Tools:  Is There a Generation Gap?; The Results are In: What Social Workers Say About Social Work; and Workforce Trends Affecting the Social Work Profession 2009. Dr. Whitaker’s Bachelor’s Degree, MSW and DSW are all from Howard University in Washington, DC.

Joan Levy Zlotnik, PhD, ACSW

Director, Social Work Policy Institute
jzlotnik@naswdc.org
Joan Levy Zlotnik became Director of the Social Work Policy Institute in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Foundation in October 2009 having previously served as the Executive Director of the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research (IASWR). She is a nationally recognized expert on child welfare staffing issues, and served as the principal investigator of the Annie E. Casey Foundation supported examination of research and outcome studies of retention in child welfare workers and was an expert resource to the GAO on their 2003 report on recruitment and retention of child welfare workers. She has examined the history of federal support for child welfare training and served as a consultant to the U.S. Children’s Bureau and several of its contractors.  She is the co-editor of several special journals on child welfare workforce issues including the 2009 Special Issue of Child Welfare. Dr. Zlotnik has been active in promoting partnerships between universities and the practice community. From 1995 to 2000 she served as Director of Special Projects and Special Assistant to the Executive Director at the Council on Social Work Education and was previously at the National Association of Social Workers as Staff Director for the Commission on Families and Government Relations Associate.  Dr. Zlotnik has a BA from the University of Rochester, an MSSW from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a PhD in Social Work from the University of Maryland.

Social Work Policy Symposium on Child Welfare Supervision to Address Gaps, Opportunities

Third in series of think tank discussions seeks to improve outcomes for vulnerable children

WASHINGTON, DC—As child welfare tragedies continue to grab headlines around the country, finding new ways to educate policymakers about the critical need for professional supervision and other workplace investments is driving the work of top social work researchers.

These leaders and others will meet in Washington today for a think tank symposium called “Supervision: The Safety Net for Frontline Child Welfare Practice.” The meeting is sponsored by the Social Work Policy Institute of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Foundation, and is planned in conjunction with the NASW Center for Workforce Studies and Social Work Practice and the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI), a service of the Children’s Bureau.  Casey Family Programs (CFP) is a contributing partner.

Growing evidence shows that supervision is an essential ingredient in affecting child welfare staff retention, organizational culture and climate, culturally competent practice, and child and family outcomes.  Research also indicates that supervisors can play a critical role supporting and guiding the frontline child welfare workforce—which includes many non-social workers.

The symposium’s discussions will explore the important role of supervisors in the delivery of quality child welfare services by bringing together representatives from child welfare research, policy, and practice; social work education; child welfare training; federal agencies; national organizations and foundations; and the U.S. Children’s Bureau training and technical assistance network.

The goal of the meeting is to develop an action agenda to address:

• areas for further research
• enhancement of interdisciplinary teams
• training of child welfare workers
• strengthening national collaborations and partnerships
• implications and recommendations for policy

It also builds on several imperatives from the 2010 Social Work Congress: http://www.socialworkers.org/2010congress/documents/2010Imperatives.pdf

“We hope that discussions between diverse stakeholders will help us better understand what competencies are essential in the child welfare workplace; what resources will assist agencies in hiring and retaining effective supervisors; how social work education aids good child welfare supervision, and much more,” says Joan Levy Zlotnik, PhD, ACSW, director of the Social Work Policy Institute.

Invited symposium presenters and discussants will examine:

• Research on supervision in child welfare, including the relationship between supervision and staff retention, organizational climate and culture, culturally competent practice and child and family outcomes.
• Social work workforce trends and implications for child welfare supervision including how diverse models to educate and train supervisors may affect workforce trends.
• Research, practitioner, policy and academic connections that strengthen and promote the highest quality and most competent supervision in child welfare, including identification of diverse models to educate and train supervisors.
• Resources related to supervision in child welfare (e.g., standards, continuing education, degree education, and training) and effective dissemination strategies.

“We’re clear that additional investments in the child welfare system can improve child outcomes, and one of those investments needs to be policies and incentives to enhance supervision of the front-line staff,” adds Tracy Whitaker, DSW, ACSW, director of the NASW Center for Workforce Studies and Social Work Practice.

