Shawn D. Ginther, M.S.W, Ph.D - Department of Social Work

SW 460W
Social Policy

Overview: This writing-intensive course builds on foundational Dragon Core curricula in its study of social policy development, various political and economic views, policy analysis and change methods, policy evaluation, and relationship between social policy to social work practice.

Prerequisite: ECON 100, POL 120, Para 470, HIST 241, admission.

Things to do before our first class meeting: Before our fist class meeting, please identify a social problem that you will study in-depth this term. Then, identify an agency that you want to explore that addresses this social problem as this organization will be the basis for your term project. Then, visit your selected agency and get brochures and other reading materials provided that discuss its mission, goals, objectives, clients, etc. for use in class.

Academic Honesty and Student Conduct
Attendance
Curricular Context
Description
Goal
Grading Policy
Late Assignments
Library Literature Search Link 1
Listserv
Logistics
Policy Roundtable
Principal Reading Materials
Professional Expectations
Resources
Requirements
Teaching Methods
Writing Intensive Orientation

Academic Honesty and Student Conduct:
Each student will be held to MSUM's high standards regarding academic honesty and student conduct. Therefore, each student is expected to review MSUM's policy on each: Academic Honesty and Student Conduct. Violations of these standards will be addressed according to MSUM procedures. Each student will also be held to our profession's behavioral standards as outlined in the NASW Code of Ethics and the School of Social Work Student Handbook. Please carefully review these professional standards and note their role in your formative evaluation while in our program.
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Attendance:
Attendance is crucial to your success in SW460. Because you are becoming human service professionals, attendance is expected. Indeed, students who do not attend class do not perform as well on class assignments, and professionals who routinely miss appointments, work deadlines, etc. do not remain employed!
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Professional Expectation:
Just as licensed professionals must meet various professional expectations in their practice settings, Social Work 460 places professional expectations on both the instructor and students. (see Student Conduct Code referenced above)

INSTRUCTOR: The instructor pledges to come to class prepared to study with students the materials for each week. The instructor also pledges to professional quality provide materials (i.e., content and appearance). And the professor pledges to conduct himself professionally at all times.

STUDENTS: As this is a university setting, students must ready themselves for competent and critical discourse of assigned materials prior to each class meeting.* Students must submit professional quality work (i.e., content and appearance) at all times. Submitted work that is less than professional quality will not be graded and cannot be rewritten. Students must not hold independent and/or personal conversations during class sessions as these are very disruptive to class processes. Students must respect those who hold the floor at any given time in order to ensure a safe learning environment that promotes meaningful interaction. No cell phones are permitted in class. Finally, the instructor will expel from class any student chronically violating the above policies.
(See also student professional conduct expectations outlined in the School of Social Work Student Handbook), as well as the Formative Evaluation Process used in the School of Social Work.)
*Students must read all materials listed for a given week read prior to that week in anticipation of critical, in-depth discussions of that material, and other classwork. Critical thinking is defined in Social Work 460 as the careful examination of beliefs and actions that ideally leads to creative opinions or conclusions that form the basis for professional action. Critical thinking skills are developed via the deliberate, judicious, and methodical evaluation -- both verbally ( class discussions ) and in writing ( research report & examination ) -- of our class material's logic, assumptions, stated conclusions, and practice relevance. To assist with expectations, Social Work 460 enables students to develop their critical thinking skills and writing ability since both are germane to social work research and professional social work practice in formal institutional and community-based settings.
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Curricular Context:
Generalist social work practice is the critical application of an eclectic knowledge base, professional values, and numerous culturally competent skills to a planned change process at any system level. Social Work 460 enables generalist social work majors to understand the relationship between policy and professional generalist social work practice. This course teaches the role of the generalist baccalaureate practitioner in the development, implementation, and monitoring of local, regional, and federal social welfare policies and programs (i.e., policy practice ). SW460 is taken with the practice sequence (SW420, SW430, SW440, SW450), as the last class of the policy sequence (i.e., Hist 241; PARA 370; Pol Sci 120; Econ 100), and before field (SW469) and senior seminar (SW470).
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Description:
Professional generalist social work practice is performed in the context of social welfare policy; therefore, policy practice is increasingly required of the generalist practitioner. Effective generalist practitioners must be able to historically, structurally, and critically analyze social policies and their effects on individuals' / society's biological, psychological, social, spiritual growth, health, and well-being. Competent generalist practitioners must also be able to influence policy's development, implementation, and post-implementation evaluation. Thus, as a required foundation course, Social Work 460 builds on the liberal arts perspective by helping students integrate social science (e.g., economics, history, political, sociological, psychological) and social work knowledge in order to understand the culture, mission, theoretical and values basis for, and philosophy of social welfare policy. Social Work 460 also explores policy's impact on contemporary professional social work, its effect on various beneficiaries, and its growing global context. Further, this course will enable students to analyze local, regional, national, and global issues regarding social welfare institutions and their constituent programs and agencies; and help students understand how to begin to influence policy development and implementation. Analytic frameworks are used to critically analyze social problems (e.g., their genesis, definition, nature, and scope), societal responses (e.g., policy formulation, implementation, programmatic areas, and service delivery structures), and salient political processes and forces. Social work values and ethics, human diversity, populations-at-risk, the systems / ecological perspectives, and issues of social and economic justice are all continuously examined in the context of social welfare policy and how policy can help or hinder people in their quest for growth and well-being.
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Goal:
The goal in Social Work 460 is to enable students to use knowledge gained in prior coursework (i.e., social work history, economics, political science, and social work) to critically analyze the role of contemporary social welfare policy , and then ultimately influence its development, implementation, evaluation, and revision.

