CSWE Accreditation Information

Specialized Accreditation

In February 2024, the Commission on Accreditation (COA) reviewed the Self-Study, the Accreditation Review Brief, and the program’s response to the Brief as the reaffirmation application for the baccalaureate social work program, and voted to reaffirm the program’s accreditation for eight years, ending February 2032.

CSWE 2022 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS)

Core Competencies and Practice Behaviors

Competency 1: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior
  1. make ethical decisions by applying the standards of the NASW Code of Ethics, relevant laws and regulations, models for ethical decision-making, ethical conduct of research, and additional codes of ethics within the profession as appropriate to context;
  2. demonstrate professional behavior; appearance; and oral, written, and electronic communication
  3. use technology ethically and appropriately to facilitate practice outcomes; and
  4. use supervision and consultation to guide professional judgment and behavior.
Competency 2: Advance Human Rights and Social, Racial, Economic, and Environmental Justice
  1. advocate for human rights at the individual, family, group, organizational, and community system levels
  2. engage in practices that advance human rights to promote social, racial, economic, and environmental justice
Competency 3: Advance Human Rights and Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice
  1. demonstrate anti-racist and anti-oppressive social work practice at the individual, family, group, organizational, community, research, and policy levels
  2. demonstrate cultural humility by applying critical reflection, self-awareness, and self-regulation to manage the influence of bias, power, privilege, and values in working with clients and constituency
Competency 4: Engage in Practice-informed Research and Research-informed Practice
  1. apply research findings to inform and improve practice, policy, and programs
  2. identify ethical, culturally informed, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive strategies that address inherent biases for use in quantitative and qualitative research methods to advance the purposes of social work
Competency 5: Engage in Policy Practice
  1. use social justice, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive lenses to assess how social welfare policies affect the delivery of and access to social services
  2. apply critical thinking to analyze, formulate, and advocate for policies that advance human rights and social, racial, economic, and environmental justice
Competency 6: Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
  1. apply knowledge of human behavior and person-in-environment, as well as interprofessional conceptual frameworks, to engage with clients and constituencies
  2. use empathy, reflection, and interpersonal skills to engage in culturally responsive practice with clients and constituencies.
Competency 7: Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
  1. apply theories of human behavior and person-in-environment, as well as other culturally responsive and interprofessional conceptual frameworks, when assessing clients and constituencies
  2. demonstrate respect for client self-determination during the assessment process by collaborating with clients and constituencies in developing a mutually agreed-upon plan
Competency 8: Intervene with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
  1. engage with clients and constituencies to critically choose and implement culturally responsive, evidence-informed interventions to achieve client and constituency goals
  2. incorporate culturally responsive methods to negotiate, mediate, and advocate with and on behalf of clients and constituencies.
Competency 9: Evaluate Practice with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
  1. select and use culturally responsive methods for evaluation of outcomes
  2. critically analyze outcomes and apply evaluation findings to improve practice effectiveness with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.