Today’s symposium speakers include:

• Joan Levy Zlotnik, Social Work Policy Institute
• Crystal Collins-Camargo, University of Louisville
• Carol W. Spigner, University of Pennsylvania
• Tracy Whitaker, NASW Center for Workforce Studies & Social Work Practice
• Mary McCarthy, National Child Welfare Workforce Institute—University at Albany, SUNY
• Marva Hammons, Managing Director, Casey Family Programs
• Agnes Leshner, Director, Child Welfare Services, Montgomery County, MD
• Peter Vaughan, Dean, Graduate School of Social Service, Fordham University
• Alissa Green, Social Worker, Department of Human Services, Arlington County, VA

###

The Social Work Policy Institute (SWPI) is a think tank established within the National Association of Social Workers Foundation (NASWF) in order to strengthen social work’s voice in public policy deliberations, inform policy­makers through the collection and dissemination of information on social work effectiveness and create a forum to examine current and future issues in health care and social service delivery.

The National Association of Social Workers Foundation (NASWF) is a charitable organization created to enhance the well-being of individuals, families, and communities through the advancement of social work practice.

November 10, 2010 Contact: Kyle Northam

202.336.8212

knortham@naswdc.org

Children and Schools Journal Explores Policy and Practice Disconnect

Greater Collaboration Between Researchers and Practitioners Could Improve Outcomes

WASHINGTON, DC—The NASW Press has released a special issue of its scholarly journal Children and Schools, which explores how well school social work practice aligns with current educational and social work research.

School social work educational theory now favors a “response to intervention” approach, which calls for the creation of comprehensive, coordinated, and effective service delivery systems.  These systems combine primary prevention, evidence-based interventions, and data-based decision making.

“This special issue was inspired by what we see as the persistent disconnect among much of school social work practice and our discipline’s commitment to an ecological orientation, educational effectiveness research, and trends in education policy and practice,” write Michael S. Kelly, Andy J. Frey and Dawn Anderson-Butcher, the editors of this issue of Children and Schools.

Response to Intervention

In the issue’s first article, researchers examine data from the 2008 National School Social Work Survey using four principles of the “response to intervention” framework: building capacity, using high-quality interventions, organizing services within a multi-tiered framework, and using data-based decision making.  They found that while school social workers may value the systems perspective, they do not regularly use comprehensive prevention and systems change strategies within their practice. (“School Social Work Practice and Response to Intervention,” by Michael S. Kelly, Andy J. Frey, Michelle Alvarez, Stephanie Cosner Berzin, Gary Shaffer, and Kimberly O’Brien)

Teaching Skills as a Social Work Resource

Two articles in this issue provide examples of social work practice that fit within the current landscape of education reform.  These articles show how school social workers can practice at broader system levels by using the skills of teachers and the larger school environment. Preliminary evidence supports the benefits of these approaches. (“Predictors of Peer Victimization among Hispanic Adolescent Girls: Implications for School Social Work,” by Anne Powell and Jeffrey M. Jenson; and “CareerStart: A Middle School Student Engagement and Academic Achievement Program,” by Dennis K. Orthner, Patrick Akos, Roderick Rose, Hinckley Jones-Sanpei, Micaela Mercado, and Michael E. Woolley)

Enhancing Social Work Curricula

The final article provides content analysis for material contained in 58 school social work syllabi across the country.  Findings suggest that content on multi-level practice, systems-level policies, and collaborative approaches were inconsistently, if ever, covered in course content.  School social workers may not implement multi-tiered interventions because they have not been trained to do so. (“Educating Today’s School Social Workers: Are School Social Work Courses Responding to the Changing Context?” by Stephanie Cosner Berzin and Sarah O’Connor)

The editors challenge the profession to close the gap between the effectiveness data needed by policymakers to advocate for expanded services in schools, and the currently available evidence base for school social work practice.  They believe that by increasing collaborative research-to-practice efforts, the profession will be able to better demonstrate how the work of school-based practitioners has a positive impact on attendance, grades, and emotional and behavioral problems that otherwise impede student success.

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The Social Work Policy Institute (SWPI) is a think tank established within the National Association of Social Workers Foundation (NASWF) in order to strengthen social work’s voice in public policy deliberations, inform policy­makers through the collection and dissemination of information on social work effectiveness and create a forum to examine current and future issues in health care and social service delivery.

The National Association of Social Workers Foundation (NASWF) is a charitable organization created to enhance the well-being of individuals, families, and communities through the advancement of social work practice.

NASW Press is a leading scholarly press in the social sciences. It serves faculty, practitioners, agencies, libraries, clinicians, and researchers throughout the United States and abroad. Known for attracting expert authors, the NASW Press delivers professional information to hundreds of thousands of readers through its scholarly journals, books, and reference works.