In this conceptual article, the authors identify the current state of racial disproportionality in U.S. public schools and the ethical call for school social workers to engage in anti-racist practice. Using the ecosystems perspective, a familiar perspective for school social work, the authors present a model for addressing racial climate gaps for…

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a progressive genetic neuromuscular disease, affects all major muscle groups in the body. Academic functioning is affected by the progressive nature of DMD and physical fatigue. To explore the experiential account of schooling and the barriers in schooling among children with DMD in India and to develop…

Over the past three decades, the restorative approach (RA) has been increasingly used as an alternative to exclusionary methods of discipline in the K-12 education system. Although the body of scholarship investigating the effectiveness of RA has grown, there remains a deficit in the literature that specifically explores barriers to effective and…

The purpose of the current study was to use data from multiple sources to examine aspects of implementation (i.e., program fidelity, barriers and enablers to implementation, and acceptability) of a bystander-focused violence prevention curriculum. Four public high schools and one community-based agency in upper New England participated in the…

Adolescent suicide rates are rising, particularly for adolescent girls, and increasing numbers of adolescents experience the suicide of a classmate, peer, or friend. School social workers can play an important role in suicide prevention with this age group. This article will describe one agency's experiences conducting universal screenings in…

Current research on the achievement gap between low-income minority students and their more affluent white peers is saturated with studies of academic failure rather than investigations that address the processes that mitigate failure and create success. Most of the existing research provides extensive critiques without exploring strategies that…

The Truancy Assessment and Service Centers (TASC) program is an evidencebased elementary school truancy intervention that utilizes specially trained case managers to rapidly assess and address the underlying causes of truancy. This study explored case manager perspectives to gain a deeper understanding of the effectiveness of the TASC program. The…

To address a gap in the literature on the impact of healthy relationship programs for teens on the peer facilitators of these programs, three focus groups were conducted with the peer facilitators (N = 49) of a five-week healthy relationship program (Chesterfield Relate), which was provided in two public schools over a two-year period.…

With the needs and challenges of adolescent homelessness on the rise, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (MVA) was crafted as a public policy initiative aimed at facilitating access to schools for this population. While school social workers are the designated personnel for practice with homeless school-aged children, we know little about…

School social work licensure in most states includes requisite course work often focused on school policy and child education. For working social workers who have decided to pursue necessary licensure to practice in a school setting after completing their master's or bachelor's degrees, accessing these required courses can create significant…

This article chronicles the search for and development of an outcome measurement tool for teen parents receiving community-based wraparound services. The criteria for selecting functional assessment tools available in the literature is presented along with the barriers experienced in using two of these well-cited tools. The rationale for in-house…

This study presents descriptive findings from self-reported qualitative and quantitative data on barriers and facilitators to culturally competent school social work practice. The study highlights the need for the development of evaluative methods for the purpose of examining how elements within the practice environment affect school social work…

The absence of parents from schools is seen as an important factor related to the significant number of adolescents at risk of school failure. Effective parenting is known to be a key protective factor for adolescents at risk for school failure and other maladaptive developmental outcomes. While evidence-based parent management training models…