Evaluating a Scale to Measure Student Competencies in Macro Social Work Practice

ABSTRACT

This article outlines the development of an evaluation tool for measuring student competency in macrolevel social work practice. Researchers followed a multistage process that incorporated the wisdom of experienced field instructors in identifying key competencies for practice, ranking performance levels in each competency, and evaluating the reliability and validity of the scale. The resulting Macro Practice-Based Evaluation tool includes six skill domains (learning and growth; behavior and relationships; leadership; critical thinking, analysis, planning, and implementation; professional communication; and values and ethics), each of which has five levels of student competence ranging from unsuitable for practice to exemplary. Evaluation in an experimental setting, by comparing student evaluations on the new tool and previous tools, demonstrated promising reliability and validity. Implications for social work education and future research in actual practice environments are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Community organization
• social advocacy
• administration
• competency evaluation
• field education
• educational assessment

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research was generously funded by the Sandra Rotman Chair in Social Work.