TOM TORLAKSONState Superintendent of Public Instruction

School Social Work:Expanding Horizons

California Association of School Social WorkersNovember 7, 2014, Sycamore Plaza – Lakewood, CA

You Matter!The Critical Role of Social Workers in Addressing California’s Changing School Funding Landscape

Gordon Jackson, DirectorCoordinated Student Support Division

Doing Far Outweighs Talking About Doing!

• If you want happiness for a lifetime—help theNext generation. Chinese Proverbs

• Diversity makes for a rich tapestry. We must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value, no matter their color; equal in importance no matter their texture. Maya Angelou

• There is no greater joy nor greater reward than to make a fundamental difference in someone's life.

Mary Rose McGeady

Doing Far Outweighs Talking About Doing! (Cont.)

The Coordinated Student Support Division in the California Department of Education is committed to helping students achieve academic success. We coordinate and connect vital resources to make the differences:

•Foster Youth Services•Tobacco Use Prevention Education•Student Mental Health•Bullying and Harassment Reduction•Team California for Healthy Kids•American Indian Education•Safe and Supportive Schools (S3)•Independent Study and Alternative Education•Comprehensive Sexual Health & HIV/AIDS Prevention•Attendance and Chronic Absence •And more….

What A Difference A Relationship Makes!

• Considering all that there is to do to make the difference, there’s a need and a new opportunity to work together like never before:

o Teachers and parents

o Teachers and administrators

o Teachers, administrators, and parents

o Teachers, administrators, parents, and social workers

o Schools and their district offices

o District offices and their county offices of education (COE)

o District offices, COEs, social workers

o Unions, associations, and the State Department of Education

• School social workers and students, parents, teachers, administrators, staff, community and so many more!

Change Has Arrived!

California has dramatically changed how it funds its public schools. In order for all associated parties (beyond social workers) to take advantage of change, a great deal of training and new thinking needs to be infused in an overworked and exhausted system in which sufficient training is not always the order of the day.

Here’s a thought:

Instead of emphasizing what school social workers need to do differently in this changed world of ours, how grand it would be if others viewed the work of school social workers differently?

From A Different Vantage Point

• “Just when I think I’m all alone in the world, I reach out to the social worker on my campus to better examine options and resources.” – A Teacher

• “I’ve grown to finally—and yes I’ve been slow to ‘get it’—that the social workers at my school have a comprehensive understanding of the multiple needs of my students and I no longer have to pretend like I know everything!” – A Principal

From A Different Vantage Point (Cont.)

• “I’ve stopped screaming about my child’s rights and the stupidity of the whole school system and started listening and calmly conversing with the available social workers while better understanding how they are my allies.” – A Parent

• “What would I do if you finally gave me the magic wand of all magic wands? I would make sure that I have many more social workers available to help me and my staff build an exemplary educational environment where excellent and equity go hand in hand!” – A Superintendent

“Collaborchat” #1

• If you could magically revise view points, perspectives, or attitudes, what differences—from your seat as a school social worker— would you like to see?

“Oh, yeah!”

Locally Meeting the Needs of the

Neediest Students

Local Control andAccountability Plan

Access to core services

The Eight Priorities

Student Engagement

Implementation of state standards

Access to broad course of study

Measured student achievement

Measured student outcomes

Local ControlFunding Formula

Parent InvolvementSchool Climate

The Local Control Funding Formula Shows Promise!

Approved by the Legislature, the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), among other things, raises overall school spending, removes restrictions on categorical aids for specific programs, and provides extra funds to school districts with large numbers of low income and/or English learner students.

The Local Control Funding Formula Shows Promise! (Cont.)

The associated Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) has transformed the type of accountability districts have for meeting the needs of students in the core areas of student engagement and school climate.

The Local Control Funding Formula Shows Promise! (Cont.)

But, let’s be sure we are all on the same page of the same book: it’s much too soon to determine whether the formula will have its intended effect.

There is both an abundance of enthusiasm and bucket loads of confusion, especially as school personnel works to examine how they should account for the extra dollars and write LCAPs.

Only the future and an abundance of thoughtful examination will tell us whether, indeed, LCFF closes the achievement gap or is just another of many school improvement theories that misses the mark.

The Local Control Funding Formula Shows Promise! (Cont.)

With this promise, however, comes the desire to fix what’s broken as expeditiously as possible… We may agree that there is a lot to fix when we consider the inequities in how we collectively do school in California.

So, with an interest in doing and a clear sense of a need to start somewhere, the California Department of Education is putting some things in clear focus.

The Local Control Funding Formula Shows Promise! (Cont.)

• School Climate and Student Engagement

• Chronic Absence

• A Quality Schooling Framework As a Resource

What is School Climate?• School climate refers to the learning conditions and

quality of the school environment as it relates to:

o Norms, goals, and values

o Attitudes and behaviors

o Interpersonal relationships

o Social interactions

o Instructional practices

o Leadership and supports

o Physical setting, organizational practices, and structures

• School climate sets the tone for all learning and teaching in the school environment.

The Challenge• Most school reform focuses on curriculum,

instruction, and governance. However necessary, this is often not sufficient.

• Too often, there is an absence of a systematic focus on school climate and the context in which learning occurs.

o How and why youth learn

o The health and psychosocial barriers to learning that students face

• Without a positive school climate, students will not benefit from improvements in curriculum and instruction, and reform efforts will fall short.

