The State of School Social Work in

Mississippi: What Can We Do to

Advance Our Profession?
Laura Richard, PhD, LCSW

University of Southern Mississippi

NASW Mississippi Chapter Annual Social Work Conference

March 27, 2014

 Agenda
 Defining School Social Work
 Theoretical Perspectives Informing SSW Practice
 Challenges Facing the Profession

 Defining the School Social Worker Role

 Role Changes and Current Context
 Role Theory and Role Ambiguity
 Consequences of Role Ambiguity

 Mississippi School Social Work

 Successes
 Barriers

 Efforts In a Neighboring State

 Concerns and Ideas

School Social Work A Growing Profession

 School social work has grown to a profession of over 20,000, with

national and state organizations (School Social Work Association of
America [SSWAA]

 School social work has a growing international presence with

estimates of over 50,000 practitioners in more than 40 countries
(Huxtable, 2006 as cited in Kelly, 2008).
 What Is School Social Work?

 Practiced in a school setting

 Bridge between school, home, & community

 Abide by values and ethics

 Ecological systems theory

 Theory Base of School Social Work Practice

 Ecological systems theory

 Various systems affect a child

 Intervention may need to occur in more than one system

 Child > classroom > school > district > family > community

 Macro systems in which school, family, and community is embedded.

 Problems With Defining School Social Work

 Attempts at defining school social work

 Laws changing
 Student needs increasing

 Inconsistent or undefined roles

 Roles never agreed upon
 National standards not used as guide
Changes and Challenges
 Response To Intervention (RTI)
 Data-based decision making

 No Child Left Behind

 Evidence-based practice
 Accountability
 Less concern for social emotional needs

 Increasing mental health concerns and increase in populations that

have limited access to mental health services.

 Continued School Reform efforts

 Where is the school social worker voice in this process?
Why worry about our role?
 Poorly defined role expectations can lead to decreased legitimacy
(Altshuler & Reid Webb, 2009).

 Better defined roles can help with social marketing to the greater
school community which in turn, helps to solidify role (Beauchemin
& Kelly, 2009).

 Role definition will have implications for social work training

standards.

 Role definitions allow for development of accountability and

evaluation standards.

 Need to distinguish between role of school social worker and other

school based professionals (Agresta, 2004, 2006)
 Role Ambiguity Theory

 Social workers have little control over their role or the value placed
by others on their work )

 Based on theory of role dynamics

 Occurs when expectations are not clear

 Occurs if expectations are known, but how to meet them is not clear.

 Creates uncertainty
 Results of Role Ambiguity

 Stress

 Decreased job satisfaction

 Burnout

 Turnover

 Creates competition between professional groups and can lead to less

collaboration and less effective teams.

 When role ambiguity is felt, an employee will find ways to avoid the
situation (ie, excessive absences or leaving the job)
 Conceptual Framework

 Skills
 working with diverse populations at-risk

 determining what the most effective practices were for different issues faced by students and families

 leading multidisciplinary teams

 measuring accountability

 using technology

 marketing school social work skills.

 Conceptual Framework

 Work Environment
 maintain accurate data

 evaluate their practice and disseminate the findings to consumers, the local education agency, the
community, and the profession

 ongoing evaluation

 appropriate school social work supervision

 clear lines of support and accountability

 school social work-student population ratio

 Mississippi School Social Work

 155 school districts

 Approximately 12-15 employ school social workers

 Maybe 50 school social workers in Mississippi

 Barriers

 That is ALL we know

 School social work is not on the radar of state legislators

 School districts are interpreting laws to not include school social

workers
 Successes

 All of you are interested

 State organization exists

 Federal attention to mental health needs

 Purpose of the Study
 To establish a defined role definition for school social workers in
Louisiana based on the results of a statewide survey.

 It is expected that a consistent role definition will provide the platform

for LA school social workers to advocate for their positions and to
provide the accountability needed to support this advocacy.

 LA not adequately represented in national samples.

 **National call to action along these same lines.

 National Studies on SSW Roles
Study Results

Allen-Meares (1996) 1994: Policy and leadership lowest mean task rating;
National Sample discrepancy between mandated tasks and preferred
tasks.
Agresta (2004: 2006) 2004: Higher job satisfaction associated with lower
National Sample role discrepancy between ideal and actual role;
Individual and group counseling were highly desired
roles.
Kelly et al. (2010) 2008: Characteristics, contexts, and practice is
relatively unchanged in past 10 years.

Much of the school social workers time is spent on

individual and group counseling of students not
receiving mental health services outside of school.
 State/International studies of School Social Work
Study Results
Illinois Individual and group treatment were most common. For most,
Kelly (2007) half of their time spent serving special ed. students, average
caseloads 20-50 students/week.

Wisconsin Top five areas of responsibilities were children at risk; attendance,

Longitudinal 98-99, dropouts; behavior management; special education; and basic
01-02, 07-08 needs. Top five strategies were advocacy, consultation, individual
Dibble (2008) counseling, referral, and case management.

New Mexico Most worked with special education students. Top three referral
Whittlesey-Jerome reasons were behavior or emotional problems, and attendance
(2010) problems.

Delhi, India Most doing direct service. In private schools, social workers
Anand (2010) going beyond individual direct service and doing prevention.
 Survey

 Find way to measure accountability

 Inform districts about school social work

 Develop consistency

 School social work university specialization

 Sample and Recruitment

 School Social Workers in Louisiana

 Public school districts
 Recovery School District direct-run traditional public schools
 Charter schools
 School-based health clinics
 Agencies contracted to provide social work services in the school

 Recruited through:
 Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE)
 School districts
 Interested parties such as coworkers and state organizations.

 Supported by:
 Letter distributed by LDOE informing school districts of survey
 NASW LA chapter posted letter supporting the survey on their website.
Instrument

 46 Item survey designed based on national and state descriptions of

school social work practice and job descriptions.

 Items were closed ended, many followed a Likert format; the last
question was open-ended
 Demographic information
 Duties performed
 Goals of practice approaches
 Students served
 Supervision and evaluation
 Practice context
RESULTS
Descriptive Results
 Activities Frequently Engaged In
80
70
60
50
40
30
20 Percent
10
0
n t s s t
it o en ic
e
ic
e en
a em rv rv pm
a lu g e e l o
Ev an
a tS tS e
re
c c ev
a nd eM Di d ire lD
t a s In n a
en C si o
m s
e ss of
e
s r
As P
RTI
Percent Providing Response to Intervention
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Academic Behavior Neither
 Issues

Most Important Issues Facing School Social Workers

n %

Large Caseload Size 202 53.0

Respect by Other Professionals 136 35.7

Insufficient Salary 126 33.1

 Annual Evaluation Measures

n %

Direct Observation of Social Worker 159 41.7

Professional Growth Plan 268 70.3

Generic Evaluation for all employees 119 31.2

 Implications

 Set of standard roles allows:

 Training

 Accountability

 Policy development

 Foundation for advocacy

 Marketability
 What about us?

 Can we accomplish the same things in Mississippi?

 What are your concerns about the future of school social work in
Mississippi?

 Do you have any ideas to move the profession forward in Mississippi?

 National School Social Work Survey

 https://surveys.luc.edu/opinio6/s?s=55718
Laura Richard, PhD, LCSW

University of Southern Mississippi

Laura.richard@usm.edu

601-266-4171
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