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Curricular Context:
Generalist social work practice is the critical application of an eclectic knowledge base, professional values, and a wide range of culturally competent skills to a planned change process at any system level. Social Work 460 enables generalist social work majors to understand the relationship between policy and professional generalist social work practice. This course teaches the role of the generalist baccalaureate practitioner in the development, implementation, and monitoring of local, regional, and federal social welfare policies and programs (i.e., policy practice ). SW460 is taken with the practice sequence (SW420, SW430, SW440, SW450), as the last class of the policy sequence (i.e., Hist 241; PARA 370; Pol Sci 120; Econ 100), and before field (SW469) and senior seminar (SW470).
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Description:
Professional generalist social work practice is performed in the context of social welfare policy; therefore, policy practice is increasingly required of the generalist practitioner. Effective generalist practitioners must be able to historically, structurally, and critically analyze social policies and their effects on individuals' / society's biological, psychological, social, spiritual growth, health, and well-being. Competent generalist practitioners must also be able to influence policy's development, implementation, and post-implementation evaluation. Thus, as a required foundation course, Social Work 460 builds on the liberal arts perspective by helping students integrate social science (e.g., economics, history, political, sociological, psychological) and social work knowledge in order to understand the culture, mission, theoretical and values basis for, and philosophy of social welfare policy. Social Work 460 also explores policy's impact on contemporary professional social work, its effect on various beneficiaries, and its growing global context. Further, this course will enable students to analyze local, regional, national, and global issues regarding social welfare institutions and their constituent programs and agencies; and help students understand how to begin to influence policy development and implementation. Analytic frameworks are used to critically analyze social problems (e.g., their genesis, definition, nature, and scope), societal responses (e.g., policy formulation, implementation, programmatic areas, and service delivery structures), and salient political processes and forces. Social work values and ethics, human diversity, populations-at-risk, the systems / ecological perspectives, and issues of social and economic justice are all continuously examined in the context of social welfare policy and how policy can help or hinder people in their quest for growth and well-being.
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Goal:
The goal in Social Work 460 is to enable students to use knowledge gained in prior coursework (i.e., social work history, economics, political science, and social work) to critically analyze the role of contemporary social welfare policy , and then ultimately influence its development, implementation, evaluation, and revision.
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Writing Intensive Orientation:

