Urban elementary and middle school social worker reports of their current professional roles and responsibilities and the organizational conditions in schools that influence their practice

The focus of this study was to stimulate discussion about the current roles and responsibilities that urban district school social workers perform in their assigned schools, and the ways in which the organizations in schools support their practice, given the increased emphasis on testing and accountability.; Two research questions were used to study this problem. The first was: What do participating urban school social workers report as their current professional roles and responsibilities in their individual assigned schools? The second was: In what ways do participating urban school social workers perceive the influence of the four organizational frames (Bolman & Deal, 2003) on their ability to practice their profession in their individual assigned schools? Both questions helped to gather more data on how urban public school district elementary and middle social workers support student academic learning in their schools.; There were several conclusions for this study: (a) the perceived roles and responsibilities of urban public social workers conformed to the NASW standards of school social work practice, (b) urban school social workers played an important role in helping to improve student academic achievement in their schools, (c) shared responsibility among urban school social workers and teachers were some of the factors that contributed to the provision of social work services to students in need and their families, and (d) communication, collaboration, and good teamwork between urban school social workers and teachers were also an antidote for inevitable systemic structural problems that had arisen in their schools.