Active school social workers are tasked with teaching social-emotional learning to students, including high need youth placed in alternative education settings. Multitiered systems of support provide a framework utilized by school systems to identify and address all student needs. However, a gap in research exists for evidenced-based social-emotional learning practices for students falling within Tier 3 of the multitiered systems of support framework, particularly those separated from the mainstream population and educated in alternative programs. This study explored how school social workers address the social-emotional learning needs of students in alternative education settings within the state of Illinois. The qualitative case-study design used a purposive sample of school social workers. Data sources included individual semistructured and focus group interviews of school social workers, and program curricula materials. Data analysis followed the constructivist perspective that multiple explanations of reality exist and, therefore, knowledge is constructed and emerges through the social practices and interpretations of people. Results indicated that school social workers in Illinois struggle to find existing evidence-based interventions to meet the social-emotional learning needs of high-school students in alternative education due to limited resources. Social work services maintain a student-driven focus and are strengthened by school-wide systemic structures for social-emotional learning that include cohesive efforts among staff and time for individual student processing of behaviors. This research has potential for social change through expanding knowledge available for school social work practitioners to meet the social-emotional learning needs of students in alternative education.

This dissertation was a qualitative study of school social workers who worked with special needs adolescent youth with emotional and behavioral disabilities in a public high school. This study centered on the experiences of 10 social workers in a public high school in New Jersey. All 10 school social workers were interviewed individually to uncover (a) how they perceived the school social worker's role within the public school setting, (b) the lived experiences of school social workers who worked with special needs youth with emotional and behavioral disabilities, and (c) why they desired to continue working with at-risk special needs youth based on their own experiences? Besides one-to-one interviews, each social worker completed a survey and wrote a personal statement reflecting on his or her work as a school social worker in the research setting. The researcher conducted interviews of each social worker at a mutual location decided by the researcher and the social worker. Results and findings may decrease misunderstandings and inconsistencies in the literature regarding school social workers and their role as they work with at-risk special needs youth in public schools. Social work practice and public school administrators may acquire new knowledge regarding the social worker's desire to continue working with this population group. The study should also contribute to existing literature regarding school social workers, adult social support, at-risk youth, special needs youth with emotional and behavioral disabilities, and qualitative studies aimed at understanding the lived experience working with the at-risk youth population. At the same time, this study should increase the researcher's personal and professional growth of how this population group perceived and acclimated to social work experiences.

Socio-culturally diverse students with disabilities are underrepresented in gifted and talented programs. This study investigated the differences in educators' referral and placement decisions based on a students' disability label, socio-economic status (SES), and ethnicity. Two hundred and eighty five educators' (classroom teachers, school counselors, school psychologists, and school social workers) across a Florida school district participated in the study. Educators' were randomly assigned to treatment and control case vignettes that described a student with emotional/behavioral disabled (EBD) and gifted characteristics. Treatment case vignettes explicitly stated the students' disability label, socio-economic status, and ethnicity. Control case vignettes described of the student examined and did not mention the disability label, ethnicity, or socio-economic status of the student. After reading the case vignette, participants responded to a two-item questionnaire that explained their referral and placement decisions of the student described in the vignette. Participants responses to the two item questionnaire were indicated by selecting one of six choices: strongly agree, slightly agree, agree, disagree, slightly disagree, and strongly disagree. Reponses were the dependent variables being measured. A three-way factorial Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to measure the differences in educators' referral and placement decisions based on a student's disability label, socio-economic status, and ethnicity. Results indicate educators' awareness of a students' disability label, socio-economic status, and ethnicity influence referral decisions. Implications are discussed and recommendations for future research are made.

This study explored the level of involvement of school social workers in the 504-Plan process as it relates to the administrative culture of school administrators, collaboration with school personnel, training on the 504-Plan process, and finally knowledge of Section 504. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder affects over six-million children in the world today that may benefit from the use of a 504-Plan. A total of 147 school social workers participated in this study. A self-administered survey was used, and data analysis was conducted on two levels: descriptive which employed frequency and percent distributions of respondents and analytical procedures. The Kruskal-Wallis H test utilized for this study which indicated a statistically significant relationship which rejected the null hypotheses of all four research questions. A second test was then performed, Mann Whitney U test, to determine where the significance of the hypotheses lied. Findings revealed that overall there is a low level of involvement of school social workers in the 504-Plan process of 64.8%. Twenty-nine and a third percent reported a moderate level of involvement. There was a low to moderate level of administrative culture, moderate level of collaboration, training and knowledge among the school social workers.

