in the State of Michigan
The following will clarify the process through which individuals can attain official approval as school social workers by the State of Michigan Department of Education and describe the history of school social work in Michigan.
In Michigan in order for individuals to use the title of "school social worker" one must be approved by the state board education under the Michigan Rules for School Social Worker Services, authorized under the Public Acts of 1955 (Pryor & Secor, 1998). In order to gain this approval, one must have a written recommendation from a university with an approved school of social work training program. Typically, this training involves, "an MSW plus additional knowledge and skills related to practice with children and youths in schools" (Pryor & Secor, 1998, p. 66). In addition, specialized coursework related to practice in schools is required at all schools of social work for a total of six to nine credit hours. These requirements can be waived based on knowledge and competence. Futhermore, universities do not require that someone recommended for approval to have a field education placement in a school setting.
As a school social worker the first year of employment must be "with direction from a fully approved school social worker, or as otherwise authorized by the state board of education" (Michigan State Board of Education, 1987, p. 22). This first year of employment constitutes an internship that must be successfully completed before a person is designated a school social worker with "full approval." In addition, if school social workers serve in Michigan's public schools in special education the school districts can be partially reimbursed by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) for the salaries of their school social workers (Pryor & Secor, 1998).
Michigan's school social work history began when the Commonwealth Fund of New York gave the National Committee of Visiting Teachers support for a countrywide three-year demonstration project in the 1920s; Detroit was one of the 30 sites selected (Welsh, 1992). During the year of 1944 Michigan became the first state to pass legislation reimbursing local districts for visiting teacher's salaries. In the initial stage thirty-four programs and 79 visiting teachers were reimbursed. There were over 200 visiting teachers in Michigan by 1959 (Pryor & Secor, 1998). In 1954 the Michigan Association of School Social Workers (MASSW) was founded. Michigan joined eight other states in 1967 to establish the Midwest School Social Work Council (Fisher, 1984).
School social work in Michigan gained support when the National Institute of Mental Health provided grants to the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Wayne State University to support faculty whose role was to develop visiting teachers training programs in 1958 (Pryor & Secor, 1998). It was not until the 1960s that visiting teachers were permitted to use group work methods, which were promoted by Robert Vinter, Frank Maple, and Rosemary Sarri of the University of Michigan (Vinter & Sari, 1965). School social workers in Michigan benefited from the Great Cities Projects in the 1960s, which was developed in 13 communities, including Detroit. Financed by federal funds, this project provided one school-community agent for every participating inner-city school. As a school-community agent, school social workers strived to bring the school and the community into closer partnership (Pryor & Secor, 1998).
The title of "visiting teacher" was changed to "school social worker" in the revision of a state law in 1966. By 1969 there were 312 school social workers in Michigan (Pryor & Secor, 1998)..
During the year of 1971 Michigan mandated programs to educate children with disabilities. Under Michigan's Administrative Rules for Special Education, which supplemented Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1976, school psychological and school social work services were specified as "types of ancillary and other related services available to student who qualify for special education help" (Pryor & Secor, 1998, p. 68).
In recent years, Michigan has been preparing to change its special education rules. During the years of 1992 to 1994, a task force of eight social workers, parents, and other professionals came together and proposed changes to the special education rules. This task force recommended that a "unified education system be created where all program and services, including school social work services, would be available to all students with an identified need, regardless of special education eligibility" (Pryor & Secor, 1998, p.70). During the following year after the completion of the task force's recommendations, hearings were held at various locations around the state.
During 1995, school social workers in Michigan were struck with the news that the Michigan legislature undertook a major revision of the School Code, which would eliminate the word "school" before "social workers" in a section listing school personnel. Due to the (MASSW) members who testified before the Senate Education Committee an amendment was passed to reinsert the word "school" (Pryor & Secor, 1998).
Although the history of school social work in Michigan is ever changing, school social workers must continue to demonstrate their effectiveness that gave them the opportunities they possess today and "must continue to convincingly prove their work" (Pryor & Secor, 1998, p. 71).
References
Constable, R., McDonald, S., & Flynn, J.P. (1998). School social work: practice, policy, and research perspectives (4th ed.). Chicago, IL: Lyceum Books, Inc.
Fisher, R.A. (1984). The midwest school social work council. Social Work in Education, 6, 118-123.
Michigan State Board of Education. (1987). Revised administrative rules for special education and rules for school social worker and school psychological services. Lansing, MI: Author.
Pryor, C., & Secor, D. (1998). School social work services and their regulation in Michigan. Social Work in Education, 20(1), 65-73.
Vinter, R., & Sarri, R. (1965). Malperformance in the public school: A group work approach. Social Work, 10, 1-13.
Welsh, B. (1992). Michigan school social work history. Detroit: Wayne State University, School of Social Work.
in the state of Michigan visit:
(MDE)
AT
www.mde.state.mi.us/
(MASSW)
AT
www.massw-mi.org/