Behavior management is one area in which a school social worker is likely to make a direct impact on a student’s academic success. In addition, school social workers offer crisis intervention, conflict resolution, and counseling to students to help each individual child or adolescent gain the social understanding needed to interact in the school environment and learn.

Much of the responsibilities that go along with a school social work position also involve the assessment of a student’s behavior, learning ability, and social history. Understanding everything from what a child’s life is like at home to experiences in the classroom are essential in this assessment, helping school social workers best develop the plans and intervention strategies for each student.

School social workers also often work directly with families in order to best make assessments of behavior, learning, and social barriers to make changes to intervention plans. Additionally, families look to school social workers for help in understanding and finding resources to help students make adjustments in the classroom and at home.