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Keywords

School Social Work, Data Informed Decision Making, School Interventions

Abstract

Effectively supporting school social workers (SSW) in using data to make evidence informed decisions can be challenging for many reasons. This study examines how SSW utilize data across each step of the data engagement framework and, explores the confidence level of SSW in identifying data as well as specific types of data being utilized in the school setting. Data were collected though mixed-methods survey items with social workers in one district in central Florida asking about the different ways in which SSW were engaged with data usage. Results from the study indicate that SSW felt more comfortable in identifying interventions and their ability to intervene than having the right data, making meaning of data, or evaluating the impact of their interventions. These themes were further explored using the qualitative items which identified specific aspects of data engagement including identification of the right data, accessing data, interpreting results, deciding interventions, monitoring implementation and how SSW learn about interventions.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Author Biography

Dr. Robert Lucio received a B.A from the University of Florida, M.S.W. from Florida State University, and a PH.D. in Social Work from the University of South Florida. Dr. Lucio is a licensed clinical social worker, with over 18 years of experience working directly with youth of adverse behavioral, academic, and mental health outcomes. Dr. Lucio has also consulted with local school districts to enhance social workers use of evidence informed interventions and has been actively involved school behavioral health. He is experienced at developing models of risk and protective factors in youth, providing trainings on cultural humility, and serving as a national panelist looking at the impact of ethnicity and ethnicity and cultural diversity on the educational outcomes for youth with disabilities for the U.S. Department of Education. His focus is on how risk and protective factors interact to affect child, youth and family cognitive, social, and emotional development. Findings of his work demonstrated that many of the same risk and protective factors have an impact on the mental health of children in school settings, child development, maternal and child health, and adolescent pregnancy, making the investigation of these factors crucial to the development of interventions to alleviate these concerns.

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