Student mental health has been in steady decline for the past decade, and many school personnel believe they cannot adequately support student mental health needs. While professional school social workers (SSWs) are recognized as critical school-based mental health professionals in many states, 14 states do not yet offer a path for SSWs to become…

School social workers provide mental health services to millions of students each year. However, few studies focus on how social workers generate funding and other support for school mental health. The purpose of this study is to identify the continuum of school mental health supports and how social workers advocate for and generate these…

The current environment for school social work presents great challenges and great opportunities. Amid promising shifts in programs and policies, many school social workers feel marginalized. Despite sustained efforts at definition, the role of the school social worker remains unclear to many outside the field. More important, this role is often…

Educational outcomes for youths in foster care are poor compared with those of their peers who are not child welfare involved. This qualitative study examined the impact of adoption on the educational experiences of older youths with disabilities who were adopted from the child welfare system. Researchers conducted interviews with families of…

Understanding barriers to practice is a growing area within school social work research. Using a convenience sample of 284 school social workers, this study replicates the efforts of a mixed-method investigation designed to identify barriers and facilitators to school social work practice within different geographic locations. Time constraints and…

This study is a secondary analysis of surveys collected from school social workers in Illinois. Workers were originally surveyed about the most important student problems they confront in their schools and their preferred targets of intervention (individual, small group, family) to address those problems. Drawing on related conceptual work, the…

Positive behavior support (PBS) is being implemented in more than 5,300 schools in the United States. In this article, the authors review the conceptual components, implementation features, and evidence base of PBS; discuss its implementation at the preschool level; and explore implications for school social work practice. Whether starting PBS…

The role school social workers play within schools, the training they receive, and whether they are present in junior high schools are all factors that pose barriers and opportunities for school social workers' involvement in dropout prevention efforts during the middle school years. Such efforts are necessary because the unique challenges of…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of solution-focused brief therapy with children who have classroom-related behavior problems within a school setting. Five to seven sessions of solution-focused brief therapy services were provided to 67 children, identified by school faculty and staff as needing assistance in solving behavior problems.…

This qualitative study explored school social workers' relationships during instances of abuse and neglect reporting, focusing on reports made for children and adolescents already receiving school social work services. Although school social workers frequently file abuse and neglect reports, little is known about how they manage clinical and…

In 1987 Congress authorized the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act to protect the rights of homeless students and to ensure that they receive the same quality and appropriate education that other students receive. This article summarizes key aspects of the 2001 reauthorization of the act, now known as the McKinney-Vento Act, outlines how…

The author discusses five stages of EBP using school-based examples. Drawing a parallel between research and practice, the author addresses how to evaluate effectiveness using a person-in-environment approach. The author puts EBP into perspective by placing it alongside other important determinants of systematic eclecticism and by examining larger…

This article describes the results from the first year of a longitudinal study of a school social work caseload in a large midwestern school district. The purpose of the investigation was to examine the relationship among case characteristics, types of services provided, and case dispositions. Data were collected using a management information…

School social workers often provide a wide range of services across school sites that fall outside the framework of a specific program. This article describes how a university-practitioner partnership developed and piloted a school social work management information system. Lessons learned and suggestions for replication and maintenance are made.…

Elementary, middle, and high schools often become separate islands for children as they move toward their diploma. This article describes the Culbreth Middle School Communities-In-Schools High School Transition Initiative, a program designed to make connections between a supportive middle school program for at-risk students and the high school…