Social Worker

Please visit the link below to view the RLRS social worker webpage.

If the only task of teachers was to teach the three R’s, their jobs would be easy. But as we know, many factors conspire to make it difficult for some young people to make it through school. School social workers pick up where teachers leave off. They are perhaps the professionals best equipped to address the social and psychological issues that can block academic progress. Through counseling, crisis intervention, and prevention programs, they help young people overcome the difficulties in their lives, and as a result, give them a better chance at succeeding in school.

About 5% of the nations approximately half a million social workers work in the schools, primarily in public school settings. Besides helping youth with traditional academic problems, social workers aid others whose specific social, psychological, emotional, or physical difficulties put them at risk for falling through the cracks.

Because social workers are trained to think of innovative solutions to complex problems, their interventions often make a strong difference for young people at risk for academic failure.