Intervention research is vital for social work, as it aims to develop practice/program approaches and provide evidence to understand which interventions are effective and for whom. Despite growing attention, little social work research exists that evaluates interventions. Among the reasons for the dearth of intervention research within social work…

This article reviews literature describing truancy and its correlates, and it analyzes the current research on truancy prevention programs. Few truancy prevention programs exist in elementary school settings. This article describes Truancy Assessment and Service Centers, a theory-driven program providing case management services to children in 85…

This article describes the use of an online survey tool called Survey Monkey, which can be used by school social workers and school social work educators for evaluation of practice, needs assessment, and program evaluation. Examples of questions are given. Principles of writing good survey questions are described. (Contains 2 tables and 1…

School-based mentoring programs that promote academic success and prosocial behaviors among youths are of interest to school social workers. Because these programs are relatively new, little has been reported on the effectiveness of the services or the benefits to participants. The authors examined outcome evaluations of eight school-based…

Prevention programs in schools are one response to youth, community, and family violence. Many of these programs target older children and adolescents. This quasi-experimental study evaluated the preschool curriculum of the Peacemakers program, which was developed by a consortium of social service agencies for implementation in schools. This…

As we celebrate the centennial of school social work, the field faces many of the same professional and social situations first encountered at the turn of the past century. Immigrant populations are growing rapidly, social worker-student ratios continue to be high, and schools remain bureaucratic, inflexible, and slow to change. The "Roaring…

School improvement initiatives are needed to better meet the needs of underprivileged students, to reduce underachievement and to break a continuing cycle of disadvantage. This article describes part of a school improvement initiative in New Zealand that provided additional funding for school nurse and social worker services in nine secondary…

Details important lessons learned while attempting research and evaluation efforts in a school-based drop-out prevention program. The challenges of working with school systems, lessons about training, timing, and research as a developmental process are discussed. (Author/EMK)

Many social workers are anxious about the use of evaluation techniques and are particularly reticent about using statistical research. Strategies for understanding the steps involved in integrating practice and evaluation in a school social work setting, an appreciation for the need of evaluation, and knowledge of various resources on conducting…

The document includes two questionnaire/survey instruments, one completed by 36 pupil appraisal personnel (e.g., psychologists, social workers, physical therapists, nurses) and the other completed by 38 child search coordinators as part of a study designed to evaluate the quality and efficiency of early education programs serving handicapped…

Team Lincoln was created to foster collaboration between the university and the school and to provide a program of organized recess activities for 450 at-risk children in grades 1-6. This school-based service learning program is described, and an evaluation of the program is presented including two case studies. (Author/EMK)