Toward an Evaluation Framework for Doctoral Education in Social Work: A 10-Year Retrospective of One PhD Program's Assessment Experiences

Abstract

This article presents a framework for evaluation in social work doctoral education and details 10 years of successes and challenges in one PhD program's use of the framework, including planning and implementing specific assessment activities around student learning outcomes and larger program goals. The article argues that a range of innovative and traditional internal and external assessment strategies can be tailored to the needs and resources of other programs. Easily adaptable exemplars, rubrics and rating forms, measurement devices, and assessment reports are provided. The article ends by highlighting the ways used to build student, faculty, and alumni participation in evaluative activities and by proposing ideas for related research assessment.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to express gratitude to faculty and student members of the Doctoral Program Committee for their enthusiastic participation in shaping and implementing VCU's doctoral assessment activities over the past decade. Thanks to Ellen Netting and Sarah Kye Price for their comments on the manuscript.

Versions of this article were presented at the 55th Annual Program Meeting of the Council on Social Work Education in San Antonio and the 2010 Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education Conference in Denver.