School social work is challenged by disparate professional guidance, inconsistent certification standards, and role ambiguity –– all intersecting with schools that are ripe with inequities. Despite this complexity, research has often gravitated toward a disproportionate analysis of roles. Although an understanding of roles is imperative, this focus, at times, has supplanted an awareness of the structural dimensions that affect practice that exist in and outside of the school. The purpose of this article is to outline a structural understanding of school social work through attention to national leadership, state training, and school-based factors that affect roles and practice. The analysis spans three levels, (1) national, (2) state, and (3) school. On the national level, we explore professional guidance from leadership organizations to identify the potential influence on training and practice. On the state level, we explore state certification standards and inconsistent educational preparation to consider the bidirectional links between professional guidance and role efficacy in schools. On the school level, we examine the relationship between educational inequities and school social work, including inconsistent roles, practice ambiguity, and the barriers to effective practice. We conclude with recommendations for research and practice.
Since 2013, the state of Virginia has pursued two significant initiatives: a commemoration of the forcible arrival of Africans in 1619 and a state-level council to address food deserts. Yet, there has been little discussion of their interconnections. We ask what role might this 400-year history play in the existence of food deserts today? We explore the post-emancipation history of four Black communities in southeast Virginia. Today, three are gone, and the remaining one-Grove-has been identified as a food desert. We argue that Grove experiences food apartheid constructed in part by creative extraction, or the appropriation of value from Black communities to support white communities at various scales. Two processes of creative extraction-serial forced displacement and serial environmental racism-constructed Grove as a space for people and land uses undesired in whiter, more affluent parts of the county and a space of clustered disadvantage that invites supermarket redlining and public disinvestment in health-promoting amenities.
Rapid urbanization and limited available land have increased the construction of high-rise buildings, highlighting the importance of realistic seismic vulnerability assessment in performance-based design. This study analyzes the probabilistic seismic behavior of a 33-story reinforced concrete frame-tube building with core shear walls, modeled according to Iranian seismic codes. Nonlinear Incremental Dynamic Analysis was conducted in MIDAS software under both Fixed Base and Soil-Structure Interaction conditions, using ground motions scaled between 0.1 g and 1.5 g. Fragility curves were generated based on peak inter-story drifts corresponding to four damage states: Slight, Moderate, Extensive, and Complete. Results show that including SSI leads to significantly higher seismic vulnerability, with the structure reaching equivalent damage states at lower PGA levels than the fixedbase model. SSI also causes period elongation and greater deformation demands, indicating the need for enhanced foundation stiffness, soil improvement, or the application of energy-dissipation and isolation strategies to reduce adverse effects. Moreover, comparison of long-and short-period ground motions reveals that the building is more vulnerable to long-period events, especially when SSI is considered. Median PGA thresholds consistently show lower values for SSI across all damage states, confirming the importance of accounting for soil-structure interaction in seismic evaluation. While the results are specific to the soil and structural characteristics studied, the observed trends such as increased seismic demand and vulnerability due to SSI are expected to be applicable to similar high-rise buildings and highlight the need for integrating SSI into future seismic assessments.
In today's interconnected world, intercultural competence (IC) is essential for navigating diverse cultural contexts across education, professional practice, and society. Yet this field still lacks a systematic, data-driven synthesis that maps its intellectual evolution. This study addresses that gap by applying bibliometric techniques to 2,178 WoS-indexed articles published up to December 31, 2024, providing comprehensive quantitative mapping of IC research to date and illuminating both its historical foundations and future frontiers. Co-citation analysis revealed four thematic clusters representing the intellectual foundations of the field: (a) theoretical frameworks and assessment models; (b) multicultural counseling competence and cultural responsiveness in psychology; (c) pedagogical integration in language education; and (d) developmental and experiential pathways of competence acquisition. Co-word analysis, in turn, identified four conceptual clusters: competence development and adaptation, cultural responsiveness in professional practice, intercultural communication in language learning, and multicultural pedagogies in teacher education. Conceptually, co-citation maps the intellectual base by showing how foundational works are connected through shared citations. In contrast, co-word captures the field's evolving discourse by revealing how key concepts co-occur and converge across studies. The two analyses link the structural foundations and semantic dynamics of intercultural competence research, illustrating how established theoretical traditions inform emerging directions in this field. While scholarship remains grounded in seminal models such as Byram's framework, Bennett's Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity, and Deardorff's process model, it is moving toward more dynamic, context-contingent, and digitally mediated understandings. This study provides a systematic knowledge map that strengthens the theoretical understanding of intercultural competence and informs practical applications in education, counseling, and organizational development.
This study explores how six education faculty members in the School of Education at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in the southeastern United States interpret and implement instructional technology instruction through a hermeneutic theoretical lens. Grounded in the HBCU’s School of Education vision statement, the research investigates how faculty members’ understanding of human learning behaviors shapes their pedagogical choices within School of Education courses. The qualitative analysis revealed three key themes: (1) Technology as a Tool for Equity and Inclusion, (2) Alignment with the School of Education Vision, and (3) Student-Centered, Practice-Oriented Use of Technology. Rather than employing digital tools for convenience, the education researchers used technology as a transformative mechanism to promote culturally responsive inclusive teaching practices. Their approaches varied according to discipline-specific content areas — such as counselor education, early childhood education, physical education, secondary mathematics education, special education, and—as well as learner variables, including disabilities and licensure challenges. Despite differences in course modalities (in-person, hybrid, and online), all participants demonstrated a shared commitment to equity-driven, pedagogically sound technology integration which reflects and reinforces the HBCU’s School of Education’s mission to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in educator preparation programs. Implications of this study suggest that education preparation programs should intentionally integrate equity-focused technology professional development that aligns with international and national standards and state and higher education institutional values and prepares education majors to address diverse learner needs in various instructional contexts.
