SSW Social Work Practice 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A school social worker is co-facilitating a group for students experiencing parental divorce. During the third session, members begin challenging the facilitators' rules. This is MOST consistent with which group development stage?
- Forming
- Storming (Correct answer)
- Norming
- Performing
Correct answer: Storming
Tuckman's storming stage is characterized by conflict, resistance, and challenges to leadership as group members assert themselves.
Question 2: A parent refuses to consent to mental health services for her child who has expressed suicidal ideation. The school social worker should:
- Respect parental rights and close the case
- Provide services without parental consent since safety is at risk
- Consult with the school attorney and consider an emergency safety plan while pursuing other options (Correct answer)
- Refer the family to outside services and document the refusal
Correct answer: Consult with the school attorney and consider an emergency safety plan while pursuing other options
When safety is at immediate risk and consent is refused, the social worker must balance parental rights with duty to protect by consulting legal counsel and implementing a safety plan.
Question 3: A school social worker documents that a student 'appears sad and withdrawn.' This is an example of:
- Objective observation
- Diagnostic impression
- Subjective inference (Correct answer)
- Assessment summary
Correct answer: Subjective inference
Describing a student as 'sad and withdrawn' involves interpretation of behavior rather than factual observation, making it a subjective inference.
Question 4: Which intervention strategy is MOST appropriate when a student reports feeling overwhelmed by a trauma memory during a counseling session?
- Encourage the student to explore the memory in detail
- Immediately terminate the session and call parents
- Use grounding techniques to help the student return to the present (Correct answer)
- Refer the student to a psychiatrist
Correct answer: Use grounding techniques to help the student return to the present
Grounding techniques help trauma-exposed students regulate their nervous system and return to the present moment when overwhelmed by trauma memories.
Question 5: Under FERPA, a non-custodial parent with no court order restricting access requests their child's education records. The school social worker should:
- Deny access because the parent is non-custodial
- Provide access because FERPA grants rights to both parents unless restricted by court order (Correct answer)
- Require written consent from the custodial parent first
- Consult the student before releasing any records
Correct answer: Provide access because FERPA grants rights to both parents unless restricted by court order
FERPA grants education record rights to both parents regardless of custody status unless a court order specifically restricts a parent's rights.
Question 6: A school social worker is assigned a caseload that includes students from several cultural backgrounds. To provide culturally responsive services, the practitioner should FIRST:
- Read published research on each cultural group
- Examine personal biases and assumptions about those cultures (Correct answer)
- Ask a colleague from each culture to consult on cases
- Use standardized assessments validated on diverse populations
Correct answer: Examine personal biases and assumptions about those cultures
Cultural humility begins with self-reflection and examining one's own biases and assumptions before engaging with clients from different backgrounds.
Question 7: A student discloses that she is being bullied online by classmates and feels afraid to come to school. Which intervention addresses BOTH the individual and systemic levels?
- Providing individual counseling only
- Referring the student to an outside therapist
- Counseling the student while collaborating with staff to implement a school-wide anti-bullying protocol (Correct answer)
- Contacting the parents of the bullying students directly
Correct answer: Counseling the student while collaborating with staff to implement a school-wide anti-bullying protocol
Effective bullying intervention combines direct support for the victim with systemic prevention efforts at the school level.
SSW Social Work Practice 3
A school social worker is co-facilitating a group for students experiencing parental divorce.
During the third session, members begin challenging the facilitators' rules.
This is MOST consistent with which group development stage?