Testimonios of Antiracist School Social Workers: Advancing Professional Equity and Updating the School Social Work Model

Abstract

During a modern era of rising white nationalism and racial reckoning, the opportunity to reimagine the national model for school social work practice was explored in partnership with practitioners, scholars, researchers, and leaders of the profession. It sparked a parallel process of engagement that required the critical analysis of the systemic and structural racism impacting not only our educational communities, but also the historical influences shaping the school social work profession. Like the many antiracist efforts that have come before, the revision process was impacted by a pervasive culture of white supremacy, yet what emerged was an equity-centered model to guide the school social work profession into the future. The present article explores the collective experience, inclusive of reflective self-examination of lived experiences and guided by professional values and ethical responsibilities, which resulted in a practice model that seeks to transform inequities that prevent students and schools from achieving their optimal well-being. With its emphasis uplifting diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging, the National School Social Work Practice Model 2.0 centers the students and communities we seek to serve and propels the profession toward partnership in creating a liberatory future for all.

As described by Welton and Diem (2021), the sociopolitical moment we are in was amplified by the racial injustice and COVID-19 pandemic, but was imminent given the increases in white nationalist groups in the United States and abroad and the ability to spread hate, often anonymously, through social media. Globally, these white nationalist ideologies align with and are used to garner support for extremist politics. Moreover, white fear of an increasingly diversifying population has led to the anti-immigrant and harsh immigration enforcement policies our students are subjected to even in spaces previously considered safe such as schools, hospitals, and churches (Barreto et al., 2023; Thompson, 2022). Police violence with little to no accountability or justice represent a significant cause of mortality in the United States among Indigenous, Black, and Latine communities (Lett et al., 2020). While the violent murder of George Floyd in the midst of the global pandemic awakened many people to the issue of systemic racism who previously chose to remain uninformed, this commitment to antiracism was merely a moment, and support for antiracism within two years after the pandemic was not only dwindling, but had also ignited a backlash due to white fragility (Welton & Diem, 2021). The power of whiteness relies on the slow pace of movement toward social justice (Little, 2023). In this article, as a collective group of practitioners/researchers, we share our own testimonios of advancing antiracism and equity in our profession of school social work. Testimonio is a pedagogy, an intervention, and a research methodology that centers social justice and the lived experiences of those who experience oppression and reflect collective resistance (Hernández et al., 2024; Jupp et al., 2018). Specifically, we describe our positionalities, roles, and rationale regarding the significance of and the struggle for an updated National School Social Work Practice Model that centers equity and the lived experiences of racialized and minoritized students.

The Demographic and Social Context of Schools

Our profession of school social work was and is no exception to this ambivalence and, at times, outright resistance to centering racial equity and the lived experiences of students of color whom we serve. The changing demographics of the public schools combined with social inequities such as the increasing school segregation, and issues such as the school-to-prison pipeline, call on us as a profession to update our professional training and models of practice to address the needs of our students. Between 2012 and 2022, the percentage of public school students who are White decreased from 51 to 44 percent (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2024). These demographics hold across cities around the nation, with varying shifts in student populations. For example, school districts in Charlotte, North Carolina, have seen a decline in White students while experiencing an increase in Latine, Black, and Asian students (Tamez-Robledo, 2023). Other urban areas have seen a decrease in Black and Latine students, with parallel increases in districts outside of the city due to the high cost of housing displacing low-income families. Some shifts are dramatic, with some school districts seeing a double-digit drop in proportion of White students (Tamez-Robledo, 2023). Being attuned to the specific changes in each geographic area means shifting practices and approaches to meet the needs of these populations such as representation in the curriculum and books in the classrooms and libraries.

While schools are becoming increasingly racially diverse, there are also significant challenges such as the racial and ethnic segregation of schools. Seventy years after Brown v. Board of Education, schools are becoming increasingly segregated, with the segregation being most pronounced in school districts that enroll most of the nation’s students of color (Meltzer, 2024). The segregation has been driven by the end of court oversight and policies that favor school choice. Due to these policies, even residential integration does not translate into school integration. Thus, segregation is one of the most challenging barriers to educational equity. Racially segregated schools are also often economically segregated, translating into schools that lack human and curricular resources to meet academic and socioemotional needs (Mann & Rogers, 2021; NCES, n.d.; Orfield & Eaton, 1996).

