School Social Worker

School Social Worker

School social workers assist students with academic learning by providing strategic services that identify and address the social-emotional-environmental issues that interfere with the educational process. Working with parents/guardians, teachers, school principal/principal's designee, and community-based resources, the school social worker implements strategies that promote students' positive school adjustment. Each social worker is assigned to the school(s) based upon identified needs of the student population. School social workers must meet all applicable state certification and other requirements for the position.

The school social worker is an employee of Bardwell Group and reports to the School Leader/Director.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in social work from an accredited university
• Twenty (20) contact hours of practice area specific continuing professional education
• One of the following: Current CSW- level state social worker license, or a current exam-based school social work license, registration, or certification issued by the Michigan Department of Education

Responsibilities

• Identifies and assesses academic problems through analysis of factors impinging on student adjustment including factors in the home, school, and community
• Serves as a liaison between families and the school to positively promote collaborative processes in educational planning for students by encouraging parent/guardian participation in the school setting
• Completes psychosocial assessments to assist in the determination of special education services
• Determines and implements appropriate therapeutic strategies to effect changes in behavioral-social interactions of students and their families
• Provides individual and group therapeutic counseling to students and their families
• Provides parent/guardian educational workshops on identified issues related to child development, stress reduction, discipline and safety, and teacher/parent/student communication
• Collaborates with school staff and other school system personnel in implementing strategies to promote student learning
• Participate as members of the IEP, SST, and other school based teams to develop interventions for promoting students' academic success
• Serves on both school-based and system-wide committees to address educational issues, adjustment problems, safety issues, and program development for students
• Provides crisis intervention services
• Provides social work case management for students and families
• Provides staff consultation on behavioral-emotional-environmental issues affecting student participation in the learning process
• Conducts staff development on issues related to social-emotional-environmental factors that impact learning
• Develops programs to address parent/guardian participation in the school and student engagement in the educational process
• Conducts classroom meetings, psycho-educational social skills groups, and classroom presentations on identified areas of concern for the students
• Maintains required clinical records and submits appropriate documents for statistical reports with adherence to program standards in school social work
• Conducts home visits related to establishing communication and positive connections between the parent/guardian and school setting around identified issues
• Completes risk assessments on referred students
• Completes functional behavior assessments on identified students.
• Completes classroom observations
• Serves as liaison with community agencies and assists in fostering communication between schools, parents/guardians, and community leaders
• Locates and mobilizes community resources to support the educational program
• Attends meetings and professional development activities as required