Social work professionals must write clearly, precisely, succinctly, and technically. Thus, SW460 is a required writing-intensive course that uses "writing-to-learn" processes to help you become a professional writer, a competent consumer and purveyor of social policy research, and a competent policy practitioner. SW460 informally and formally integrates technical human service writing with course content to advance your knowledge, skills, and perspectives gained from Dragon Core curricula and other social work courses and prerequisites, and develop your understanding of social problems, social policy, and policy practice. Throughout the semester you will complete short, unscheduled, and ungraded writing assignments to advance learning and professional self-expression. You will also complete five separate series of WI worksheets that sequentially integrate unit-specific class materials. From these, you will complete five separate writing assignments (Total: 23 pages) where each is uniquely organized, drafted, revised, peer edited, re-revised, then graded. You must use and provide peer consultation via a dyadic "editing buddy" system. Each assignment requires that you locate, read, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and appropriately and ethically integrate into your written products diverse primary and secondary professional human service literatures using the APA formatting system (25 references). These five individual assignments must be logical, engaging, grammatically and mechanically sound, and professional in appearance. These assignments require writing, editing, reorganization, etc., and are teach the requisite organizational analysis skills you will independently use to complete work during practicum (SW469) and senior seminar (SW470). In every instance you must consult frequently with this instructor during the semester.
NOTE 1: All writing will be processed in this class in various ways. For example, students will share their work with their individual colleagues, in small cooperative learning groups, and with the entire class at various times this semester for learning purposes.
NOTE 2: All final papers will be in the front office to be retrieved by the end of the second week of the following semester. Unclaimed papers will be recycled that following Monday.

Logistics:
Course ID: M-1164; T-2673
Meetings: Monday 5-7:30 (1164); Tuesday 5-7:30 (2673)
Room: Mondays-1164: MA 169; Tuesdays-2673: CB 212
Faculty: S. D. Ginther, M.S.W., Ph.D .
School Web Page
Office Hours
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Requirements:
To accomplish the above course goal, formal class requirements are:
• In-Class Writing Assignments;
• Worksheets;
• Student Editing Assignments;
• Term Paper in multiple drafts.
NOTE: All final papers will be in the front office to be retrieved by the end of the second week of the following semester. Unclaimed papers will be recycled that following Monday.
Your final semester grade will be your percentage of the above summed scores.
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Late Assignments:
As a pre-professional university student in a CSWE-accredited social work program, it is imperative to be on time when submitting work. For example, imagine being negligent in providing court reports, administrative documents, case notes, progress reports, grant applications, etc. Indeed, each of these documents will have strict submission deadlines, and employees who do not meet these deadlines will not remain employed. Moreover, not meeting deadlines on behalf of clients who depend on us has serious ethical implications! Therefore, as part of your professional training the following pertain:

• A late assignment is one that is provided after it is officially collected in class;
• I will grant extensions for genuine life emergencies, but plan ahead;
• No faxed or mailed assignments will be accepted for any reason!

In case of university closure due to weather, the due date will become the next official business day. To avoid penalty under this policy, please Print out completed assignments well before the due date!! This will allow you time to attend to emergencies!
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Grading Policy:
The following grading scheme will be used for all students seeking academic credit:
A = 90 - 100%
B = 80 - 89
C = 70 - 79
D = 60 - 69
F = 00 - 59
REMEMBER: Poorly written and unprofessional work will not be graded! All final papers will be in the front office to be retrieved by the end of the second week of the following semester. Unclaimed papers will be recycled that following Monday.
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Listserv:
The professor will use a Listserv in SW460 to facilitate group communication outside of class and transmit important announcements. All students will be automatically enrolled at the beginning of the semester, then disenrolled at the end.

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Principal Reading Materials:
Jansson, B.S. (2008) Becoming an effective policy advocate. Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher education.

