School Social Worker: Article Analysis

After watching the short film “The Middle School Moment,” and hearing the research finding of Dr. Robert Balfanz, took me by surprise on how serious the issue about kids dropping out is. I found it shocking in discovering that about 7,000 students dropped out of school everyday. Not only that but the fact that their personal lives and society play a huge role in their decisions, which schools tend to ignore. Another thing that I found interesting about the video was the prevention program that was adopted by Middle School 244 in the Bronx, and how it gave struggling students like Omarina Cabrera, the opportunity to continue their education after having issues preventing them from getting a proper education.

A child may start school who is already involved with a social worker due to external factors affecting the child’s development. The school may also contact a social worker if they become concerned about a child and their home environment. Social workers can provide advice to the school about the child’s background in order for the school to understand what support should be given.

“Dropping out of school does not seem to happen overnight; it comes after a long term process of frustration and failure” (Balfanz par 2). According to the National Center for Education Statistics, The population studied students attending Baltimore schools and gathered research that indicates how low test scores and report card grades as early as the 1st grade are reliable sources of whether students would later drop out(Alexander, Entwisle and Kabbani par.6). Also having to go through grade retention as early as kindergarten is also connected to why the dropout rate has reached a dynamic level (Kaufman and Bradby par.6). Whoever decides to drops out has no type of support, encouragement, or ambition starting at such a young age.

There are other factors associated with early school leaving. Researchers have focused on three different topics. First topic, student and family factors identified as contributing to dropouts is gender, racial, and ethnic minority status, low socioeconomic status, poor school performance, low self-esteem, delinquency, substance abuse, and pregnancy. In addition to this research has also gathered the impact of certain family characteristics, such as single-families,

Sociologists and psychologists have studied and documented high school dropout rate for many decades. Their focus has been put on statistics of different races/ethnicities, age groups and gender as well as underlying factors of why people drop out. Comparing the dropout statistics of different races is a common theme amongst many sociologists’ studies. The extent of their research addresses many significant aspects of high school drop out but fail to shed light on the differences within races between the two genders.

Social workers must be cognizant of the various risk factors that potentially affect the adolescence developmental stage. Therefore, it is important that social workers are aware of school practices that incite the devastating process of school-to-prison pipeline which push students particularly students of color and students with disabilities out of the classrooms into the juvenile criminal justice system. Moreover, social workers must understand the risk factors that affect quality education and equality. Therefore, Social workers must continue to work towards changing adverse school policies through, advocacy, legislation reform, and societal awareness.

Understanding the importance of a family-school partnership is essential in order for school districts and families with children to grow and strive. If an imbalance occurs within any of the various parts that play a key role, difficulties will rise to the surface. Several of these roles include: communication, decision making, volunteering, and learning and parenting at home. All of these factors must work together in order to create a successful school environment in which children are able to learn and strive. When a school is successful in fulfilling each of these roles, there are several benefits. These benefits include: better positive attitudes toward school, higher achievements, better attendance, higher graduation rates, an increase in enrollment rates in post-secondary education, and overall better schools to attend (University of West Virginia).

The duties of School social workers include meeting the needs during crisis situations. To have the knowledge of classroom management and behavior intervention. As well as assist teachers and school personnel in identifying difficult times during the day and developing a supportive plan to address issues. ( NASW ,2012) School social workers possess skills in developing behavior plans for individuals and groups who may need additional support through the crisis period and/or after. (NASW, 2012) School social workers are well informed regarding relevant resources in the community. (NASW, 2012) They can provide linkages to resources and referrals for students and families as well as teachers and administrators who may need more assistance during crisis. (NASW, 2012)

A School Social Worker is someone that trained to help students, parents, and sometimes staff with child needs. A school social worker focuses on providing a great outcome for the child, and the family they are working with. A school social worker can help with mental health which is focusing on a child who is functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioral adjustment, behavioral concerns, making sure the way a child acts or conducts his/ her self especially toward others, positive behavioral support is a behavior management system used to understand what maintains an individual's challenging behavior, academic and classroom support may refer to a wide variety of instructional methods, educational services, or school resources provided to students in the

Over the course of the past few years, I have been very blessed to have professional experiences that reinforced my interest in social work. In 2014, I worked as a guidance counselor and learning support intern at St. Pius Elementary school in Greensboro, North Carolina. In the guidance-counseling department, I assisted with counseling appointments with children in grades K-8. We often discussed topics

Although it is important for families to be involved with their child’s school, school personnel should also strive to create a positive interaction with families of students. Carl Dunst (2002) states that school and parent collaboration is necessary, and if schools take on a more family-centered approach, it will help create a supportive environment and help to strengthen a family’s capacity to enhance and promote a child’s development and learning.

Did you know that 1.2 million high school students drop out of school every year just in the United States alone (11 Facts)? The decrease of high school graduation rates is a fairly important issue, and there are plenty of reasons to propose a change. According to the U.S. Department of Education, the current standard dropout rate of high school students is 7.4%. High school dropouts encounter way more difficulties and challenges than a high school graduate would. An average high school drop out lacks the basic education that one needs in order to be successful in life. They are more likely to face problems dealing with financial insecurity, communication skills, and of course, educational matters. With a high school diploma, one is more likely to get hired for a job, earn a higher income, and educate oneself even further. Some possible causes of high school students dropping out include stress, boredom, family problems, pregnancies, and drugs. With that said, with every issue, there is always a solution. By taking the problem at hand and looking at it from a broad perspective, we can thoroughly identify the source of the high dropout rates of U.S. high school students. There are countless factors that may be the cause of this epidemic, but a few ideas including making learning more relevant, limiting the workload given to students, and providing mandatory classes on drugs and safe sex may possibly be a solution to this

Utilization of online resources to stay abreast of updates is also made possible through technology. Social workers can take advantage of online journals and peer-reviewed articles to keep up on the latest trends and new information about their profession. They can create and

Social work within the school system is an important and necessary asset to have. It helps many students with a severity of problems that children and adolescents face, whether it be at home or at the school itself. The role of the social worker is to establish a working relationship between the school and the family. In addition, they also help make sure that the child’s needs are met, whether it be their academic achievement, social, emotional and behavioural competence. By observing the child in its environment, they establish what needs that child might have and they figure out how they can utilize that perspective on the child to ensure that they perform to the best of their abilities academically or socially. We are looking at the different polices and job duties that a social worker faces while working in a school, whether it is a child with mental health related issues or a child with learning disabilities.

School social workers work within schools to provide a variety of social, emotional, and mental health services to students to support overall success. The intent of this research is to evaluate the significance of having a school social worker available to general education students within the Owatonna High School setting and to examine the gaps in services that may have appeared since removal of this position in 2009. Various related studies were examined to outline a range of ways in which school social workers are used to support student success. During this study, a total of seven employees of the Owatonna School District were interviewed regarding school social work. As a whole the participants identified a large number of gaps