Social Worker-Teacher Collaboration in the Classroom: Help for Elementary Students at Risk of Failure

Abstract

Objective: Social worker-teacher classroom collaboration (SWTCC) is an innovative model of intervention for at-risk elementary school children in which a social worker and a teacher work together in the same classroom. The model was evaluated to determine whether or not the intervention improved attendance, classroom behavior, and grades. Method: SWTCC was implemented using social work interns in two classrooms in an urban elementary school in Albany, New York. The classrooms were chosen because they had high proportions of children displaying attendance, behavioral, and academic difficulties. The model was evaluated through a quasiexperimental design in which two classrooms receiving the intervention were compared with two similar classrooms that did not receive it. Results: A repeated measures ANOVA indicated that the intervention classrooms surpassed the comparisons classrooms in respect to attendance and a number of behavioral variables. There were no significant differences in grades. Social worker, teacher, pupil, and parent questionnaires revealed that the intervention was perceived positively. Conclusions: SWTCC shows sufficient promise to warrant further development and testing. It may be particularly suited for use in conjunction with social work field education. The use of social work students as collaborators may make the model feasible from a cost perspective. Moreover, SWTCC should provide students with a rich hands-on experience in collaborative work.Collaborative efforts between social workers and teachers are growing in importance in light of the move toward school-based and school-linked services for children and their families (Denham

The Role of Self-Efficacy in Reading Achievement of Young Children in Urban Schools

“…These include providing routine opportunities for success (Pajares 2006), anchoring verbal feedback in students' actual performances, and creating a pleasant affective learning environment (Usher and Bressoux 2011). Positive outcomes on academic achievement is also important for school social workers since schools are increasingly held accountable to demonstrate educational outcomes (Franklin et al 2009), and it is growing in importance that school social workers and teachers collaborate on the delivery of education and services to students (Dente 2011;Viggiani et al 2002). School social workers can play a pivotal role in the collaborative efforts to enhance academic achievement through raising self-efficacy.…”

Stimulating interdisciplinary collaboration among youth social workers: A scoping review

“…Third, the quality of the examined effectiveness of interventions varied. Viggiani et al () used a quasiexperimental design with control group, however, interdisciplinary collaboration was not used as an outcome measure. Two other studies used quasiexperimental designs (Jones et al, ; Sands et al, ) but lacked a control group.…”

“…They differed in (a) duration of the intervention; (b) content of the intervention, and (c) outcomes measured. Two studies focused on training that consisted of a number of meetings (Jones et al, ; Sands et al, ), one focused on a weekly intervention over a five‐month period (Viggiani et al, ), three focused on a one‐day workshop (Haas, Bauer‐Leffler, & Turley, ; Johnson & Cahn, ; Packard et al, ), and one focused on a course that took three hours in total (Anderson, ). In the intervention studies, two different forms of communication between the participants were used. Three interventions focused wholly or partly on stimulating perspective‐taking between participants by using a written method (Jones et al, ; Packard et al, ; Sands et al, ).…”

“…These exercises were based on a written text, followed by oral communication in order to start a conversation or discussion to stimulate collaboration. The other four interventions (Anderson, ; Haas et al, ; Johnson & Cahn, ; Viggiani et al, ) focused on oral communication. Three studies (Jones et al, ; Packard et al, ; Sands et al, ) showed that as a result of training, outcomes related to collaboration improved. Two studies showed that one‐day workshops barely contribute to interdisciplinary collaboration (Haas et al, ; Johnson & Cahn, ).…”

“…As a result of policy changes in the Netherlands (Hofhuis et al, 2015;Van Goor & Naber, 2016), increased attention is being paid to interdisciplinary collaboration among social work professionals working with youth (Hofhuis et al, 2015;Lalayants, Epstein, & Adamy, 2010;Packard, Jones, Gross, Hohman, & Fong, 2000;Van Goor & Naber, 2016;Viggiani, Reid, & Bailey-Dempsey, 2002). Interdisciplinary collaboration plays an important role in matching services to the individual needs of children and young people (Swart, 2009;Van Hattum & Van Hal, 2015), and contributes to better outcomes for young people and their parents (Viggiani et al, 2002). Attention used to be paid mostly to professionals working in their area of expertise, for example, youth with mental handicaps or child and adolescent psychiatry.…”