October 3, 2001

OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT – SOCIAL WORK DEPARTMENT - UAF

a. Assessment Plan

Evaluation of the program goals is applied at three levels or time periods: (1) after graduation, (2) immediately prior to graduation, and (3) throughout the curriculum.

1. Surveys are sent annually to recent alumni acquiring data regarding how well they feel the program had prepared them for practice. Information is also gathered about alumni educational activities, social work jobs, and professional and community activities since graduation. In addition, questionnaires are sent every four years to social agencies that employ UAF social work alumni. Employers are asked to rate their employee-UAF alumni on items such as advocacy for clients and organizational change; sensitivity to diversity; use of knowledge, skills, and values in their work; and, also, to provide an overall rating of employee performance.

2. Two evaluation measures are administered to senior students: The first is an exit exam, comprising the Social Work Area Concentration Achievement Test (ACAT) and an addendum exam made up of 18 questions, written by UAF social work faculty, that addresses the rural and diversity emphasis in the program. The ACAT, a nationally standardized test developed at Austin Peay University (Tennessee), assesses the acquisition of knowledge and skills in the areas that constitute the undergraduate social work curriculum.

The second assessment measure for senior students is an opinion survey that investigates the degree to which they feel satisfied with various aspects of the program--advising, student rights, resources, equity, and sequence and timing of courses--and, also, the extent to which they feel that the program has prepared them in the various content areas that make up professional social work education.

3. Two means are used to measure outcomes throughout the program: review of course syllabi and course and instructor evaluations (IAS forms). Course syllabi are reviewed annually to see if learning objectives, topic areas, and assignments reflect social work program objectives.

b. Assessment Implementation

Data from the above evaluation instruments, as well as program and curriculum changes implemented, are presented in the Department’s annual assessment reports. These reports, produced since 1993, are held in the department and in the offices of the provost and dean.