The study examined the perception of school resource officers (SROs) role in a school setting, the training they received prior to working in a school setting, their interaction with students, and their relationship with school administration, staff, and school social workers. Previous studies discussed SROs’ roles to be ambiguous and their primary focus of a school resource officer to maintain school safety, while other studies discussed the criminalization in schools due to the placement of law enforcement in the school settings. The study employed a qualitative design with face-to-face interviews with seven participants who serve or have served as a SRO's in a public school, grades kindergarten through twelfth grade. The study found that SROs knew their roles very well and did not feel their role was ambiguous. The study also revealed that and that school administrators might cause issues if they did not fully understand the role and limitations of the SRO’s. Another finding of the study was that SRO’s roles do not collide with school social workers (SSWs). Based on the findings of the study, we recommend that school administrators and staff work on understanding the role of SROs to better work with the students they serve. The study findings also encourage SROs, SSWs and school administrators to work collaboratively to better serve students on campus effectively and work with better understanding each disciplines knowledge.

No description available.

This research project attempted to determine whether play therapy used to treat elementary and junior high school children in a School-Based Counseling program is effective. There is conflicting evidence in the literature as to the effectiveness of therapy with children, especially play therapy. This project used a qualitative design to evaluate play therapy used in a School-Base Counseling program (SBC). Randomly selected case files from the 1998-99 academic year were analyzed using questions considering demographic information for each child, the reason the child was referred to the program, the intervention used by the therapist, and the outcomes of therapy. The results of this project are inconclusive, but support the need for more research to be conducted in the area of play therapy.

Background: Students with school attendance problems, not only run the risk of failing school, but they also run an increased risk of psychosocial problems in adulthood. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to what can be done early, before the more extensive problems have developed. Through the school social work, it is possible to analyse the entire context around school attendance and school attendance problems. Objectives: To present what has emerged in previous research regarding school counselors’ health promotion and prevention work to increase school attendance and prevent school attendance problems among students in elementary school. Method: Scoping review Eligibility criteria: Publications were selected according to PRISMA ScR guidelines. Sources of evidence: Peer-reviewed articles Charting methods: A qualitative content analysis based on a systems theory approach is presented in both tables and text. The analysis was based on the results and conclusion of the included articles and was described through a categorization against the objectives and different system levels. Results: The school counselors work to strengthen relationships and cooperation between students, parents, school staff and other actors, as well as by offering various types of targeted interventions or prevention programs. Conclusions: School counselors’ work consists largely of remedial actions. It is unfortunate since health promotion and prevention work at different levels in the system is important to reduce school attendance problems. The cooperative role of school counselors and their system-oriented thinking contributes to relationship building, and a holistic view of school attendance and school attendance problems.

The aim of this essay was to describe how school social workers can help and support students with parents who abuse alcohol or other drugs. We wanted to see how school social workers room for action is presented and how it affects their work with students living with parents who are abusing. We used a qualitative method to elucidate how school social workers handle this issue in a more profound way. By conducting semistructured interviews with six school social workers in one province in southern Sweden we gained exhaustive and detailed answers. In the analysis we used street level bureaucracy and theory of recognition. The result showed that the school social workers regard their overarching room of action as very wide inside school but limited outside. At school the school social worker can support the students with supportive counseling and adapted school attendance. One important task of the school social worker is to help the student to get in contact with other organizations for example, support groups for children. We also found that cooperation is an important part as the school social workers describe themselves as “the spider in the web” with the task of connecting and sharing knowledge with other personnel and organizations. The relation with the student is important to be able to support the students or guide them further. School social workers also regard school as a good place to detect and identify these students, but that it can be difficult to know who these students are. If a specific plan for working with students whose parents abuse alcohol or drugs would affect the school social workers work is difficult to say since none that we interviewed in this study had experience of one.

博士(社会福祉学) / Doctor of Philosophy in Social Welfare / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University