Whiteness and School Shootings: Theorization toward a More Critical School Social Work

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 153-160
Author(s):  
Joshua R Gregory
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
White Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Shootings ◽  
School Social Workers ◽  
Bullying Victimization ◽  
Educational Processes ◽  
Individual Trait ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract In the United States, school shootings have become an increasingly prevalent and publicly salient social problem. School social workers play a central role in developing understanding of their etiology and intervening to prevent their further occurrence. Even though nearly all school shootings are committed by white students, no etiological theory has contemplated the possibility that whiteness contributes in any meaningful way to the perpetration of school shootings. Popular theories suggest that gun availability, mental illness, and bullying bear some relationship to school shootings; however, levels of gun availability, mental illness prevalence, and bullying victimization do not differ substantially between whites and non-whites, indicating that these factors might account for school shootings within, but not between, races. The present article takes up the task of beginning to theorize the relationship between whiteness and school shootings, exploring the likelihood that whiteness acts as a moderator, leading whites, but not non-whites, to commit school shootings in response to similar antecedents. This novel theorization provides an opening for school social workers to more critically interrogate whiteness not as an individual trait, but as a structural phenomenon that influences not only the etiology of school shootings, but schools and educational processes more broadly.

Meeting the Social and Behavioral Health Needs of Students: Rethinking the Relationship Between Teachers and School Social Workers

2011 ◽  
Vol 81 (8) ◽  
pp. 493-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Cosner Berzin ◽  
Kimberly H. McManama O'Brien ◽  
Andy Frey ◽  
Michael S. Kelly ◽  
Michelle E. Alvarez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Health ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Health Needs ◽  
School Social Workers ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship

Response to Intervention in Schools

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Response To Intervention ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Positive Behavior Supports ◽  
Behavioral Functioning ◽  
Positive Behavior ◽  
School Social Workers ◽  
Community Based ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Behavior Supports

This entry will focus on a model of intervention (the three-tier model often known as “Response to Intervention,” or RTI) that has become infused into school districts around the United States and is likely going to continue to impact the practice of school social workers and community-based social workers who provide services in schools. Since the 1990s, the literature around improving the academic achievement and behavioral functioning of school-age children has gradually focused more on RTI as a way to implement effective early intervention strategies for youth to prevent school failure. The principles of RTI have also come to be associated with a related but distinct model of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS, sometimes also called Positive Behavior Supports/PBIS or School-Wide Positive Behavior Supports/SWPBIS) and this approach has also been promoted as an effective framework to improve an entire student body’s academic and social, emotional, or behavioral functioning. This entry will discuss the history of RTI (and PBIS), the policy context for the approaches’ growing adoption in American K–12 schools, and the (still small but growing) evidence base for RTI and PBIS as approaches for schools to enhance student academic and behavioral outcomes. Additionally, the specific role of school social workers (and community-based social workers working in schools) will be highlighted, specifically how the growing influence of RTI and PBIS offers new opportunities for social workers to serve schools, students, and families.

Violence

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianni Pirelli
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
School Shootings ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
High Profile ◽  
General Overview ◽  
The Relationship

In this chapter, the authors address four areas particularly relevant to understanding important topics related to gun-involved violence. First, they provide a general overview of violence, setting forth commonly recognized definitions and types, psychological components and theories, and psychiatric disorders most closely associated with violence. Second, they address firearm-related violence and crime with respect to national and state-based statistics as well as relevant theories and empirical research in this domain. Third, they discuss various high-profile shootings, including an overview of some of the more infamous mass shootings in the modern-day United States, followed by theories and research relevant to mass shootings (including school shootings). The authors also focus on the relationship between mental illness and firearm-related violence.

Pilots Who Are Perceived as Unsociable Are Perceived as More Likely to Have a Mental Illness

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott R. Winter ◽  
Stephen Rice
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental State ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Relationship

The mental state of pilots involved in commercial airlines incidents has been the subject of much debate. The current study seeks to use affective theory to address public perceptions of pilot behaviors and likelihood of perceived mental illness. Participants from India and the United States were given hypothetical scenarios about pilots who were presented as either sociable or unsociable. They were asked to give ratings of affective measures and likelihood of mental illness. The results indicate that pilots who were presented as behaving in an unsociable manner were rated as more likely to have a perceived mental illness compared with those who were behaving sociably. Affect appeared to at least partially mediate the relationship between sociability and perceived likelihood of mental illness for both cultural groups.

scholarly journals The relationship between test preparation and state test performance: Evidence from the Measure of Effective Teaching (MET) project

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 64
Author(s):  
Hongli Li ◽  
Yao Xiong
Keyword(s):  
Effective Teaching ◽  
Racial Differences ◽  
White Students ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Hispanic Students ◽  
Test Preparation ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Test ◽  
K 12 ◽  
The Relationship

The passage of the NCLB Act enhanced accountability policies in the United States, and standardized testing became prevalent as a policy tool to ensure accountability in K-12 education. Given the high stakes of state administered accountability tests, more school teachers have adopted test-preparation strategies to ensure satisfactory student performance on state tests. However, it remains unclear as to whether and how test preparation relates to students’ state test performance. In this study, by drawing on the Measure of Effective Teaching (MET) longitudinal dataset, we examined the relationship between test preparation and students’ state test performance. We found that students with lower test performance in Year 1 received more test preparation in Year 2; however, the effects of test preparation on students’ state test performance were rather small and mixed. In regard to racial differences, we found that Black and Hispanic students received more test preparation than White students. Further, the effect of test preparation measured by the item “practicing for the state test” on state test performance was significantly greater for Black and Hispanic students than for White students. The implications of the study, its limitations, and directions for future research are also discussed.

Mental Illness: Service System

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lonnie R. Snowden
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Health Problem ◽  
Service System ◽  
Quality Care ◽  
The United States ◽  
System P ◽  
Public Recognition

This entry describes the extent of the mental health problem in the United States, trends in treatment rates, and evidence that public recognition of mental illness and related interventions is increasing both in the United States and internationally. Emphasis is given to the structure of the mental health system's major sectors, to the key roles that social workers play, and to the challenges they face, outlined at the conclusion of several sections, in providing effective and quality care against the complex backdrop of this system.

Advancing Antiracist Policies and Practices in Schools

2021 ◽  
pp. 64-74
Author(s):  
Carolyn Curtis ◽  
Tynisha Jointer ◽  
Andrew Brake ◽  
Ashley Bonton
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Social Workers ◽  
Critical Question ◽  
New School ◽  
Social Justice Allies ◽  
Equity And Inclusion ◽  
Policies And Practices

As social justice allies and advocates, the top professional priority of school social workers should be to embrace and advance antiracist policies and practices to (re)build schools as institutions of equity, inclusion, and opportunity. This chapter addresses a critical question related to the struggle for diversity, equity, and inclusion in P-12 schools in the United States. It explores how new school social workers in their first three years of practice can establish themselves as leaders in guiding their school to assess the degree of cultural acceptance, while taking steps toward advancing antiracist policies and practices. Finally, the chapter offers an array of tools regarding assessing cultural acceptance and techniques for incorporating them across all tiers of a school community.

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