Online Social Work Schools Program

The United States faces an unprecedented demand for skilled social workers. While private companies and health maintenance organizations take on the challenge of preventing and treating mental illness, a variety of private and public organizations employ social work professionals to help citizens cope with a variety of problems. Social work is a profession committed to the pursuit of social justice, to the development of each individual, group, and community in society.

A Social Work Degree: Teaching You to Help Others

From unemployment to abuse, social workers try to stem the tide of a variety of social maladies. Accredited social work degree programs can provide students with the critical skills they need to help people overcome their challenges. Social work students learn how to cope with the potential stress of their careers, while solving problems in their specialty fields. Students traditionally explore the elements of social problems, their causes, their solutions, and their impact on human society.

Career Opportunities in Social Work

Social workers are typically individuals who care about people and society, and have a genuine desire to make a difference. Careers can be found in public agencies, private business, hospitals, schools, police departments, and other fascinating workplaces. Social workers can be managers, supervisors, political leaders, researchers, analysts, and more.

Below are some common occupational fields of those who graduate with a social work degree may find employment:

* Child, family, and school

* Medical and public health

* Mental health and substance abuse

Social Work Career Training: Learning the Necessary Skills

While a bachelor’s degree is typically sufficient to enter the social work field, a master’s degree is usually required for health care and clinical positions. Degree programs offer regular classroom studies, but applicable field experience can give you more knowledge and a better understanding of the field. Typical studies may include human behavior, research methods, policy analysis, social justice, general psychology, and more. Aside from the technical knowledge, social workers usually learn to deal with people on a daily basis and be comfortable in such interactive situations.

Social Work Salary and Earnings Information

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the demand for social workers should continue to increase between 2006 and 2016. The most recent data notes there should be a 22 percent increase in job opportunities for social workers during that time. In addition to positive job growth, individuals with a degree in social work can also command solid annual earnings.

In 2007, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that social work professionals earned a median annual salary of $45,800, depending on their specialty. The lowest 10 percent earned $26,380, and the top 10 percent earned more than $71,940. Some of the top employing states included New York, Delaware, and Alaska, while the top paying states included South Dakota, Mississippi, and New Jersey.

Social work jobs should continue to increase, as agencies expand to handle more cases every day. According to the BLS, opportunities may be better in rural areas where it is tougher to attract and retain qualified staff. While cities and metropolitan areas may offer more training programs, this may result in much more competition when searching for jobs.

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About School Newspapers Online

Who We Are
Launched in the summer of 2008 by Jason and Tom, School Newspapers Online is a company based in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. We focus specifically on the needs of high-school newspapers looking to create or enhance their presence on the Internet.

Jason has been a high-school newspaper adviser and teacher for over 14 years in Minnesota and South Dakota.  He is currently an English teacher and school newspaper adviser at Benilde-St. Margaret’s School in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.

Tom is an Internet veteran, having worked in the industry for over 9 years as a trainer, project manager, and product manager. He currently leads a team of project and product managers, and develops strategy for product development.

How We Began
School Newspapers Online began as we teamed up to build a school newspaper Web site for the newspaper that Jason advises, the Knight Errant, which won a 2009 NSPA Online Pacemaker award. Since building this initial site, we have launched more than 200 Web sites for school newspapers online.

Our Mission
We’ve designed our Web sites to address the concerns and needs of newspaper advisers and their staffs. In an era of tight school funding, we know that school newspapers are often one of the early casualties during budget cuts. That’s why our biggest priority in creating this company was to keep our Web sites affordable. But don’t let our low price fool you — our sites are as functional and as professionally designed as those used by major newspapers. We build all of our sites on open-source software, and that’s helped us to keep our costs low.

We know how overwhelming changing technology can be — our services are designed to take care of all the technological challenges for you. As our clients use our sites and grow in their knowledge and understanding of Web publishing and Web design, we’ll be there to help by answering any type of question they have regarding the use, design, and function of their site.

When we set out on this project, we wanted to create professional quality Web sites that are fully-customizable, highly-functional, completely affordable, and absolutely easy to use. We believe that we’ve succeeded in reaching our goal, and we are proud to offer you and your student journalists the chance to make your school newspaper relevant in today’s digital age. We would love to get you and your program started on the Web and give you the guidance you need to prepare your students for the everchanging world of modern journalism.

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