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AN OVERVIEW OF SCHOOL SOCIAL WORK SERVICES
School social workers play a vital role in supporting students in the educational setting. They work collaboratively with other pupil services personnel – school psychologists, school nurses, school counselors, and chemical health specialists to provide assessment, diagnosis, counseling, educational, therapeutic and other necessary services (as part of a comprehensive program to meet student needs.) As mental health professionals and practitioners, School Social Workers are dual licensed by the Minnesota Board of Social Work and the Minnesota Department of Education as provided within MN Statutes, 8710.6300.
School Social Work Skills School social workers bring a variety of skills and evidence based practices to the school, in both the regular education and the special education setting. These include:
I. Supporting Students:
II. Supporting Families:
III. Supporting Staff/Administrators:
IV. Community Collaboration:
Determination of Need:
Often there is discussion about ratios in terms of recommended student support service staff person per students. These ratios are not based on research or student achievement data, but rather on recommendations from various professional groups. Our school social work profession has not focused on the use of ratios, but rather on student need. It is our experience that student needs should drive the need for student support services. Our state profession has found the following factors to be useful in determining need for student support services, and in particular school social work services:
Jan 2013, MSSWA