Social Workers and Policy Advocacy

866 Words2 Pages

As a social worker it is important to engage in policy practice. It is a part of the profession, whether you like it or not. It is an aspect that can change the way things are done for clients in a good way or bad. If you want to be more affective in practice, advocating for policies is one way of making sure your clients receive what they deserve. Chapin (2011) talks about how as a social worker you cannot take on every social policy issue, but it is important to consider the policies that affect your client population.
In light of Chapin (2011) my client population is students in an alternative school, ages 17-20. The current policy that will affect them most in their school career is the Common Core State Standards. This is a policy that puts in place educational standards (Florida Department of Education) that will be universal, hopefully in all states. After each state adopts the standards they can then base their curriculum on the standards (Florida Department of Education). This will help to make schools be on the same level academically and will hopefully increase the graduation rate.
As I mentioned, the population impacted by this policy is any school-aged child. One could also say that the population of educators will be affected as well. This policy will benefit students in any school and from any background. Through having standards across all states, if a student transfers to a new school the standards should be the same. As of now, a student could move and either is way ahead of the new school or way behind. This shouldn’t be happening; the standard for every grade should be the same to where you could go to any school and they are learning the same things.
Coalition members would be the Florida Department of ...

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...things the way they are so there is no hassle.
Lastly, as with most policies there is funding to think about. Is it going to be feasible to put this policy into place? It is important to look at a cost benefit analysis to see if the benefits outweigh the costs. Advocating for the appropriations committee to pass this policy through to be funded and put into place in the schools statewide.

Works Cited

Chapin, K. Rosemary. (2011). Social Policy for Effective Practice: A Strengths Approach.
New York: Routledge.
Common Core Standards, H. 377, Regular Sess. (2013).
Common Core State Standards. (n.d.). Common Core State Standards. Retrieved November 18,
2013, from http://www.cpalms.org/Standards/Common_Core_Standards.aspx
Florida Department of Education. (n.d.). Florida Public Schools. Retrieved November 18, 2013, from https://www.fldoe.org/schools/ccc.asp

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