The Evolution of
Social Workers in Illinois
0 Completing an average of 50-100
SDS’s a year
0 SSW doing individual counseling all
day
0 SSW addressing perceived crisis
0 Sitting in IEP meetings
0 SSW delivering classroom groups in
isolation.
0 Leading Tier 2 and 3 teams
0 Coordinating Tertiary Interventions
(Using Data)
0 Facilitating FBA/BIP teams
0 Facilitating Wraparound teams
0 Coordinating Secondary
Interventions (Using Data)
0 Lead small group interventions
0 Coordinate Check in Check out and
Check and Connect intervention
0 Organizing Universal Screening for all
Students
0 Continuing Education for all staff
0 Provide individual skill building that is
based on data
Response to Intervention: New Roles for School Social Workers
By Kate Usaj, MSSA, LISW; Judith Kullas Shine, MSW, MS, LICSW; and Myrna
Mandlawitz, M.Ed., JD
School Social Work Association of America
•Early intervention with struggling learners to link them with appropriate
resources.
• Ongoing progress monitoring.
• Comprehensive formal and informal ecological assessments including
academic functioning, social/emotional and mental health functioning, adaptive
functioning, and family and community interactions.
• Development of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS).
• Development and monitoring of Behavioral Intervention Plans (BIP).
• Comprehensive family services.
• Individual counseling services.
• Small group counseling.
• Community liaison to ensure adequate and appropriate resources for students
and families in need.
• Helping students to develop and maintain personal, social and academic
competencies.
• Consultation to and with educators to ensure understanding and support of
struggling learners.
• Crisis response for students in critical need (e.g. suicide ideation, self-harm,
family crisis, homelessness).
To meet this challenge, school social workers will
need to:
0 Be willing to re-examine their approaches to change and problem
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
resolution.
Take risks in terms of attempting new interventions and strategies.
Examine their beliefs about special education and services to students
with special needs.
Engage in regular and ongoing professional development
opportunities.
Be more physically available to the classroom.
Examine their personal service delivery system and make adaptations
to better serve students.
Determine more efficient ways to provide services to more students.
Become more expert in data collection.
School-Wide Systems for Student Success:
A Response to Intervention (RtI) Model
Academic Systems
Behavioral Systems
Tier 3/Tertiary Interventions
1-5%
1-5%
Tier 3/Tertiary Interventions
•Individual students
•Assessment-based
•High intensity
Tier 2/Secondary Interventions
•Individual students
•Assessment-based
•Intense, durable procedures
5-15%
5-15%
Tier 2/Secondary Interventions
•Some students (at-risk)
•High efficiency
•Rapid response
•Small group interventions
•Some individualizing
•Some students (at-risk)
•High efficiency
•Rapid response
•Small group interventions
• Some individualizing
Tier 1/Universal Interventions 80-90%
•All students
•Preventive, proactive
80-90%
Tier 1/Universal Interventions
•All settings, all students
•Preventive, proactive
Illinois PBIS Network, Revised May 15, 2008.
Adapted from “What is school-wide PBS?”
OSEP Technical Assistance Center on Positive
Behavioral Interventions and Supports.
Accessed at http://pbis.org/schoolwide.htm
SCHOOL-WIDE
POSITIVE BEHAVIOR
SUPPORT
~5%
~15%
Primary Prevention:
School-/ClassroomWide Systems for
All Students,
Staff, & Settings
~80% of Students
Tertiary Prevention:
Specialized
Individualized
Systems for Students
with High-Risk Behavior
Secondary Prevention:
Specialized Group
Systems for Students
with At-Risk Behavior
Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports:
A Response to Intervention (RtI) Model
Tier 1/Universal
School-Wide Assessment
School-Wide Prevention Systems
Tier 2/
Secondary
ODRs,
Attendance,
Tardies, Grades,
DIBELS, etc.
Check-in/
Check-out
Social/Academic
Instructional Groups
Daily Progress
Report (DPR)
(Behavior and
Academic Goals)
Competing Behavior
Pathway, Functional
Assessment Interview,
Scatter Plots, etc.
Individualized CheckIn/Check-Out, Groups &
Mentoring (ex. CnC)
Tier 3/
Tertiary
Brief Functional Behavioral Assessment/
Behavior Intervention Planning (FBA/BIP)
Complex FBA/BIP
SIMEO Tools:
HSC-T, RD-T, EI-T
Wraparound
Illinois PBIS Network, Revised May 2009
Adapted from T. Scott, 2004
3-Tiered of System Support
Necessary Conversations (Teams)
Universal
Team
Plans SW &
Class-wide
supports
Universal
Support
Secondary
Systems Team
Problem Solving
Team
Tertiary Systems
Team
Process data,
overall intervention
effectiveness
Standing team, uses
FBA/BIP process for
1 youth at a time
Process data,
overall intervention
effectiveness
CICO
Brief
SAIG
Mentoring
Brief
FBA/BIP
FBA/
BIP
Complex
FBA/BIP
WRAP
Other Things to Consider…
0 School social workers (SSW) struggle with the use
of data, pre and post intervention
0 Interventions continue to be implemented year
after year whether or not success is noted
0 SSW and school staff default to individual
counseling for many students
0 SSW training programs traditionally have not
taught the use of data
0 Due to lack of resources, SSW have been
encouraged to do therapy rather than skill
building with students
Reviewing and Changing
Job Descriptions (the old way)
0 Completes SDS for Case Study Evaluation
0 Integrates Assessment information to provide a multi-faceted
0
0
0
0
overview of students functional ability
Participates in Child Study Team
Conducts classroom observations
Assists parents and educational personnel in reaching a
realistic understanding of student’s ability and needs
Provides preventative and therapeutic services to children,
parents, and/or families
Job Description (the old way, cont.)