Additional Resources
• APA. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
• Becker, P.C. (2002). Statistical portrait of the United States: Social conditions & trends. Lanham, MD: Bernan Press.
• Borgetta, E.F., & Montgomery, R. J.V. (2000). Encyclopedia of sociology (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Macmillan Reference (Reference).
•  Boyle, S., Hull, G., Mather, J., Smith, L., & Farley, O. (2006). Direct practice in social work. (Ch 2) Boston, MA: Pearson Education (Library reserve).
• Caputo, R.K. (1991). Welfare and freedom American style: The role of the federal government, 1900-1940. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
• Carter, S. et al. (2006). Historical statistics of the United States. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press (Reference).
• Dood, D.B. (1993). Historical statistics of the states of United States. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press (Reference).
• Farnsworth-Riche, M., & Gaqyin, D.A. (2003). The who, what, and where of America. Lanham, MD: Bernan Press (Reference).
• Fernandez-Ballesteros, R. (2003). Encyclopedia of psychological Assessment. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications (Reference).
• Ginberg, L. (1995). The Social Work Almanac. Washington, DC: The NASE Press (Reference).
• Grey House Publishing (2006-7). America's top rated smaller cities. Millerton, NY: Grey House Publishing.
• Hamilton, N.A. (2002). American social leaders & activists. New York, NY: Facts on file, Inc.
• Herrick, J.M., & Stuart, P.H. (2005). Encyclopedia of social welfare history in North America. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications (Reference).
• Horner, L.L. (2003). Almanac of the 50 States. Palo Alto, CA: Information Publications (Reference).
• Kagan, J. (1998). Gale encyclopedia of childhood and adolescence. Detroit, MI: Gale Publishing.
• Kazdin, A. (Ed.) (2000). Encyclopedia of psychology. New York: Oxford.
• Kuper, A., & Kuper, J. (1996). The social science encyclopedia (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge Publishers (Reference).
• Manstead, A.S.R., & Hewstone, M. (1995). The Blackwell encyclopedia of social psychology. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing (Reference).
• NASW Code of Ethics. ( The NASW Web Page).
• NASW (2008). Encyclopedia of social work (20th ed.). Washington, DC: NASW. (The library, the department, or on the NASW Web Page).
• NASW (1995). Social work abstracts. Washington, DC: NASW Press. (The library).
• NASW (2003). Social work dictionary (5th ed.). Washington, DC: NASW Press. (The library, the department, or the NASW Web Page).
• NASW (2000). Social work speaks: NASW policy statements. Washington, DC: National Association of Social Workers. (Library reserve).
• O'Leary-Morgan, K., & Morgan, S. (2007). State rankings 2007. Lawrence, KS: Morgan Quitno (Reference).
• Roberts, A.R., & Greene, G.J. (2002). Social workers' desk reference. New York, NY: Oxford University Press (Reference).
• Roeckelein, J.E. (1998). Dictionary of theories, laws, and concepts in psychology. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press (Reference).
• Schulze, S. (1985). Population information in twentieth century census. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press (Reference).
•  Shearfor, B., & Horejsi, C. (2006). Techniques & guidelines for social work practice (7ed.). (Ch 6) Boston, MA: Pearson Education (Library reserve).
• Shumsky, N.L. (1998). Encyclopedia of urban America. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO (Reference).
• Smelser, N. J., & Baltes, P. B. (2001). International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences. Oxford, UK: Elsevier Science, Ltd. (Reference).
• Trattner, W.I. (1986). Biographical dictionary of social welfare in America. New York, NY: Greenwood Press (Reference).
• U.S.Census Bureau (2007). Statistical Abstract of the United States. Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of the Census (Reference).
• U.S.Census Bureau (2007). County and city data book. Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of the Census (Reference).
• U.S.Census Bureau (2006). State and metropolitan area data book. Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of the Census (Reference).
• U.S.Census Bureau (2006). Census of Government finance. Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of the Census (web link).
• Wendel, H.F. et al. (2002). State profiles: The population and economy of each U.S. state. Lanham, MD: Bernan Press (Reference).
• Wendel, H.F., & Wendel, C.S. (2006). Vital statistics of the United States. Lanham, MD: Bernan Press (Reference).
• Wilson, R.A., & Keil, F.C. (1999). The MIT encyclopedia of the cognitive sciences. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press (Reference).

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Teaching Methods:
Social Work 460 utilize lectures, class readings, cooperative learning group work, videos, experiential exercises, worksheets, classroom assessment techniques, and writing assignments to achieve the course goals. This Social Work 460 professor will then evaluate completed assignments to measure student learner outcomes relative to stated learning goals.
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