The BYU- Idaho social Work program is Accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE).

The BYU- Idaho social Work program is Accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). The data presented below and the format are largely due to CSWE s requirements for accreditation. Program Outcomes/Competencies: List the Program Outcomes for this degree, along with the courses that contribute to each outcome. Indicate the University Outcome (if any) that each program outcome supports. 1. Prepare students to be Professional Workers by learning to act rather than be acted upon as demonstrated by students: (Correlate EP 2.1.1) a. Advocating for client services, b. Practicing reflection and self correction while attending to professional roles and boundaries, c. Demonstrate good general communication skills, d. Demonstrate professional demeanor in behavior, appearance, learn to apply skills in a variety of professional situations and contexts. e. Demonstrate professional respect, knowledge, and skills f. Demonstrate an appreciation for the historical underpinnings of the Social Work Profession. g. Using consultation and supervision appropriate to social work practice. Develop professional respect, knowledge and skills. 2. Students will understand and apply social work professional values, ethics, and principles to social work practice as evidence by: (Correlate EP 2.1.2) a. Recognizing and managing personal values in a way that allows professional values to guide practice. b. Making ethical decisions by applying to NASW Code of Ethics c. Tolerating ambiguity in resolving ethical conflicts d. Applying strategies of ethical decision making (reasoning) to arrive at principled decisions. 3. Students will use critical thinking skills within the context of professional social work practice, coupled with a broad general education (Liberal Arts) foundation for developing knowledge as evidence by: (Correlate EP 2.1.3) a. Demonstrating effective oral and written communication in dealing with individuals, families, groups, organizations, communities, and colleagues b. Developing social work knowledge and competency by applying and integrating a variety of social work methods and theoretical frameworks and historically grounded purposes. c. Distinguish, appraise and integrate multiple sources of knowledge including research and practice wisdom. 4. Students will develop Professional respect, knowledge, and skills to practice and work with human diversity within the context of client s cultural reality by: (Correlate EP 2.1.4) a. Integrating knowledge, values and skills of the social work profession into their professional lives and within the context of their client s specific cultures. b. Recognizing how a cultures structures and values oppress, marginalize, alienate, or create/enhance privilege and power. c. Understanding how personal biases/values might influence working with diverse groups (create self- awareness within students) d. Recognizing and developing the ability to communicate the importance of differences in socialization and shaping life experiences. e. Striving to always learn from those who are diverse by engaging them. 5. Students will develop an understanding and appreciation for human diversity, understand forms of discrimination, oppression, and mechanisms to advance/ advocate for social and economic justice in social work practice. (Correlate 2.1.5) 6. Students will develop ability to evaluate and conduct research, apply findings and relate

to social work practice interventions by: (Correlate 2.1.6) a. Using practice experience to inform scientific inquiry b. Using research findings/ evidence to inform practice to evaluate and provide leadership to work effectively with social policy, social service, delivery systems, practice and in professional social work employment. 7. Students will Apply knowledge of human behavior in the social environment by: (Correlate 2.1.7) a. Developing knowledge of the bio- psycho- social context of individual human development and behavior. b. Developing the ability to apply and integrate a variety of social work methods and theoretical frameworks to person- environment transitions with individuals, families, groups, organizations, communities, culture, and society. c. To developing social work knowledge and competency by applying and integrating a variety of social work methods and theoretical frameworks, to guide the process of assessment, intervention, and evaluation. d. Being able to critique and apply knowledge to understand person and environment. 8. Students will provide leadership in and work effectively with social policy, and social service delivery systems to promote social well being by: (Correlate 2.1.8) a. Collaborating with colleagues and clients for effective policy action. 9. Students will develop knowledge, skills, and leadership to effectively work with organizations and social systems, to seek necessary change /services by: (Correlate 2.1.9) a. Discovering, appraising, attending to changing societal trends such as changing populations, locals, science & technology development, and social trends. b. Providing leadership to promote quality social services, and long- term lasting changes in service delivery. 10. Students will apply generalist social work (knowledge/skills) with systems of all sizes in the following areas. (Correlate 2.1.10) a. Engagement- developing good basic attending skills, use of empathy and other interpersonal skills preparing for action with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities developing worker/client relationships to focus on work and desired outcomes. Assessments- collecting, organizing and interpreting clients data, assessing client strengths and limitations, developing an action plan with client (e.g.) intervention goals, objectives and implementing appropriate intervention strategies. c. Intervention- helping clients problem solve, implementing interventions that help clients improve life situation and enhance client capacities, initiate actions to achieve organizational goal. d. Evaluate- seriously analyze, monitor and evaluate interventions, with purposeful, effective follow up or correction, re- contract etc. e. Termination- provide consistent ending to process smooth termination, referral, and a step wise ending when therapeutic goals are met and client can safely function independently of interventions. 11. Students will apply and integrate generalist social work practice and Christian service by: a. Striving to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and to implement and follow the BYU - Idaho Learning Model. b. Exhibiting as part of their social work practice Christian ideals. 12. Students will prepare for practice in specific areas of social work practice such as Child welfare and / Mental Health By exploring a field of social work practice in greater depth in course work and/or internship experience. Social Work Major: (CORE) The social work program curriculum is designed to provide education grounded in the purposes