Given these contextual, socioeconomic, and policy challenges, it is critical for the school social work profession to meet these demands and support the needs of children impacted by inequity, inequality, xenophobia, racism, and other forms of oppression. Students do not leave these experiences at the door when they enter the school building, and schools can either be spaces that reinforce these inequalities or create inclusive and just learning environments that result in liberatory outcomes (Cooper et al., 2015; Kasun & Mora-Pablo, 2022). Within the school social work profession, the call to address racial equity and center the experiences of racialized students has been slow to nonexistent despite these conversations taking place in education and the social work profession more broadly (Stone, 2017). Furthermore, the school social work profession has historically functioned to guard the privilege of whiteness (Guz & Suslovic, 2023).

Our Testimonios and Positionalities: Framing the Work

The use of lived experiences, or testimonio, as a method is grounded in the work of the Latina Feminist Group (2001) as a means to analyze and write about personal stories and connect them to institutional or social contexts that can often be sources of oppression. Testimonio is a way to elevate stories that demonstrate that our everyday experiences are the basis for constructing praxis and theory to address inequities (Anzaldúa, 1987; Latina Feminist Group, 2001). The intention of testimonio in this context was (and continues to be) a tool for consciousness raising and social change as individual stories become part of the collective history and experience of challenging oppression. The use of our own testimonios provides the foundation for the analysis and understanding of our antiracist, equity-centered work in the field of school social work and our efforts to engage the process to update the school social work model in a way that centers equity.

First author, Villarreal Sosa, is a second generation daughter of Mexican immigrants. (Note: Second generation immigrant refers to a U.S.-born individual who has at least one foreign-born parent.) Her interest in and commitment to racial equity and education are rooted in her own experiences in school and those of her family. She worked for 13 years as a school social worker, primarily with Latine and immigrant youth in suburban and urban contexts. These experiences, combined with her own lived experience, shaped her academic work, with a focus on creating practice models that address the experiences of racialized students. Villarreal Sosa served on the School Social Work Association of America (SSWAA) board for two terms and was involved in advocacy to advance the centering of equity and the experiences of students and school social workers of color. She practiced school social work in Illinois and has maintained her Illinois Professional Educator License and LCSW. She now works and lives in Texas, a state impacted by anti–diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) legislation. She currently leads the development and implementation of the Culturally Informed Response to Grief and Loss Training funded by New York Life. She has dedicated her career to pushing the boundaries of school social work to focus on racial equity, including the development of models for practice centered on the lived experiences of racialized communities. Thus, she had a significant stake in advocating for the centering of racial equity in the updated school social work model.

McCoy is a White woman of Irish, Scottish, and Czech heritage who was born and raised in Minnesota, where she currently resides. McCoy’s 27 years of experience in the third-largest school district in Minnesota that serves a diverse intersection of students, families, and communities are the cornerstone of her commitment to racial equity, inclusivity, and belonging. Engaging in ongoing critical conversations with students, staff, families, colleagues, and communities related to racial equity, lack of access to resources, and culturally responsive learning environments continues to be a transformational aspect in the evolution of her personal and professional journey. Centering student voices and the collective experiences of the communities that she supports, advocacy, and empowerment became fundamental components of her practice. Recognizing that to effectively dismantle barriers to equity, inclusion, social justice, and belonging, she was compelled to not only participate in her state, regional, and national school social work associations but to also step into various leadership roles on the respective boards. She continues to model and empower colleagues to reimagine social justice and equity while also embracing the intersection of this work to transform systems, policies, and practices at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels.

