School Social Worker-Position #356033

Qualifications:

• Masters Degree Preferred

Nature of Work

The School Social Worker promotes and enhances the overall academic mission by providing services that strengthen home, school, and community partnerships and address barriers to learning and achievement. The School Social Worker significantly contributes to the development of a healthy, safe, and caring environment. Such an environment is achieved by advancing the understanding of the emotional and social development of children and the influences of family, community, and cultural differences on student success along with the implementation of effective intervention strategies.

Essential Job Functions:

• Conducts assessments and evaluations in accordance with family and student rights.

• Uses student, family, and school assessment results to identify needs that affect student learning.

• Uses assessment and evaluation results to develop appropriate interventions for students, families, schools, and communities.

• Develops long-term and short-term intervention plans consistent with curriculum; students' needs, strengths, diversity and life experiences; and social and emotional factors.

• Uses a variety of appropriate formal and informal tools and techniques including observations and interviews to evaluate the progress and performance of students and families.

• Addresses the needs of the school, student, families, and community by collaborating with the Student Support Services Team to design a holistic approach to any barriers or problems with the educational process.

• Promotes family support of students' learning experience within the context of multicultural understanding and competencies.

• Provides services to students in ways that build upon individual strengths and offers students maximum opportunities to participate in the planning and direction of their own learning experience.

• Develops and provides training and educational programs that address the goals and mission of the educational institution.

• Advocates and facilities change that effectively responds to the needs of students, families, and school systems using appropriate statutes, case law, policies, and procedures.

• Promotes services to students and their families within the context of multicultural understanding and competence that enhances families' support of students learning experiences.

• Assists students and their families in gaining access to formal and informal community resources.

• Utilizes research and technologies to assist students, families, schools, and communities.

• Consults with stakeholders to facilitate an understanding of factors in the home, local education agency, and community that affect students' educational experiences.

• Consults on such issues as attendance, diversity, mental health, behavior management, delinquency, crisis intervention, homelessness, child abuse, neglect, and the importance of confidentiality.

• Initiates and supports activities to overcome institutional barriers and gaps in services as leaders and members of interdisciplinary teams with the unique contribution of bringing the home, school, and community perspective to the interdisciplinary process.

• Works with internal and external individuals, groups, and organizations to develop programs or systems of care that support and enhance the health, social and emotional well-being, and safety of students.

• Promotes collaboration among community health and mental health service providers and facilitates student access to those services.

• Uses extensive knowledge of community resources, enabling the school social worker to play a critical role in facilitating the provision of community service in the local education agency.

• Helps to build effective school-community teams and orients community providers to school climate, culture, structure and to the laws and regulations governing practice in educational settings.

• Applies knowledge of environmental factors in planning programs.

• Conducts individual and/or system-wide programs to promote a safe, health, caring school climate that fosters academic success.

• Assists the school and community in planning programs that alleviate situations that may interfere with the learning process of students.

• Assists in the evaluation of effective departmental, school-based, system, community, and statewide programs.

• Conforms to the National Association of Social Work (NASW) Code of Ethics and Standards for School Social Work practice.

• Maintains accurate case records and documentation.

• 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.

• Organizes time, resources, energy, and workload in order to meet responsibilities.

• Evaluates own practice and disseminates the finding to consumers, school districts, the community, and the profession in order to maximize the effectiveness of services and resources provided to students. By reflecting upon and evaluating one's practice, more effective services, and resources will be provided.

• Participates in appropriate professional development activities to improve knowledge and skills.

• Transportation of students/parents as needed.

• Performs other duties and responsibilities as assigned by supervisor.