The Evolution of School Social Work Services in an Urban School District

Abstract

The authors present a case history of the growth and development of school social work services between 2000 and 2012 in the San Francisco Unified School District. Responding to a gap in the literature describing growth of school social work services in local educational contexts, this case history reveals, consistent with prior research, that strategic and collaboratively oriented funding strategies aligned with student and community needs, extra- and intradistrict social work advocacy, data-based decision-making infrastructures, and aligned preservice and post-MSW training opportunities play key roles in sustained school social work services.