Sociology Assignment

Question 1

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is a policy that was implemented and replaced the No Child Left Behind policy with the objective of addressing education for homeless children through the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. ESSA aimed to do this by removing hurdles to education, such as registration issues and lack of transportation. This policy was especially implemented to cater to students from poor backgrounds, like those in homeless situations, whereby the policy mandates that states ensure immediate enrollment of these students and designate liaisons to provide them with essential support (U.S. Department of Education, 2024b). Whereas these provisions improve access, challenges remain in implementation for various reasons. For instance, a study by Kim et al. (2024) shows that the ESSA policy has been poorly implemented in schools countrywide. Results from this study show that principals, who are key figures in determining how a policy will be implemented in their schools, had little to no knowledge of this policy. In addition, the study shows that state educational agencies could not complete the workload required for ESSA, resulting in incapacity to implement the policy successfully. Based on the evidence of this study, I would argue that ESSA is not an effective policy.

Question 2A

In 2008, the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act (H.R. 5447) was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. This bill’s objective was to address the challenges that social workers face in their profession. Notably, the bill was named after two civil rights leaders who were influential advocates of equality and social justice, namely Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Some challenges include overwhelming education debt, inadequate salaries, and serious safety concerns (Clark, 2008). The bill aimed to address these challenges by ensuring that an adequate workforce of social workers is available. Funding would be provided to eliminate the low wages, burnout and high caseloads, and also improve working conditions. The funding would also be channeled toward the education and training of social workers to address the shortages of workers. In addition, the bill would help enhance both the recruitment and retention of social workers, which is essential, especially in underserved communities.

Question 2B

The Savings on a Valuable Education (SAVE) program is a federal student loan repayment plan that determines payments based on a borrower’s income and family size as opposed to their loan balance, like in the previous plan and forgives outstanding balances after a certain number of years. With this plan, 10% of the borrower’s monthly income is capped, and after approximately twenty to twenty-five years, the remaining balance is forgiven (U.S. Department of Education, 2024a). The SAVE plan will cut many borrowers’ monthly payments to zero particularly for low-income borrowers, save other borrowers around $1,000 per year, prevent balances from accumulating due to unpaid interest, and get more borrowers closer to forgiveness faster. One main objective of this program is to ease the overwhelming burden of student loans, especially for individuals earning low-earning careers (U.S. Department of Education, 2024a). Undoubtedly, the objective of this program aligns perfectly with the goals of the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act. Both policies recognize that social workers are not paid enough, and since they are essential workers, it is only fair that they are given as much financial support as possible.

Question 3

Looking at Indiana’s current policy for school mental health professionals, it is evident that there is a concerning shortage in critical areas. First, for school psychologists, the state has one for every 2,607 students, which is far from the recommended ratio of one for every 500 students (Smith & Hoover, 2022). Secondly, regarding school social workers, the state has one for every 1,829 students, which is much lower than the recommended ratio of one for every 250 students. Thirdly, for school counselors, the state has one for every 497 students (Smith & Hoover, 2022). While the recommended ratio is one for every 250 students, it is still significantly lower. These shortages mean that students are not getting the mental health care they need, which could have serious consequences. Nevertheless, to address these shortages, policy opportunities can be found in considerably raising the investment so that more mental health professionals can be employed in schools, thereby improving the ratios.

Question 4

NASW’s approach to preparing social workers to develop anti-racism skills is centered around the micro level and not on both mezzo and macro levels, which are significant in this issue. According to the National Association of Social Workers (2022), this approach is all about the individual’s competencies with no focus on structural and systemic racism, which is where issues like lack of distributive justice lie. While I find it commendable that this approach ensures that social workers are culturally competent and undertake sensitive training, this only helps with individual biases and behaviors instead of helping workers learn skills that enable them to challenge institutional racism within social systems. The approach is undeniably useful, but again, seeing as how now there is a lot of diversity in the individuals working as social workers, a lot of them will be familiar with being culturally competent, and the main challenges will concern them trying to get the needed help for their clients in a system riddled with inequality. As such, this approach should not mainly focus on the micro level.

Question: Would the integration of structural analyses of racism in social work education promote systemic change? How can this be done effectively?

References

Clark, E. J. (2008, February 22). Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act – H.R. 5447 | Social Work blog. NASW. https://www.socialworkblog.org/news/2008/02/dorothy-i-height-and-whitney-m-young-jr-social-work-reinvestment-act-hr-5447-2/

Kim, J., Reid, D. B., & Galey, S. (2024). “A very small cog in the wheel”: Principals’ perceptions of change and continuity in the wake of ESSA reforms. Asia Pacific Education Review, 25(2), 299-312.

National Association of Social Workers. (2022, October). Undoing racism through social work vol. 2: A collaborative vision for an anti-racist future. NASW. https://www.socialworkers.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=QsNmikJGKj0%3d&portalid=0

Smith, B., & Hoover, S. (2022, February 1). America’s school mental health report card. Hopeful Futures Campaign. https://selcenter.wested.org/resource/americas-school-mental-health-report-card/

U.S. Department of Education. (2024a, February 21). Biden-Harris administration approves $1.2 billion in loan forgiveness for over 150,000 SAVE Plan borrowers. https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/biden-harris-administration-approves-12-billion-loan-forgiveness-over

U.S. Department of Education. (2024b, September 23). Key policy letters signed by the Education Secretary or Deputy Secretary. https://www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/education-policy/key-policy-letters-signed-by-the-education-secretary-or-deputy-secretary

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Assignment Content

Question 1
Read Key Policy Letters Signed by the Education Secretary or Deputy Secretary.

• Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) addresses education for homeless children. In 150 words, write an evaluation of whether ESSA is an effective policy. Support your answer.

Question 2
Read Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act – H.R. 5447 and Student Loan Debt Relief for Social Workers.

• 2A: In 150 words, what is the Dorothy Height Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act – H.R. 5447 of 2008?

Read SAVE (2024) Student Loan Forgiveness Plan

• 2B: In 150 words, provide an overview of the current policy on student loan forgiveness under the SAVE program. Discuss how this program aligns or does not align to the goals of Dorothy Height Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act.
  

  Sociology Assignment

Question 3
Read page 4 of America’s School Mental Health Report Card and find your state’s report starting on page 13.

• In 150 words, discuss your state’s current policy and policy opportunities for school mental health professionals.

Question 4
Read pages 16-19 of Undoing Racism through Social Work.

• In 150 words, critique NASW’s approach to preparing social work students to develop anti-racism skills.
• Write one question, related to the content in this module, that you would like the instructor to answer.