ROLAND G. MEINERT has administered social work education programs at all degree levels at Michigan State University, the University of Missouri, and Southwest Missouri State University. He is one of the founders of the Inter-University Consortium for International Social Development and is coeditor of the journal Social Development Issues. His articles have appeared in Social Work, Journal of Social Work Education, Journal of Continuing Social Work Education, Administration in Social Work, Social Development Issues, and International Journal of Contemporary Sociology, among others.JOHN T. PARDECK is Professor of Social Work on the faculty of Southwest Missouri State University. He is the author of a number of books in the area of child and family development, including Child Abuse and Neglect: Theory, Research and Practice, Microcomputers in Early Childhood Education,ild Welfare Training and Practice (Greenwood Press, 1982)oks for Early Childhood: A Development Perspective (Greenwood Press, 1986)and Young People with Problems: A Guide to Bibliotherapy (Greenwood Press, 1984). Pardeck has published more than 100 articles in leading academic journals. Pardeck is a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.WILLIAM P. SULLIVAN is Associate Professor at the University of Indiana School of Social Work and taught previously at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield. Most of his professional writing has been in the area of case management, specifically services to those with severe and persistent mental illness. While completing his doctorate at the University of Kansas, he was a member of a team which won the Outstanding Program Award of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Sullivan also won the SMSU Foundation Award for Outstanding Scholarship for his work in mental illness. He has published in Social Work, Families and Society, Community Mental Health Journal, Psychosocial Rehabilitation, and a variety of other journals.

• Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: Scanning for Critical Issues in Social Work by Roland G. Meinert The Social Development Model as an Organizing Framework for Social Work Practice by James O. Billups Direct Practice: Model Framework for the Past, Present and Future by Donald R. Bardill and Jannah J. Hurn A Postmodern Justification for Holism in Social Work Practice by John W. Murphy Assessing Competence for Social Work Practice: The Role of Standardized Tests by Bruce A. Thyer Breaking Away: The Potential and Promise of a Strengths-Based Approach to Social Work Practice by William Patrick Sullivan and Charles A. Rapp Toward a Politically Acceptable Reformulation of the American Welfare State by Howard Jacob Karger and David Stoesz Issues in Social Work Education by Miriam Dinerman An Exploration of Factors Explaining the Distinction and Achievement Levels of Social Work Editorial Boards by John T. Pardeck Transnational Strategies for Social Work: Toward Effective Reciprocal Exchanges by James Midgley Index