Thompson, a first generation immigrant, worked for 31 years in the sixth-largest school district in the nation, primarily serving as the director of student services. She worked to achieve better outcomes for all students and especially for the disenfranchised, racialized, and minoritized students. She intentionally amassed a very diverse staff to ensure student representation and created and implemented programs to address the gaps in services, while empowering the staff to subscribe to continuous professional development to prepare them to be culturally responsive as they practiced from a social justice lens. To continue her advocacy work, at the state level she served as president of the Florida Association of School Social Workers and chaired the state school social work conference for several years. On a national level, she served as a board member for SSWAA, first as the Southern Region Representative and then as the point person for the Standards and Practice committee. Postretirement, she is teaching MSW students and supporting doctoral students at a local university to be equipped to enter the profession as strong advocates for social justice and with a commitment toward improved outcomes for all students.

Ochocki, a White Midwesterner raised in a small Wisconsin farming community, is a first generation college student who found her way to social work after being educated in related fields. Her experiences working in a women’s shelter and community mental health center, where clients were disproportionately people of color, and which clearly displayed racial inequities, opened her eyes to the need for multifaceted approaches to course correct. This drew Ochocki toward social work, specifically because of the profession’s proclaimed commitment to social justice. Ochocki’s specialization in school social work was a combination of her interest in working with children and families and her commitment and intent to help ensure educational systems actualized their potential to be the positive, life-giving experiences children, youth, families, and communities deserve. For almost 20 years, Ochocki has been working to transform educational institutions into equity-centered systems from the inside out, as a building school social worker and district administrator in two of Minnesota’s largest school districts, and from the outside in, with her advocacy and leadership in state, regional, and national school social work associations.

Evolution of the National School Social Work Practice Model 2.0

The pandemic and racial reckoning that occurred after the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor in 2020 illuminated persistent, perpetual trauma caused by oppressive, inequitable policies and practices that marginalize communities of color. One of the resulting outcomes was that organizations were forced to reflect on the historical and present harm of institutional practices imposed on communities that are Black, Indigenous, or people of color. Reconciling the role that social work has played in upholding racist systems and beliefs has required an honest exploration of the impact of white dominant culture in shaping our profession’s history, how this history has been taught, and the influence on present-day practices (Walborn, 2022). Thus, a renewed call to action to take steps to combat structural racism within the field of social work has manifested throughout various aspects of the profession (Crutchfield et al., 2020; Villarreal Sosa & Nuckolls, 2018).

A paradox exists between social work’s mission “to enhance the human well-being and to help meet the basic needs of all people” through empowerment and advocacy to challenge social injustices and the necessity to address racism at all levels including that which exists in our own profession (National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2021, p. 3). Many examples of structural racism exist, such as “individual social work practitioners’ and agencies’ support for policies without regard to racial implications” for students; the reality that “predominantly White leadership and management structures” exist within the institutions of education, social work, healthcare, and elsewhere; a lack of consistent training in cultural humility and responsiveness for social workers; and “the limited focus on institutional factors as opposed to individual factors” (Crutchfield et al., 2020, p. 189). This focus results in problem solving oriented at the individual/micro level rather than antiracist mezzo and macro interventions that could redress structural inequities. The ethical responsibility of school social workers to “take action against oppression, racism, discrimination, and inequities, and acknowledge personal privilege” is paramount in “demonstrating awareness and cultural humility by engaging in critical self-reflection (understanding their own bias and engaging in self-correction); recognizing clients as experts of their own culture; committing to life-long learning; and holding institutions accountable for advancing cultural humility” (NASW, 2021, p. 17). In order for students and our communities to thrive, the authors implore school social workers to embrace their role as antiracist leaders to restore “the well-being of individuals, groups, families, and institutions through the process of reconciling the harm, the trauma, the damage that has been done to the psychological, spiritual, and sometimes physical well-being of individuals, communities and institutions” (Riback, 2022, 3:37).

Understanding the positionality and role of SSWAA in advocating for school social work practice that aligns with antiracist practices, we—along with other leaders—embarked on courageous conversations to explore how and where to engage in reform efforts. This involved the hiring of racial equity consultants to assist the organization in developing a road map for healing and moving forward in this work. It has been critical to examine our own racialized experiences; the internalization of messages learned that mirror white dominant culture; and how that has influenced school social work research, education, policies, and practice guidelines. Thus, the vision of intentionally centering diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging (DEIJB) as the foundation of school social work practice at all levels resulted in the updated National School Social Work Practice Model 2.0 (Tan & SSWAA, in press).

