This article reports the results from a research study regarding how school social workers extend opportunities for students to volunteer, serve others, or contribute to their communities and how social workers engaged students in service activities within their roles. The results are one part of the findings of a large research study on the role…

The 2004 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act introduced the concept of Response to Intervention (RTI). In part, this is an educational prevention approach to maximize student academic achievement and minimize behaviors that interfere with school success. It consists of assessment and intervention practices on multiple…

School social workers often face challenges of having to legitimize their presence as a school professional, especially as compared to school psychologists and school counselors. Why are school social workers more often vulnerable to being underappreciated and not understood by school personnel than other mental health-based school professionals?…

This article addresses how school social workers can decrease overload in their roles. A two-step process of envisioning an ideal role is outlined: (1) indentifying priorities and activities that are effective or in need of expansion and (2) weeding out activities that could be done differently or no longer serve their purpose. The author…

This article describes the use of emotion-focused therapy (EFT) to reduce conflict in the student-teacher relationship. A case study of a homeroom teacher and a sixth-grade student is presented. This innovative family treatment model is demonstrated to be a useful tool for improving the student-teacher relational system, resulting in amelioration…

Youths in gang-ridden neighborhoods are at risk for trauma-related mental health disorders, which are early indicators of likely school failure and delinquency. Such youths rarely seek out services for these problems. The Juvenile Intervention and Prevention Program (JIPP), a school-based gang intervention and prevention program in Los Angeles,…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) initiated sweeping changes to the U.S. educational system. However, many have argued that NCLB is not accomplishing its stated purposes of improving education for disadvantaged students and closing the achievement gap. This policy analysis sheds light on the social and emotional risk factors that prevent…

This qualitative study explored school social workers' relationships during instances of abuse and neglect reporting, focusing on reports made for children and adolescents already receiving school social work services. Although school social workers frequently file abuse and neglect reports, little is known about how they manage clinical and…

This study is a secondary analysis of surveys collected from school social workers in Illinois. Workers were originally surveyed about the most important student problems they confront in their schools and their preferred targets of intervention (individual, small group, family) to address those problems. Drawing on related conceptual work, the…

Prevention programs in schools are one response to youth, community, and family violence. Many of these programs target older children and adolescents. This quasi-experimental study evaluated the preschool curriculum of the Peacemakers program, which was developed by a consortium of social service agencies for implementation in schools. This…

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a social skills program, "Connecting with Other: Lessons for Teaching Social and Emotional Competence," would enable students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms to develop skills to facilitate socialization with peers with and without disabilities. Students' growth was measured only in…

Last summer, the Supreme Court declared voluntary student assignment plans to racially integrate the public schools in Louisville, Kentucky, and Seattle, Washington, unconstitutional by a 5-4 majority. This was a landmark ruling for public school integration and civil rights; the "Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District…

Understanding excessive absenteeism is important to ameliorating the negative outcomes associated with the behavior. The present study examined behavioral reinforcement profiles of school refusal behavior: negative reinforcement (avoidance) and positive reinforcement (gaining parental attention or receiving tangible benefits from not attending…

In an era of fiscal constraint and increased accountability, consistent perceptions of the expectations, means of funding, and reporting of outcomes between administrators and school social workers is vital. School social workers and school administrators in four school districts in Minnesota were surveyed regarding outcomes expected as a result…

On the basis of systematic evaluation of three program databases, totaling 246 programs, this article provides a discussion on a best practice program for low-income African American students transitioning from middle school to high school in urban school settings. The main research question was "Of the programs touted as best practice, is there…