Listen to what Iowa school social workers say about their career in school social work:
Iowa School Social Work Jobs
Iowa is a great place to live and work. On this page you will learn about the type of work that school social workers do in Iowa. If you are a social worker, you can also find out about job openings.
Iowa is a national leader in providing innovative educational services in schools. A Response to Intervention (RTI) model, recommended in IDEA 2004, to resolve student difficulties within general education has been implemented for more than a decade in Iowa. When students need special education they are identified without categorical labels.
Innovative approaches to services and service delivery have changed the way that school social workers design and deliver services to schools, students and their families. School social work applicants that come to Iowa will find the opportunity to be part of a group of social workers and educators that are on the cutting edge of education reform.
Job Openings
Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency School Social Work Job Description
Frequently Asked Questions about the Role of School Social Workers in Iowa
Question
Answer
Who employs school social workers in Iowa?
Over 245 school social workers are employed by Iowa's 12 Area Education Agencies called "AEAs". A growing number of social workers are being hired directly by Iowa school districts and another group of social workers are hired by other agencies, like mental health centers, to provide social work services in schools.
What are the typical duties of a School Social Worker in Iowa AEAs?
Iowa AEAs use funds from the Federal Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) to hire school social workers, psychologists, audiologists, speech and language pathologists, special education consultants, and other support personnel to focus on the needs of students with disabilities or students at risk to have a disability from birth through age 21.
AEA school social workers serving students from kindergarten through high school work in multiple buildings. These social workers provide consultation to school staff and social work services to the students and their families. Together with other educators, they help design interventions for individual students that are not succeeding in the general education program. They participate on multi-disciplinary evaluation and IEP teams for students with disabilities. Some school social workers work in alternative and other specialized schools.
AEA school social workers also serve infants, toddlers and pre-school aged children. They provide a vital service by connecting families of very young children to community resources and providing short term ‘problem-solving’ related to parenting issues and behavior management. They sometimes serve as service coordinators in the Early Access/Early Intervention Services Program for families of very young children.
AEA school social workers are leaders in state-wide initiatives like School-wide Positive Behavior Supports, TeenScreen, Learning Supports, the Oelweus Anti-Bullying Program and Instructional Decision-Making.
A growing number of Iowa school districts hire school social workers to provide a variety of other services within the district, or within specific buildings in the district. These social workers may interact with, and collaborate with the school social worker from the AEA.
School social workers employed by districts may serve all of the district students or a specific population of students with special needs. Some district social workers are employed within Family Resource Centers that provide services to students that are at-risk and their families.
Some AEAs use a generalist model to deliver services in schools. One person, a generalist that represents all of the AEA's disciplines serves a school building. That person may be referred to as a Building Representative or an AEA Representative. In AEAs using this model a school psychologist, a special class consultant, or a school social worker may serve as the Building Representative.
The Building Rep is responsible for oversight of the special education process in the building. He or she is involved in the identification of students for special education using Iowa's non-categorical Response to Intervention approach. The Building Representative is also involved in the development and implementation of the Individual Education Plan (IEP). In addition, the Building Representative provides consultation to general education staff and participates in a variety of building initiatives to help students succeed in school.
Some Iowa school social workers have embraced the generalist model. They believe that the case management role of a building representative puts their social work training and skills to good use. The model reduces the number of buildings an individual serves. Some social workers believe that being a building representative fosters positive relationships that improve the delivery of social work services.
Other school social workers oppose the generalist model. They believe that being a "building rep" forces them to take on tasks that are not appropriate for a social worker and that they have not been adequately trained to perform. The time needed to perform the duties of a building representative prevents them from delivering social work services. They are concerned that the students in the buildings served by other disciplines lack access to social work services IDEA entitles them to receive.
Regardless of the beliefs of individual school social workers on either side of the issue, the model continues to flourish in Iowa. School social workers across the state are finding new ways to practice within this new service delivery model.
See the Licensure Page of this website.
School social workers in Iowa, like the rest of the nation, have been profoundly affected by the NCLB Act of 2002. As schools scramble to meet the needs of students that are the most at risk for school failure, school social workers struggle to provide quality services that will enable their schools to succeed.
School social workers assist schools in developing programs and services for students that are at risk or that are not proficient in reading, math or science. School social workers use their knowledge and skills related to motivation, emotional development, perceptions of efficacy and relationships to help educators reach students that are not succeeding in their educational program. They use their knowledge of mental health and social services to help schools access the services that students and their families need to succeed in school.
The Iowa Department of Education has promoted Instructional Decision Making and School-wide Positive Behavior Supports to help schools struggling to meet the demands of NCLB. School social workers have taken leadership positions within AEAs in both of these initiatives.
In addition, school social workers developed their own models to address student academic performance. The Competency Enhancing Practices project is an example of an effort by Iowa school social workers to develop research evidenced practices that utilize the unique skills of social workers to improve student achievement in reading, math and science. Competency Enhancing Practices is a practice model based on research that uses the professional relationship and traditional social work skills to improve the perceived competence of teachers, families and students related to academic performance.
Download: Competency Enhancing Practices Template
Marc Singer, a school social worker in Prairie Lakes AEA 8, teaches students reading related behavior in the Algona school district's BARKS program (Behavior and Reading Kids Supports). Singer believes that school social workers have the skills to develop activities that build these critical skills and to provide the direct instruction. Data from the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and the BRI show that the BARKS program is having a positive impact on reading growth. During the first two years of the program, 54% of the BARKS students, including 64% of the students with IEP’s, showed reading comprehension growth as measured by their ITBS results and 26 BARKS students became proficient in reading. The progress made by these students is an important factor in helping their school district to meet NCLB trajectories.
Download Marc's article in the 2007 Spring Newsletter.
Linda Moran, a school social worker in the Northwest AEA 12 has developed techniques to measure the impact of school social work practice on the academic performance of students. Her presentation PR for School Social Workers: Showing Data Outcomes Related to NCLB Mandates was given at the 100th Anniversary of School Social Work Conference in Boston in 2004. The presentation shows ways that school social workers can use data to show the effectiveness of their intervention in promoting improved achievement. Moran delivered a similar presentation at the SSWAA conference in 2005.