How Does it Affect Achievement?

• “… all research…finds a positive correlation between better school climate and increased student learning and achievement” (Jones et al. 2008).

• School climate directly influences the cognitive as well as psychosocial development of students, promoting greater school connectedness, and engagement.

• School climate indirectly influences achievement through its effect on teacher performance and retention, and by improving parent involvement.

What is a Positive School Climate?

• Engages students in learning, staff in teaching, and parents in their children’s education.

• Provides a sense of school connectedness and shared values.

• Strives to address all learning barriers: focused on well-being and the whole child.

• Encourages students, staff, and parents to work together and support one another in implementing a shared vision:

o Between staff and students.

o Among staff and students.

o Between school and parents.

What is a Positive School Climate? (Cont.)

• Encourages students, staff, and parents to work together and support one another in implementing a shared vision:o Between staff and students.

o Among staff and students.o Between school and parents.

Does this sound like your work day on any given day?

• Caring Relationships

• High Expectations

• Opportunities for Meaningful Participation and Decision Making

Linked to acquisition of skills needed to learn and to positive academic outcomes, as well as health, social, and psychological well being.

YOU, dear school social workers, make it happen! You are the key!!

Three Key Developmental Supports

The Teacher Challenge• Twenty-two percent of new teachers in California

quit within four years.

• School climate is one of the most important factors in determining whether teachers stay or leave.

o Workplace conditions and supports: relationships/collegiality, expectations, participation, and decision-making

• A positive school climate for students enables teachers to focus on teaching and be more effective.

• If teachers don’t feel positive toward school, students won’t.

Collaborchat #2Please help me to better understand:

What are the challenges the school social worker encounters when working to improve the school’s climate?

You Matter!

Chronic AbsenteeDefined:

California Education Code Section 60901(c)(1):

“Chronic absentee” means a pupil who is absent on 10 percent or more of the school days in the school year when the total number of days the pupil is enrolled and school was actually taught in the regular day schools of the district, exclusive of Saturdays and Sundays.

Unpacking Attendance TermsThe percent of enrolled students who attend school each day. It is used in some states for allocating funding.

Why Are Students Chronically Absent?

Possible Causes of Chronic Absence

• Chronic health conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, dental problems, or mental health issues)

• Excessive suspensions• Homelessness• Domestic violence• Sexual exploitation• Parental neglect• Teenage rebellion or bullying• Drug or alcohol abuse• Transportation

Chronic Absence in Prekindergarten

+ Kindergarten = Significantly Worse Outcomes

For children chronically absent in prekindergarten and kindergarten, the Baltimore Education Research Consortium found:

•Greater likelihood of continued poor attendance. Fifty percent were chronically absent again in grade one, 45 percent in grade two

•Lower outcomes in grade one, grade two in reading and math, and math in grade three

•More often retained (26 percent compared with 9 percent of students with no chronic absence)

•More likely to be identified as needing special education

By contrast, children who participated in Head Start had better attendance and higher third

grade test scores.

Chronic Absence:A Hidden National Crisis

Nationwide, as many as 10–15 percent of students (7.5 million) miss nearly a month of school every year. That’s 135 million days of lost time in the classroom.

In some cities, as many as one in four students are missing that much school.

Chronic absenteeism is a red alert that students are headed for academic trouble and eventually for dropping out of high school. 

Poor attendance isn’t just a problem in high school. It can start as early as kindergarten and prekindergarten.

Universal Strategies for Building a Culture of Attendance and Identifying Barriers

Prevention and InterventionStrategies and Activities

Attendance Improvement Counselors:• Target attendance activities based on assessed needs and

data trends• Evaluate and enhance early intervention strategies and

systems • Implement student attendance recognition programs and

campaigns that reinforce attendance (yearly, monthly, weekly, daily)

• Implement and promote parent recognition programs and incentives

• Identify and assess available resources and school/community needs

• Connect students and parents to school/community resources as needed

Collaborchat #3

• What are the challenges the school social worker encounters when working to eliminate chronic absence?

Fortunately for our students:

A Resource to be Considered

The Quality Schooling Framework (QSF) is the California educator's destination for timely tools and practices to guide effective planning, policy, expenditure, and instructional decisions at all schools and districts.

The Quality Schooling Framework

• Climate Connection Toolkit

o Outlines no and low cost strategies to help school personnel improve the quality of relationships shared within and between adult and student groups on campus.

See QSF@cde.ca.gov

The Quality Schooling Framework (Cont.)

Climate Connection ToolkitOutlines no and low cost strategies to help school personnel improve the quality of

relationships shared within and between adult and student groups on their campus.

•California Healthy Kids Survey

A comprehensive survey used to assess many aspects of a school’s climate and culture

•Regional K–12 Student Mental Health Initiative Clearinghouse

A resource to assist in the development and implementation of effective programs and services

that promote the mental health and wellness of students in grades K–8 with linkages to

preschool and grades nine through twelve

•Personalizing the Learning Environment

Four components designed to assist in personalizing approaches to be used in high

schools.

•Learning Together: Improving Classroom behavior and social skills

A reminder of the critical importance to meet students’ social and emotional needs and

information designed to improve classroom behavior and social skills for those students at risk

of dropping out of school.

How Do You Feel?

Questions?

Gordon Jackson, DirectorCoordinated Student Support Division

916-319-0911gjackson@cde.ca.gov