This article outlines the outcomes of a specialized master's of social work (MSW) training program on students' (N=96) ability to work effectively in behavioral health care settings with adolescents and transitional age youth from diverse racial, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds. Program design, curriculum development, and associated activities…

Many schools of social work offer courses on program evaluation. However, one component of program evaluation--theories of evaluation--may all too often be left out of the curriculum. This Teaching Note defines and describes evaluation theory and the benefits of including it in a program evaluation curriculum in schools of social work. Specific…

Master of social work (MSW) students will work with a significant number of people with disabilities and thus need to learn about disability as both a descriptive and a political identity. While new curriculum resources and competencies developed by the Council on Social Work Education for teaching about disability are a critical step, little has…

In the context of the current sociopolitical climate, schools of social work's expressed commitment to equity and justice is of paramount relevance. Utilizing course descriptions and syllabi posted online, we used content analysis to identify equity and justice-related content within the explicit curricula of 19 master of social work programs in…

Given tremendous negative societal effects of mass incarceration, the social work profession's investment in the Grand Challenge to Promote Smart Decarceration, and the call for criminal justice transformation, educational content that prepares social work students to engage in smart decarceration efforts is essential. This article presents…

Schools of social work in the United States are responsible for training students to work with diverse clients and communities. These schools have an additional, yet often unaddressed, responsibility to prepare students to understand diversity in the workforce and to lead initiatives for diversity and inclusion in organizational settings. This…

Recent and rapid technological advances have given rise to an explosive growth of data, along with low-cost solutions for accessing, collecting, managing, and analyzing data. Despite the advances in technology and the availability of data, social work organizations routinely encounter data-related problems that have an impact on their…

Social work is embracing scientific inquiry as a guiding principle; however, scientific advancement has often outpaced modifications in the academic arena necessitating reenvisioning the curriculum. This article describes how a large western School of Social Work addressed the need to create a practice curriculum rooted in empirical evidence by…

This article describes how two Southeastern social work programs delivered integrated behavioral healthcare training to MSW students and social work practitioners during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 posed challenges across five domains, including: (a) adaptations to course curricula; (b) adaptations to field education curricula; (c) experiences…

Social work has clear expertise in efforts to secure economic and social justice. The addition of environmental justice is an opportunity to extend these same skills into a new justice realm. Social workers not only need to learn about environmental issues but also claim their niche in the environmental crisis and ensure that poor and marginalized…

This study examined veterans health care social workers' perceptions of collaboration and practice with Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom veterans with the purpose of developing curriculum implications for social work education. Using a mixed-methods design, including surveys (n=21) and interviews (n=13), associations between serving…

For many years, schools of social work have engaged in partnerships, especially with public child welfare agencies, to prepare a competent and professional child welfare workforce through the mechanism of Title IV-E training. In 2008 the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI) established an additional resource for preparing students in…

Recent policy shifts in health care have created opportunities for social workers to provide services in integrated primary care and behavioral health settings. However, traditionally prepared social workers may not have the skill set necessary to meet practice demands. This article describes a behavioral health workforce initiative that trains…

University-community partnerships can play an important role in curriculum development, but little has been written about the role of community agencies in designing curricula. This article describes the role of field education in an innovative university-community partnership aimed at transforming an MSW curriculum to integrate a trauma-informed…

In a curriculum mapping project, the mapping process of an MSW program is documented and linked with the Council on Social Works Education's 2015 "Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards" competencies. It starts with the background of creating a mapping process for sequencing and integrating a series of assessment tasks with…