National Association of School Social Workers. Southern California Chapter

Administrative History

The California Association of School Social Workers was founded in 1966, when school social workers in California acted upon the recognized need for a state-wide professional organization that could represent their interests with the State's Department of Education. It was the natural outgrowth of a number of organizations that had flourished both in California and across the country for some decades, all of which are represented in these records. Beginning with the National and American Association of Visiting Teachers (the term used to describe professionals engaged in social work with school children in their homes), the importance of the school-based social worker became increasingly apparent to social workers across the country. The California State Association of Visiting Teachers was founded in 1930, and affiliated with the AAVT. The AAVT changed its name to the American Association of School Social Workers in the early 1940s, and again to the National Association of School Social Workers in the early 1950s. In 1955, the NASSW merged with the National Association of Social Workers, creating the School Social Work Section of that organization.