The 21st Century Assessment: Measuring 21st Century Skills among Middle School Students

First Student Poster Presentation. Presenters: Annahita Ball and Hilary Drew - "the 21st Century Assessment: Measuring 21st Century Skills among Middle School Students".The Ohio State University College of Social Wor

School Mental Health in Charters: A Glimpse of Practitioners from a National Sample

Charter schools are part of a global push for alternative governance models in public education. Even though U.S. charter schools enroll nearly 3.2 million children, little is known about school mental health (SMH) practice in charter schools. The current study was the first step in a line of inquiry exploring SMH and school social work practice in charter schools. Using cross-sectional survey research methods, the authors conducted brief one-time phone surveys with charter school social workers and counselors identified using a stratified random sampling strategy with national charter school lists. The final sample for analysis was 473 schools. Of these, 44.4% (n = 210) had a school social worker or counselor present at least one day per week, of whom 67 (30.5%) were school social workers. The school social work sample reported a number of job titles, including “school social worker” (67%) and many (13.4%) that were a variation of counselor (e.g., “behavioral counselor,” “social emotional counselor”). Half were employed by their school, five were employed by an outside organization contracted with the school and eight were employed by the school’s chartering organization. More than three-quarters (83%) had a master\u27s degree in social work as their highest degree. Our findings provide a snapshot of the SMH and school social work workforce within the emerging practice setting of charter schools. Findings suggest that the SMH workforce may be professionally similar to those in traditional public schools, but with more flexibility for interprofessional collaboration, professional advocacy, and role definition. Other implications for research are also discussed

Exploring 21st Century Skills and Learning Environments for Middle School Youth

Resiliency research and strengths-based perspectives highlight the importance of understanding the protective factors that aid youth in overcoming adversity. Likewise, current research identifies the characteristics and skills youth need to be successful in post-secondary education and the workforce. These growing bodies of research emphasize cognitive and noncognitive skills that support youth development and academic success. This exploratory study sought to develop two distinct measurement instruments: (1) the 21st Century Life & Career Skills scale (21C-LCS); and (2) the 21st Century Skills Classroom Environment scale (21C-CE). We also examined students’ perceptions of their own skills in these areas. The measures were developed and tested using survey data from 262 middle school students. Exploratory Factor Analysis was used to examine the factorial structure of the measures and descriptive statistics were used to summarize student perceptions. Results indicated that the 21C-LCS and the 21C-CE are brief psychometrically sound measures. The 21C-LCS assesses students’ leadership and responsibility; working with others effectively; and, adaptability. The 21C-CE is a reliable measure of students’ perceptions of the ways in which their classroom environments support their development of 21st century life and career skills. Students reported moderately high perceptions of their skills in all areas. This study is an important step in measuring 21st century life and career skills and 21st century learning environments. Researchers, youth development professionals, educators, and other service providers can utilize these measures in ongoing investigation, assessment, and progress monitoring to foster and advocate for 21st century life and career skill development among youth

Social Work Advocacy: Professional Self-Interest and Social Justice

This study employed an analysis of the advocacy-related resources and materials available through the 50 NASW state chapter websites. Results revealed that a large number of states had no information about advocacy on their websites (42%). One third of the mission statements reviewed contained language indicating that advocacy was part of the chapter mission, while nearly as many included no content related to advocacy or social justice on their homepages. Nearly two thirds of the websites contained no resources, tools or links to help with advocacy practice, promotion or education. Thirteen advocacy themes emerged, which represented policy issues within the state advocacy agendas. Professional Self-Interest was the issue with the highest frequency (17%) across the 2010 state chapter agendas, but the 12 other social justice issues combined dominated the legislative agendas (83%). Professional selfinterest issues accounted for the highest rate of prevalence on state agendas, as it appeared on 86% of the chapter agendas analyzed

School Mental Health Early Interventions and Academic Outcomes for At-risk High School Students: A Review of the Research

The current educational policy context in the United States necessitates that school-based programs prioritize students’ academic outcomes. This review examined the quantitative research on school mental health (SMH) early interventions and academic outcomes for at risk high school students. Seven articles met the inclusion criteria for this review. All articles were examined according to study design and demographics, early intervention characteristics, and outcomes. Of the studies included, most were conducted in urban settings, involved the implementation of group-based early intervention strategies, and monitored GPA as a distal academic outcome. Counselors were frequent implementers of these early interventions. A meta-analysis found no statistically significant effect on the academic outcomes most commonly assessed in the studies (i.e., GPA, attendance, and discipline). Findings suggest the need for more rigorous research in this area. Implications for SMH early intervention research and practice are discussed