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Over 30 years since Alternative Social Agencies (Perlmutter, 1988) was published, scholars from a range of disciplines have studied alternative approaches to human service administration, management, and leadership. In this paper, we pull the historical threads of alternative voices into the web of contemporary practice and memorialize Perlmutter's legacy to social work education and practice. We begin with an historical perspective, framing the concept of an alternative agency and establishing the narrative in which Perlmutter's book was incubated. We then review the literature that has emerged on alternative agencies and build on her quest to conceptualize what it means to be an "alternative agency," using the subtype of feminist organizations as an exemplar. Finally, based on a review of this diverse literature, and grounded in the factors for success originally identified by Perlmutter, we identify lessons learned about strategies used in contemporary alternative agencies and their implications for human service leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors focus on a collective biography of 12 women social work educators, all either tenured or in tenure lines, from five different universities at the time of the study. The participants represent several aspects of macro practice including administration, planning, community practice, and policy. Beginning with reflections about coming into macro practice, we highlight memories about first teaching experiences and examine cultural shifts discovered in our academic journeys. We feature students who inspired us and perceptions of challenges in curricular development affecting the preparation of students. This article includes comments that emphasize the themes and focus of our collective reflections. Finally, we place what we learned in the context of a report from the Association for Community Organization and Social Administration calling for the visibility of and advocacy for macro social work education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent attention on community organizing In national politics provides an opportunity for social work educators to revisit and enhance community practice as a core practice of the profession. Drawing from social work's rich tradition of community practice this article provides a practical aid to understand the variety of strategies currently used by instructors and students. It proposes a framework that differentiates the underlying assumptions of three community practice paradigms—traditional, collaborative, and radical—with very different goals or visions for organizing. It examines multiple dimensions of practice within each paradigm including purpose, power, politics, and evaluation standards. In addition, it provides suggestions about how the framework can be used in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the name Flexner is mentioned in schools of social work, it is typically a reference to Abraham Flexner, who spoke to the National Conference on Charities and Corrections in 1915. Yet, his daughter Eleanor wrote the definitive history of the women's rights movement in the United States, and her work was influential in the transition between first- and second-wave feminism. This article honors her legacy and recognizes its significance to the integration of women's history into the social work curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching policy analysis is compared-to teaching research skills. Both involve the selection of an appropriate analytical tool to be used with multiple units of analysis; and in both, the selected instrument must fit the purpose of the analysis or the product is not useful. Policy analysis frameworks characteristically address policy process, content, and performance. However, these frameworks are based on different worldviews, with embedded assumptions and with deep philosophical roots that may be rational (classical), interpretive, or progressive (radical). These different assumptions can lead to very different analytical expectations and results. Here, we justify teaching policy analysis as research, categorize a number of frameworks, and provide recommendations for equipping students to critically assess issues that arise in the development and use of policy analysis frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a nearly 20-year-old legislation to strengthen social work (SW) coverage within nursing homes and decades of literature exploring the need for SW training, untrained and undertrained social workers dominate American nursing homes. Many persons who call themselves social workers arc not educated as such, but nevertheless, must work in complex, conflict-ridden nursing homes without assessment and advocacy skills essential to address the symptoms and to fully respond to subjugated residents' needs. The call for more qualified social workers to be employed in nursing homes is a recognition that the residents' psychosocial needs are not being met. We examine how inconsistent national requirements, inadequate professional educational preparation, and work overload are all symptoms of a general societal unwillingness to recognize residents' needs. The authors utilize a molphogenic systems perspective to describe the open interaction between all disciplines, which can be unduly strained without properly trained workers. The social work literature is reviewed with a renewed interest in addressing the problem profession-wide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Program planning is about creating a means of guiding policy implementation. The impetus to engage in program planning may come through enacted policies, community needs, funding initiatives, or other incentives. We identify two major types of program planning, both of which engage participants in advocacy activities, but in different ways. Focused planning seeks within-systems change (generally for individual clients), whereas transformative planning seeks overall systemic change. Transformative programming is intended to change the status quo with or without related direct service interventions. Both transformative planning and focused planning require unique strategies, particularly in funding environments bent on outcome-based measurement. We provide guidelines for translating transformative program planning efforts into measurable results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine The Geriatric Rotational Education & Training (GREAT) Project, funded by The John A. Hartford Foundation. Created as a bi-regional consortium located in Central and Northern parts of one state, the project was designed to expose social work students to the diversity among older persons, the complexity of their health care issues, and the continuity of care. Consortium members included the state's Geriatric Education Center (GEC), 12 organizations recognized for leadership in geriatric care, and the Institute for Social Services Training Activities (ISSTA). Lessons learned in the planning process were: (1) planning for continuity is a major challenge given changes in the current environment; (2) careful assessment of one's existing system prior to project development is crucial; (3) methods for motivating students and receiving their ongoing feedback must be developed; (4) meaningful incentives for field instructors must be identified; (5) insights gained from the emergence of a philosophy may reveal educational commitments that are currently unsubstantiated by research; and, (6) it is essential to recognize what is realistic for sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If social work education is truly committed to social justice and self-determination, it will have to liberate the knowledge of groups with which it works. To do so, it is necessary to recognize the unique role of practitioners in discovering and interpreting subjugated knowledge, which requires that academicians, practitioners, and consumers of services have opportunities to dialogue. Four strategies for freeing subjugated knowledge are proposed in this article. Dialogue that results from these strategies allows academicians and practitioners to focus on gaps between the practice theories they teach and the work they have to do and can contribute to curricular reformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports the results of a qualitative study of the professional identities, roles, and relationships of a variety of geriatric case managers located in nine demonstration sites around the United States. Today's health care social workers traverse numerous acute, long-term care, and community-based set-tings, often serving as discharge planners and case managers for multiple population groups .In view of this complex assortment of settings and regional variations, social work educators face numerous challenges in preparing the next generation of health care social workers. Beginning with an overview of social work and nursing roles in health care settings, the article provides background on the study and its methods, followed by results that highlight the voices of persons interviewed. The article concludes with implications for social work education in five areas: articulating social work's great tradition, developing career opportunities, building alliances with students and educators in other professional schools, engaging in ongoing faculty development, and in fusing the social work curriculum with geriatric content.

Female faculty at Arizona State University`s School of Social Work joined forces to revise syllabi for required MSW courses with the intent of integrating content on women. They argue that integration can be achieved only through the development of new paradigms that include women`s experiences. They propose an approach based on a historico-structural perspective reinforced by social work values and ecological and critical perspectives. Examples of the curricular modifications introduced by this approach are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]