Structured, Sustained, and Reciprocal: Evidence-Informed Capacity Building in Chicago's School Social Work Professional Learning Community Project

Background and Purpose 

Results from the 2014 National School Social Work Survey (Kelly et al., 2015) revealed that school social workers reported: 1) a moderate use of resources to identify evidence based practices, 2) less time spent engaging in school-wide primary prevention practices, and 3) more effort in developing community partnerships than enhancing teacher capacity. These findings echo research on school social work that underscore the chronic structural and practice barriers that limit school-wide supports for children with mental health and behavioral issues.

In response, our team of researchers and practitioners developed the School Social Work Professional Learning Community Project (The PLC Project), a two-year professional development intervention designed to build the capacity of school social workers. In the field of education, well-developed professional learning communities (PLCs) have been found to have a positive impact on improving teacher practice and student achievement. However, limited research has examined the potential of PLCs for improving the practices of school social workers. Toward this end, from fall 2015 to spring 2017, the PLC Project utilized monthly, online, evidence-informed training workshops, peer-led mentor groups, and structured mechanisms to problem-solve and present lessons-learned from school-based interventions developed by participants. In turn, this study asked: How do participants in the PLC Project define their roles, responsibilities, and capacities in schools? How does participation in the PLC Project shape their professional capacity-building efforts?

Methods

Based on 39 in-depth, audio recorded, interviews with participants from the Project’s first year, and 22 interviews with participants from its second year, this two-year longitudinal qualitative study examined how participants defined their professional roles, used the Project to develop interventions for improving school mental health services in their schools, and worked to enhance their own professional capacities. Through a grounded theory method, transcribed interviewed were analyzed and coded using NVivo qualitative software.

Results

In this study, clear themes emerged related to how structural and practice problems in schools constrained participant efforts to provide school-based mental health services and build their professional capacities. Those who participated in the Project for two years, however, described high satisfaction with the evidence-informed learning and mutual accountability facilitated by the Project. The structured opportunities to problem-solve, reflect upon, and present lessons learned from their respective interventions, and to provide sustained guidance, expertise, and support for new participants, were also highly valued. Among those who began in the Project’s second year, participants expressed satisfaction with the reciprocal impact of sharing professional expertise and the structured and sustained support they received in the Project year round.

Conclusions and Implications

In light of the barriers to the provision of school-wide mental health interventions in schools, this study has implications for improving how school social workers can build their professional capacities and for scaling such efforts school- and district-wide. Most importantly, it suggests new pathways for creating structured, sustained, and mutually reciprocal professional development opportunities for school social workers that can improve schools’ mental health services and the wellbeing of their most vulnerable youth.