BA in Social Work Program Goals, Benchmarks, Core Competencies

Consistent with the mission of the School of Social Work, the BA in Social Work program prepares students to empower individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities within a variety of agency and community settings in the state of New Jersey and beyond. The BASW program utilizes an anti-racist approach, a liberatory consciousness framework, and a metacognitive pedagogy to promote critical thinking and action across all levels of the Person in Environment. Students in the BASW program will acquire the knowledge, values, and skills to serve various populations with a specific focus on underserved, minoritized, and oppressed groups.  Upon graduation students will be adept at the use of the generalist intervention model and proficient in the skills of engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation on the micro, mezzo, and macro levels.   

In 2016, the School of Social Work adopted three new school-wide learning goals. Upon graduation, all students will be able to:  

• Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior;  
• Engage Diversity and Difference in Practice;  
• Engage, Assess, and Intervene with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities.  

BA in Social Work Program Goals   

• Create an environment that prepares students to utilize a liberatory consciousness framework with an emphasis on one’s responsibility to disrupt and dismantle racism and oppression based in an anti-racist pedagogy.  
• Prepare students for foundation level practice within a variety of agency and community settings and with diverse populations, including minoritized groups, in the State of New Jersey and elsewhere.  
• Prepare entry-level social work practitioners who serve effectively in a variety of capacities, from rural settings to complex metropolitan contexts of social work practice in New Jersey.  
• Develop practitioners sensitive to the diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural composition of the State and the region who work with a range of client systems to meet the needs of citizens and communities.  
• Provide a high-quality educational experience through a curriculum grounded in a liberal arts perspective, metacognitive skills, and centered on the professional foundation content designed to prepare entry-level professionals for beginning social work practice with client systems of various size and types.  
• Educate students to understand and use social work knowledge, values, skills, cognitive and affective processes, and behaviors throughout their professional practice.  
• Support students’ preparation to continue their professional education, including pursuit of master’s degree programs in social work.  

CSWE Competencies/Program-Level Learning Goals

Through engagement with the program, students gain understanding in the dimensions of knowledge, values, skills, cognitive and affective processes, and behaviors as prescribed in the 2015 Council on Social Work (CSWE) Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). The BA is Social Work program has adopted the nine CSWE Social Work Competencies outlined in the EPAS as well as a new SSW specific competency 10 as BA program-level learning goals. BA in Social Work students will learn to;

1. Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior
2. Engage Diversity and Difference in Practice
3. Advance Human Rights and Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice
4. Engage In Practice-informed Research and Research-informed Practice
5. Engage in Policy Practice
6. Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
7. Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
8. Intervene with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
9. Evaluate Practice with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
10. Develop Liberatory Consciousness

Council on Social Work Education - Form AS 4(B)

Rutgers Baccalaureate Social Work Program | Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes

Form AS 4(B): A form required for Reaffirmation, Candidacy, and ongoing compliance per AS 4.0.3.  

Submitting Form AS 4 for Reaffirmation Self-Study & Candidacy Benchmarks

This form is used to assist the COA in the evaluation of the program’s compliance with the accreditation standard below:

4.0.3: The program uses Form AS 4(B) and/or Form AS 4(M) to report its most recent assessment outcomes for each program option to constituents and the public on its website and routinely up-dates (minimally every 2 years) its findings.

All programs accredited by the Council on Social Work Education’s Commission on Accreditation (COA) are required to measure and report student learning outcomes.  All students are assessed using a minimum of two measures on their mastery of the nine competencies that comprise the Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) and any additional competencies programs may choose to add.  These holistic competencies reflect the dimensions (knowledge, values, skills, and cognitive & affective processes) of social work practice that all social workers are expected to master during their professional training.  

Programs determine a percentage-based benchmark for each competency and determine an outcome-measure benchmark (minimum score) for each measure. The competency benchmark (which can differ for each competency) represents the minimum percent of students the program expects to have achieved the outcome measure benchmarks in both/all measures for each of the nine competencies. The program then determines the percentage of students that attained each outcome measure (e.g., minimum score or higher), and aggregates the percentages for both/all measures together to obtain the percentage of students demonstrating competence inclusive of two (2) or more measures. The result of aggregating both/all outcome measure percentages provides the percentage of students achieving the competency benchmark. An aggregated percentage at or above the competency benchmark is considered achievement of that competency. If the program has more than one program option, the program must report data for each program option, and also an aggregate of all program options combined to determine an overall percentage of students across all program options achieving the competency benchmark.

Posting Form AS 4 for Ongoing Compliance with AS 4.0.3

Per the requirement of CSWE COA’s recognizing body, the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), and accreditation standard 4.0.3, programs must post this form publicly on its website and routinely up-date (minimally every 2 years) its findings.  Upon request, programs must provide CSWE with the weblink to the published form on the program’s website where it is accessible to the public.  Data presented on the form must be collected within 2 years of today’s date at all times.