Main description:

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.

Contents:

Preface ; 1. Introduction: School Social Work in the 21st Century: Making Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) Work in School Social Work Practice ; 2. A Short Chapter on EBP ; 3. Surveying the Landscape of School Social Work Practice: What are we doing, and why? ; 4. Where to Intervene, and How? The Debate over the Best Treatment Options for School Social Workers to Use ; 5. Why Johnny Needs Help: The Most Common Clinical Issues School Social Workers Face ; 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 ; 7. Helping Families and School Communities: EBP in Action ; 8. EBP is just the Beginning: Defining a National School Social Work Practice and Research Agenda ; References ; Index