The West Chester University (WCU) Undergraduate Social Work Department routinely conducts assessment of student learning. The department assessment plan was developed in accordance with WCU university-wide assessment policy and Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) accreditation requirements.

Background
Assessment of student learning provides insight into student competency. It also creates graduates prepared to meet the demands of high standards of excellence in the provision of social work services for the 21st Century. West Chester University is committed to assessment and has designated an Assessment Coordinator within each academic department to oversee administration of the department assessment plan. In 2008, CSWE revised its Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS), shifting from outcomes to competency-based standards. The WCU Undergraduate Social Work Department likewise revised its assessment plan to reflect attempts to measure student competency in the 10 core Competency areas specified in the 2008 EPAS. These 10 areas include professional identity, ethics, critical thinking and information literacy, diversity, human rights and social and economic justice, research-practice, human behavior and the social environment, policy-practice, responding to context and the ability to engage, assess, intervene, and evaluate with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities (for a full description of the 10 core Competencies and 41 Practice Behaviors delineated under these 10 Competencies, see the CSWE 2008 EPAS). The current plan reflects this transition.