Programs Assessment
As part of its assessment plan, the BSW program in the Department of Social Work uses the Social Work Education Assessment Project (SWEAP) that is a standardized, national instrument. The SWEAP is administered during the final placement seminar in the very last semester of study.
The content areas covered in this instrument are the 9 competencies required by CSWE to be measured by accredited programs. The department has administered the Academic Content Achievement Test (ACAT) since 2005, but switched to the SWEAP in 2017 as it appears better aligned to our needs.
The SWEAP does not provide individuals scores, but looks at the total scores and tracks them across time.
The benchmark that the department has set is 50th percentile; no competency score should be less than the 50th percentile, with an aspiration of 70th percentile.
The MSW program utilizes a faculty-developed assessment tool for the Generalist year students (administered in the final semester of practicum) and a culminating project (administered during the final semester of the program) for the Specialized year students. For both the faculty-developed assessment tool, the benchmark is that 80% of students will score 80% or higher on each competency. For the culminating project, the benchmark is that 80% of students will score a 2 or higher on the scoring rubric.