The original National School Social Work Practice Model (Frey et al., 2013) was created to provide an essential framework to “inform professional preparation programs, improve the quality of professional standards, guide development efforts for preservice education programs, and influence SSW [school social work] practice” (Crutchfield et al., 2020, p. 190). As an essential tool for ensuring core competencies and consistency across the profession, a revision was explored that honored the past while gathering the essential contemporary perspectives necessary to move the work forward. This comprehensive process began in consultation with the authors of the original model, the SSWAA board of directors, and focus groups, and culminated in a participatory approach to engagement with SSWAA conference attendees invited to provide feedback and to incorporate the updated professional values associated with cultural responsiveness by embedding DEIJB language explicitly within the practice principles, practice domains, focus areas, and professional activities. To move from a process of transactional problem solving to a re-envisioning and imagining of what true liberation looks like for our students, communities, and ourselves necessitated these deliberate efforts to engage the voices of practitioners in addition to academic scholars throughout the process. Our goal was supporting and advocating for shifting the school social work mindset from a race-neutral, decontextualized practice to one that is about “partnering with” minoritized communities as the underlying philosophy (Stone, 2017). The collective creation of this newly revised model required that we elevate all voices, especially those historically excluded from leadership and practice in the profession (Guz & Suslovic, 2023). Intentionally creating space to allow practitioners to pause, listen, see, reflect, and delve into the underpinnings of discomfort in centering racial equity was an integral aspect of the revision process. What emerged was a deliberate framework that emphasizes the skills to build a sustainable antiracist collective culture across our profession by balancing the necessity of increasing one’s self-knowledge with actions that dismantle unjust systems and uplift humanity.

The Expression of Equity in the Model Prevails

The sense of urgency to update the model encompassed navigating the desire to maintain the status quo and the comfort of a predominately white profession. Recognizing the historical and present influence of white supremacy culture in our profession manifested by the continued “sense of urgency,” it was essential to slow down the process to one that ensured an inclusive, democratic, and thoughtful process (Okun, n.d.). Considering the systems approach guiding the social work profession, solidified by the educational policy and accreditation standards approved by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE; 2022) and the regulatory role of exams administered as a requirement of state licensure by the Association of Social Work Boards (n.d.), leaders of the profession needed to understand the various systems, including community, culture, and broader societal structures imprinting the context under which the opportunity to reenvision the practice model was influenced. A need to challenge the existence of a professional scarcity mindset and a fear of possible professional retribution manifested in a diminished need for school social work services led to many conversations and rich discussions with various practitioners across the nation such as the Practitioners of Color Advisory Group, Standards and Practice Committee, state leaders, participants attending the national conferences, academic leaders in school social work at SSWR, and others. This was not an easy process, and manifestations of white supremacy have not been fully resolved or eliminated. The voices of those who desire the removal of the equity language from the model persist, attending sessions introducing the model to disrupt the session and rally support for a return to a racially neutral practice. This defensiveness (or white fragility) to new ideas is another manifestation of white supremacy, slowing the dissemination of the new school social work model and preventing or limiting meaningful cross-racial dialogue (DiAngelo, 2018; Okun, n.d.).

Reactions grounded in white supremacy surfaced, leveraging the age-old uncertainty and confusion around the clear roles and vital positions professional school social workers occupy, suggesting that including equity would lead to the elimination of those positions. This approach is intended to inspire fear about the strengthening of equity-based language in the model and justify the need for its removal. Social justice has been part of our professional foundation, yet the question with which we needed to grapple was: How could the leading professional association for school social work have the courage to transform the traditional practices to center equity despite fears and reactions grounded in white fragility that would maintain white supremacy within the organization and profession? To ignore the racial reckoning occurring and not engage in the parallel processing of antiracist work in ourselves, our practice, and our profession would not just be negligent, but would also continue to uphold a system of marginalization and oppression that harms our students, families, and communities.

