Reconsidering the Social Work Education Continuum: Social Work Education at Community Colleges in the United States

The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) will soon revise the social work education continuum by welcoming practice doctoral programs into membership, leaving community colleges as the only excluded level of higher education in social work. The three connected products in this banded dissertation use critical pedagogy and post-positivist perspectives to explore how and why social work education evolved independently at community colleges, one of the largest, most diverse, and most affordable educational systems in the United States. Product One employs qualitative historical research to identify the forces which led community colleges and CSWE down separate paths between 1950 and 1975, despite consideration of expansion to include associate degrees in social work. Archived records indicate that differing goals, distrust, identity issues, inattentiveness, and class differences inhibited any on-going relationship between the developing two-year college system and social work’s professional organizations. Product Two examines the claims of some community colleges that they teach social work. It reveals the existence of Associate in Social Work (ASW) programs at 57 colleges in 24 states and then compares them to accepted standards for social work education to examine whether their programs’ offerings could be recognized as social work education. One-third of ASW program directors completed surveys. Their responses indicate voluntary adherence to 41% of select CSWE standards for Baccalaureate Social Work (BSW) programs. This quantitative, empirical research documents likenesses between some ASW programs and widely-accepted methods of social work education. Product Three is a presentation delivered at a national conference, the Council for the Study of Community Colleges conference in April 2018, applying ideas from social work education history to the needs of community colleges generally. This presentation suggested that pathways for upward transfer depend on advocates for professional and technical education organizing their efforts, building relationships with powerful gatekeepers, publishing research, and addressing their schools’ actual and perceived weaknesses. This banded dissertation suggests the possibilities of social work education at community colleges in the United States, belying the long-held belief in a three-level continuum of social work education. ASW programs operate in nearly half the country, and though they could have become part of CSWE, they currently operate autonomously from professional social work organizations. Stakeholders now have the opportunity to evaluate ASW programs and establish mutually beneficial relationships, if they so choose

The Validity and Utility of Student Evaluations

This paper explores the conundrum of student evaluations. At the end of each school term, nontenured collegiate instructors across disciplines and institutional classifications worry that student evaluations may unfairly derail their careers. Despite the prevalence of published research and opinion pieces, the academy seems far from reaching a consensus on whether or how to use student feedback. This re-examination of claims and the available evidence sets out to ascertain whether student evaluations of teaching provide meaningful information about the quality of teacher performance. Empirical studies reveal problems inherent to professorial evaluation and methodological flaws in the use of these high stakes tools. Nevertheless, the author argues, student evaluations offer useful qualitative and quantitative information about the student experience and the use of such feedback is consistent with social work practice. The author concludes with specific recommendations for the ethical and effective use of student evaluations in higher education

Enteropathy-associated T cell lymphoma subtypes are characterized by loss of function of SETD2

Enteropathy-associated T cell lymphoma (EATL) is a lethal, and the most common, neoplastic complication of celiac disease. Here, we defined the genetic landscape of EATL through whole-exome sequencing of 69 EATL tumors. SETD2 was the most frequently silenced gene in EATL (32% of cases). The JAK-STAT pathway was the most frequently mutated pathway, with frequent mutations in STAT5B as well as JAK1 , JAK3 , STAT3 , and SOCS1 . We also identified mutations in KRAS , TP53 , and TERT . Type I EATL and type II EATL (monomorphic epitheliotropic intestinal T cell lymphoma) had highly overlapping genetic alterations indicating shared mechanisms underlying their pathogenesis. We modeled the effects of SETD2 loss in vivo by developing a T cell–specific knockout mouse. These mice manifested an expansion of γδ T cells, indicating novel roles for SETD2 in T cell development and lymphomagenesis. Our data render the most comprehensive genetic portrait yet of this uncommon but lethal disease and may inform future classification schemes

PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIAL WORK VOLUME 14 (SUMMER 2018)

This is the full-text volume of Perspectives on Social Work, vol. 14 (Summer 2018)

Enteropathy-associated T cell lymphoma subtypes are characterized by loss of function of SETD2.

Enteropathy-associated T cell lymphoma (EATL) is a lethal, and the most common, neoplastic complication of celiac disease. Here, we defined the genetic landscape of EATL through whole-exome sequencing of 69 EATL tumors. SETD2 was the most frequently silenced gene in EATL (32% of cases). The JAK-STAT pathway was the most frequently mutated pathway, with frequent mutations in STAT5B as well as JAK1, JAK3, STAT3, and SOCS1 We also identified mutations in KRAS, TP53, and TERT Type I EATL and type II EATL (monomorphic epitheliotropic intestinal T cell lymphoma) had highly overlapping genetic alterations indicating shared mechanisms underlying their pathogenesis. We modeled the effects of SETD2 loss in vivo by developing a T cell-specific knockout mouse. These mice manifested an expansion of γδ T cells, indicating novel roles for SETD2 in T cell development and lymphomagenesis. Our data render the most comprehensive genetic portrait yet of this uncommon but lethal disease and may inform future classification schemes