0 Provides services on IEP
0 Maintains channels of communication with
principals and teachers
0 Provides assistance in crisis situations
0 Maintains communication with students, parents,
educational personnel, and community
0 Provides and participates in in-service
0 Conducts seminars for parents
0 Other duties as assigned.
Newly Designed Job
Description
0 Participate in building based activities that support the School
0
0
0
0
0
Improvement Plan
Participate in Secondary and Tertiary intervention planning
meetings
Participate in development and implementation of strategies
and activities related to PBIS
Use data to determine effectiveness of research based
intervention (pre and post)
Use the three tiered approach to intervention planning to
enter, progress monitor, and exit youth from interventions
(based on data)
Providing coaching and professional development for staff
Job Description (New, cont.)
0 Provide conflict resolution training, drug and alcohol
0
0
0
0
education, and social skills training based on secondary or
tertiary team
Provide direct services to children in crisis
Provide school social work services to children as determined
in the IEP process based on a continuum of preventative
interventions
Develop and maintain working relationships with students,
parents, educational personnel, and community
Participate in the development of Tertiary interventions in the
form of FBA/BIP or wraparound teams
Tier 1
con·sult
Tier 2
co·or·di·nate
Tier 3
fa·cil·i·tate
BEFORE
INDIVIDUAL/DIRECT
MINUTES WITH STUDENTS
TIME SPENT IN ROLES SUCH AS
COORDINATOR, FACILITATOR,
COACH, ETC.
TRANSITION PERIOD
INDIVIDUAL/DIRECT
MINUTES WITH STUDENTS
TIME SPENT IN ROLES SUCH AS
COORDINATOR, FACILITATOR,
COACH, ETC.
AFTER
INDIVIDUAL/DIRECT
MINUTES WITH STUDENTS
TIME SPENT IN ROLES SUCH
AS COORDINATOR,
FACILITATOR, COACH, ETC.
Common Trends
0 Moving from reactive to preventative
0 Time efficient and least restrictive
0 Moving from Tier 1 to leading Tier 2/3
0 Facilitating Tier 3 Interventions
0 Serving students needs vs. “labeled”
populations
0 Systems approach
0 Intervention vs. Referral to Professional
Charleston
County,
SC
0 45,000 students in 78 schools.
0 Over 100 miles from the most distant schools
0 Rural, inner city, and suburban schools
0 Student Population: 46% African American; 46% Caucasian; 3%
0
0
0
0
0
Mixed; Asian 2%; 1% Native Amer.; 1% other
14% Identify themselves as Latin or Hispanic
60% receive free or reduced meals
9.5% have IEP’s
6% not English proficient
Historically in CCSD schools; nurses, guidance counselors, a few
contracted mental health counselors, para-professional behavior
support staff; school psychologists not school based.
The Evolution of
Social Workers in Charleston, SC
0 Social Workers not in CCSD Schools
0 Very limited (2 District-wide) number of social
workers in the district office working in the Office of
Exceptional Children supporting identified students
From 0 to 60 in one year
8 school-based Social Workers are
assigned in 2011-12
0 Federal Counseling Grant
0 Charleston Promise Neighborhood
0 Medical University of South Carolina
0 Social workers assigned to poor inner city schools
ISF with Social Workers
0 SSW is a new role in CCSD schools
0 Integrating with current systems, creating new systems
0 Existing Teams – School Leadership
0 PBIS
0 TEAM Two
0 CORE (Tier 3)
0 External Partners
Use Data to Drive Activities
0 Data that will lead to intervention before referral
0 At-Risk Alert System
0 SWIS
0 Social Emotional Measures
Intervention Vs. Referral
0 ARAS (pronounced “air-us”) is the At-Risk Alert System: a data
tool developed by Charleston County School District as part
of a federal Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant.
0 Helps identify students potentially at-risk by using existing
academic & behavior data.
0 Transforms data into reports to support effective decision
making.
0 Provides composite views of magnitudes of risk factors
existing for students and schools.
0 Supports a variety of student support models.
Risk Indicators
0 ARAS uses student academic and behavior data
currently available in PowerSchool and other
district data bases as indicators to assess potential
risk.
0 For each of eight indicators, students are assigned
to one of three levels:
0 Level 1 (Motivated/Low Risk)
0 Level 2 (Vulnerable/Moderate Risk)
0 Level 3 (Critical; High Risk)
Use Data to Monitor Practices
Tier
Three
Tier
Two
Tier
One
Academi
Social
c
Emotion
al
Mental
Health
Physical
What Services are Delivered
# of Services
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Initially Focus on Tier One
# of Level 1 Services by Month
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
# of Services
PBIS Problem Solving Logic used
by CCSD for School-based Social
Workers
1.
2.
3.
4.
Establish Ground Rules
Start with Data
Match Practices to Data
Align Resources to Implement
Practices
Lewis, PBIS Missouri
Common Trends
From Illinois PBIS Network
adopted in Charleston, SC
0 Moving from reactive to preventative
0 Time efficient and least restrictive
0 Moving from Tier 1 to leading Tier 2/3
0 Facilitating Tier 3 Interventions
0 Serving students needs vs. “labeled”
populations
0 Systems approach
0 Intervention vs. Referral to Professional
What will it take?

To build the collaboration across school employed
and community employed partners
0
0
0

Knowledge gaps
Skill gaps
Relationship gaps
To help school leaders build and sustain
collaborative programs
Contact Information
Sheri Luecking, Illinois PBIS Network
Sheri.luecking@pbisillinois.org
Bob Stevens, Ph.D. Charleston, SC
Robert_Stevens@charleston.k12.sc.us