Duties
Job Goal(s)
Under general supervision, the employee will:
- Help facilitate solutions for students to succeed academically, socially, and emotionally. School Social Workers collaborate with educators, administrators, and families to create safe, healthy and supportive learning environment for all students and strengthen connections between home and school.
Major Duties & Performance Responsibilities
The criterion indicated below are intended to describe various types of work that may be performed. The exclusion of specific responsibilities does not prohibit them if the work is similar, related, or a logical task of the position.
Direct Advocacy and Service to Students
- Supports students to enhance their personal and social growth while offering opportunities to participate in the planning and direction of their own learning experiences, and increase their responsibility for behavior and attitudes.
- Provides opportunities and resources for students to increase academic success, increase their responsibility for behavior and attitudes, improve interpersonal relationships, learn problem-solving and decision-making skills, and resolve conflicts and crisis situations.
- Provides individual, group counseling for in-class support for students who are experiencing personal, social, emotional or behavioral problems in school that have an educational impact, with an emphasis upon early intervention.
- Delivers large group instruction to address identified social, emotional, and/or behavioral needs.
Collaborative Consultation with School Personnel
- Consults and collaborates with school personnel regarding student problems and coordinates plans and actions to meet them. Early identification of problems is emphasized.
- Consults with and assists instructional staff with program modifications and strategies to encourage and support student personal and social growth and responsible behavior.
- Provides appropriate staff development to schools.
Direct Service to Parents and Community
- Establishes and maintains open, positive lines of communication to assist the family in cooperatively improving the student’s transition between home and school and assisting the family in utilizing community and school resources.
- Maintains an on-going and communicative relationship with families for the purpose of sharing information regarding the student’s educational program.
- Serves as the school liaison to all community agencies by consulting and collaborating regularly with school personnel, social agencies, and other community resources to establish and provide coordinated social services to students and families.
- Promotes family support of students’ learning experience with in the context of multicultural understanding and competencies.
Program Planning, implementation and Evaluation
- Participates in team meetings and IEP conferences including pre-referral interventions, placements, IEP’s and annual reviews.
- Participates in the case study evaluation process by obtaining and/or reviewing information relative to social history, adaptive behavior and cultural background.
- Prepares with the other team members, teachers, and parents, an Individualized Education Program (IEP) for each identified students, monitor the plan’s implementation, and participate in the annual review.
- Completes a diagnostic social history on students referred to the team for evaluation, assessing the status of the student’s social and academic adjustment in terms of school performance, family and personal history, social-economic and cultural influences ad community factors.
- Create student centered goals and use a variety of tools to collect data on the progress to be reported to the educational team.
- Uses a variety of appropriate formal and informal tools and techniques including observations and interviews to evaluate the educational functioning of the student.
- Develops short-term and long-term intervention plans consistent with curriculum; students’ needs, strengths, diversity and life experiences; and social and emotional factors.
- Plans school and/or system-wide programs to promote a safe, healthy, caring school climate that fosters academic success.
Accountability
- Conforms to the National Association of Social Work (NASW) Code of Ethics and Standards for School Social Work practice.
- Maintains current knowledge of federal and state laws and regulations and abides by said laws and regulations with emphasis on persons with disabilities, child welfare, mental health, confidentiality, and student and parent rights.
- Notifies appropriate personnel and/or services of any evidence of substance abuse, child abuse, child neglect, severe medical or social conditions, potential suicide, individuals appearing to be under the influence of alcohol, controlled substances, etc.
- Participates in faculty, school, parent, and community meetings and programs, sharing observations, issues and resources available and serves on applicable staff committees.
- Completes in a timely fashion all records and records and reports as required by law and regulation or requested by supervisors.
- Facilitates the accurate maintenance of school records for use by school staff members, outside agencies and parents as required by law and DPS109.
- Attends and participates in educational conferences and workshops pertinent to school social work.
- Consults on such issues as attendance, diversity, mental health, behavior management, delinquency, crisis intervention, homelessness, child abuse, neglect, and the importance of confidentiality.
Qualifications
Licensure: Professional Educator License (PEL)
Endorsement: School Social Worker
Classification: Certified