Pre-Conference Assessment Institute: Conducting Assessment for Both CSWE and Regional Accreditation (at the same time!)

Accredited social work programs must assess the competency of their students in two different ways for nine EPAS competencies. Similarly, institutions of higher learning must also utilize ongoing assessment for Higher Learning Commission (HLC) accreditation. Fully integrating these two processes can lead to data on your program that is more meaningful and informative supporting Accreditation Standard 5.0:

Assessment:
The program has a process to formally review its assessment plan and outcomes related to student achievement of the nine social work competencies (and any additional competencies added by the program). The program makes specific changes to its explicit curriculum based on its outcomes, with clear links to data. (CSWE, 2022, p.38)

Similarly, HLC (2019) utilizes Criterion 4. Teaching and Learning: Evaluation and Improvement which states:
4.B. The institution engages in ongoing assessment of student learning as part of its commitment to the educational outcomes of its students.
1. The institution has effective processes for assessment of student learning and for achievement of learning goals in academic and cocurricular offerings.
2. The institution uses the information gained from assessment to improve student learning.
3. The institution’s processes and methodologies to assess student learning reflect good practice, including the substantial participation of faculty, instructional and other relevant staff members.

This panel contains presenters from different university levels involved in the assessment process including college dean, department chair, and assistant professor who is a college-level, HLC reviewer.

The college dean will provide an overview of the HLC accreditation process and ways to align that process with CSWE assessment. The panelist will distinguish summative and formative measurement techniques for assessing student learning. Formative methods capture students’ ongoing development of knowledge and skills (Kealey, 2010) while summative methods are used at the end of a course or program to address institutional, program, and accreditation mandates for documenting student learning.

The department chair will share the use of EPAS component behaviors for HLC student learning outcomes (SLOs), planning and implementing an overlapping HLC/CSWE assessment process, and developing student learning outcomes.

The final panelist will share important lessons learned from the HLC assessment training (Hatfield et al, 2024). Using a case study format, assessment design incorporating curricula mapping will be presented (Massa & Kasimatis, 2017). The role of performance indicators and assessment rubrics that reflect competence (rather than grading) will be discussed. Rubrics can be used to collect meaningful data with greater granularity within a single CSWE competency to assist programs to identify the aspects of a competency in which the students are excelling or need more support.

Council on Social Work Education (2022). Educational policy and accreditation standards.
Higher Learning Commission (2019). Policy title: Criteria for accreditation CRRT.B.10.010. https://www.hlcommission.org/Policies/criteria-and-core-components.html
Kealey, E. (2010). Assessment and evaluation in social work education: Formative and summative approaches. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 30, 64-74.
Massa, L.J. & Kasimatis, M. (2017). Meaningful and manageable program assessment: A how-to guide for higher education faculty. Routledge.
Hatfield, S., Marr, J., & Smith, J., (2024, Nov). Program assessment virtual workshop. Higher Learning Commission. https://www.hlcommission.org/Programs-Events/workshops.html