Intentional work, in the midst of resistance, was done to posit the model within a framework that would explicitly anchor the school social work practice with relevance to address the needs of the 21st century and beyond. As such, the revised model leads with the acknowledgment that “school social workers promote sustaining and equitable outcomes” (Tan & SSWAA, in press, p. 3) guided by the governance of three interlocking professional principles—the professional code of ethics, social work values, and the elevation of equity. This revision work was bolstered by a bastion cry to review the practice models of other student instructional support personnel and professional social work associations (NASW, CSWE, National Association of Black Social Workers, and Latino Social Workers Organization); the review confirmed that our professional group and thus our practice model were not in alignment with our colleagues who intentionally adjusted their models to center or strengthen DEIJB in their practice. The group leaned on the NASW (2015)  Standards and Indicators for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice, and in particular Standard 10: Leadership to Advance Cultural Competence:

Social workers shall be change agents who demonstrate the leadership skills to work effectively with multicultural groups in agencies, organizational settings, and communities. Social workers should also demonstrate responsibility for advancing cultural competence within and beyond their organizations, helping to challenge structural and institutional oppression and build and sustain diverse and inclusive institutions and communities. (p. 47)

Based on this, the language of the national practice model was revised as follows: “School social workers must promote healing and restore relationships within the communities of their students and families that have been historically strained and harmed based on past and current racialized and historical trauma” (Tan & SSWAA, in press, p. 3). No longer is the model ignoring race and centering white supremacy; now, it is committed to centering the worth and dignity of every student, going beyond narrow definitions of “success” to one that encompasses close relationships with peers and adults, positive conduct, self-regulation, and a cohesive and integrated sense of all social identities such as race, gender, and sexuality (Motti-Stefanidi, 2023). The equity-centered model creates a vision and path forward for the profession to do the work necessary for inclusive and just learning environments that result in liberatory outcomes.

Call to Action

In the words of the late Congressman John Lewis, if school social workers “see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation” to do something (CBS Morning, 2017, para. 4). As this revised National School Social Work Practice Model 2.0 is rolled out, we recommend that you embrace our profession’s commitment to practice amplifying principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, social justice, and belonging by getting involved in the following ways:

• Engage in ongoing self-reflection or “mirror work.” As Dr. Shawn Ginwright explains this, “insight gives us the capacity to identify our own patterns of behavior and their connection to collective trauma and the potential for social transformation” (Ginwright, 2022, p. 49).

• Adopt the changes, especially if you are a seasoned social worker, and support early career staff on its correct implementation.

• Educate district leadership about the model and the expanded interventions school social workers can provide to schools, students, families, and the community.

• Prioritize and encourage training all staff on the immediate implementation of the model.

• Provide, create, and demand systemic/institutional support to implement these practices with fidelity.

• Engage in ongoing training on DEIJB prin-ciples.

• Maintain the calls for updated school social work content and curricula that center equity and the tools school social workers need to do this work.

• Challenge school social work researchers and educators to move away from race-blind approaches and ensure that they, too, center the lived experiences and voices of minoritized and racialized youth.

• Remain professionally vigilant to ever-changing needs of our students, families, and communities; use the revised model’s emphasis on equity as your compass.

Conclusion

Living from our values and ethical responsibilities requires a collective, unified approach to transform systems, policies, and professional and personal practices that contribute to inequities preventing students and our schools from achieving optimal well-being. The National School Social Work Practice Model 2.0 offers a critical pathway to achieving sustainable and equitable outcomes for all students while also promoting a more socially just society. In true community subscription to DEIJB, school social workers are pivotal in facilitating transformative relationships that embrace the African philosophy of ubuntu, “I am because we are.”

Acknowledgment

Authors want to acknowledge the communities of color who have historically engaged and currently continue to engage in the struggle for equity and access to education. Authors acknowledge the ancestors, grandmothers, grandfathers, mothers, fathers, and other family members, and the youth who have engaged in the struggle for access to education for themselves, their children, and their communities. Authors uphold and acknowledge that this work has historically been done with or without school social workers, and at times our profession has caused harm. Authors also want to acknowledge the courageous school social workers who are engaged in equity and antiracist work every day, even in contexts that are hostile to this work. Together, as school social workers, working with communities who are minoritized and racialized, we can create school environments that foster inclusion, equity, and liberatory outcomes.

References