The School of Social Work submits its application for reaffirmation to the Council on Social Work Education today, a process that requires about two years of work.
The Council on Social Work Education, the only accrediting agency in the country, requires all schools of social work reevaluate their programs every eight years to analyze performance and verify that students’ expectations are being met.
According to Daphne Cain, dean of the University’s School of Social Work, the faculty rewrote the School’s mission and goals last year and worked to revise the entire curriculum as preparation for the affirmation process.
The Council identified 10 educational policies in 2008 that should be covered in a social work education and named specific practice behaviors within each of the policies that students should be performing, totaling 41 behaviors for all 10 policies.
Behaviors include such skills as demonstrating professional demeanor, applying strategies of ethical reasoning and engaging in just practices. The council reviews its educational policies and accreditation standards about every eight years, Cain said in an e-mail to The Daily Reveille.
Faculty members then determined which courses are designed to allow students opportunities to perform each practice behavior. Catherine Lemieux, Margaret Champagne Womack associate professor in addictive disorders, said the school revised its curriculum before the last cycle of reaffirmation in 2003, so only a few minor changes in wording were needed for the current cycle.
Lemieux said the recent minor curriculum changes will not have a significant impact on current students.
Students had the opportunity to become involved with the reaccreditation process by serving on one of the school’s committees designed to review the program, Cain said.
The school hosted a site visitor from March to May who evaluated the program by talking to students and faculty, Cain said.
The school worked on a self-study this semester, which is due to the Council of Social Work Education today, along with the new mission, goals and curriculum for a decision.
Cain said the school has been continuously accredited for 74 years.
The Council on Social Work Education has certain procedures for schools that do not meet its standards, including probation, a reconsideration process and eventual loss of accreditation, Cain said.
The Executive Committee of the Council on Social Work Education handles programs found to be out of compliance with accreditation standards, according to the council’s website. The website states that such programs may be required to host additional campus visits, granted conditional accreditation or have their accreditation terminated.
Cain added the School has never faced this issue and shouldn’t have any difficulties with reaccreditation this year.
“I fully expect that we will celebrate our diamond anniversary with a new affirmation,” Cain said.
Cain said the University’s School of Social Work is one of the first to move forward with the new standards set by the Council on Social Work Education.
 
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Contact Catherine Parsiola at [email protected]