of the social work profession and to promote the knowledge, values and skills of the profession. The Baccalaureate social work program at BYU- Idaho prepares students for generalist professional practice and Christian service. An overview of the curriculum is presented below. The program is designed to help students develop core social work competencies as they fulfill program objectives. Following each class in parentheses is listed the number of the program competency the class correlates with. Professional foundation core courses are in bold and italics. To see specifically how the classes relate directly to competencies please see (charts, table s standard 2.0.5 section) SW 260 Introduction to Social Work Social welfare as a social institution and the emergence of social work as a profession. (1, 2, 3, 9 SW 260 Introduction to Social Work Social welfare as a social institution and the emergence of social work as a profession. (1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 12) SW 340 Social Work Research Methods (prerequisite: consent of instructor, FDMath 223) Qualitative and quantitative designs: problem formulation, data collection, analysis, writing. (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12) SW 362 Social Work Practice I - Individuals (prerequisite: Admission to the SW program) Generalist social work practice, introduce, explore, and blend knowledge, values and skills used by social workers. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10,) SW 364 Social Work Practice II Group (prerequisite: Admission to the SW program, SW 362, 367 ) Knowledge, values, skills, and ethics as applied to small groups work social work practice. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10) SW 365 Social Work Practice III - Community/Macro (Admission to social work program prerequisite: SW 362, SW 364) 16 Knowledge, skills, values, and ethics for macro level generalist social work practice. (1, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) SW 367 Human Behavior in the Social Environment (prerequisite: Admission to the SW program) Social work perspective on bio- psycho- social human development and person environment transactions. (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11) SW 400 Social Work Values/Ethics (prerequisite: Admission to the SW program) Use of ethics and values in social work practice (NASW code of ethics). (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9) SW 463 Child Welfare Services (prerequisite: Admission to the SW program) Theory and practice of child protection, adoption, foster care etc. (1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 11, 12) SW 464 Intervention with Diverse Clients (prerequisite: Admission to the SW program SW 362, 367) Develops competency for generalists practice: self awareness, ethnic relations, cultural realities. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) SW 465 Social Work in Community Mental Health (prerequisite: Admission to the SW program, recommended Psych 342) Community mental health issues: institutions, treatments, family relationships. (1, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) SW 466 Social Welfare Policy (prerequisite: Admission to the SW program) Social legislation processes, analysis of social policy and the knowledge available to be a change agent for social work practice. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11) SW 470 Populations at Risk (prerequisite: Admission to the SW program, SW 362, SW 364, SW 365) Groups within society that have an increased risk of exploitation, discrimination, oppression of an increased likelihood of victimization. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10) SW 497 Senior Practicum (prerequisite: senior class standing, SW 362, SW 364, SW 365, SW 367, SW 400, and permission of instructor.) A classroom experience corresponding with the field work experience to be taken consecutively with SW 498. (all objectives/ competencies) SW 498 Senior Practicum - Field Work (prerequisite: senior class standing, SW 362, SW 364, SW

365, SW 367, SW 400 and permission of instructor.) Supervised field experience to do social work practice - an integration and application of curriculum to actual social work practice. ( all objectives/ competencies) Please see next Section for relationship of classes to overall competencies. The social work curriculum has been well thought out and provides a coherent and integrated curriculum for both classroom and field related to competencies. EPAS Competencies and Course Correlation, Illustrating Coherent and Integrated Curriculum Courses Identify as Professional Social Worker Values and Ethics Critical Thinking Human Diversities and Cultural Realities Human Diversity and Social Justice Research Bio- psycho- social Social Policy Leadership General Practice 260 X X X X X 311 X X 362 X X X X X X X X 364 X X X X X X X X 365 X X X X 367 X X X X X X 400 X X X X 463 X X X 464 X X X X X X X X 465 X X X X X X 466 X X X X 470 X X X X X X X 497/498 X X X X X X X X X X 340 X X X X X X X X X

Assessment Plan Describe the Assessment Plan for measuring how well the Program Outcomes are being achieved. The Assessment Plan should include at least one direct measure (e.g. scores from course- embedded assignments, results from professional exams, etc.) and one indirect measure (e.g. senior exit surveys, alumni surveys, etc.) for each outcome. Plan - The overall plan to assess program competencies involves the following components: Completion of all program courses/curriculum: Procedures: Student must complete all curriculum /coursework by successfully fulfilling course objectives, competencies, and requirements as evidenced by course instructor s evaluations. Benchmark: Successful completion of all social work program curriculum/courses by the student with a C- or above grade. Multiple Measures / Assessments: Competencies - Field Instructor Assesses Student: This comprehensive assessment is used to assess and evaluate the student on fulfillment of all program competencies using a multiple choice continuum. Assessment instrument can be found in Appendix 3 Continuous Assessment Data, Section 1, Field Instructor Assesses Student. Procedures: Students may participate in the process of the field instructor s assessment as they meet one- on- one with the field instructor to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses in exhibiting competencies in the practicum setting. Field work instructors are trained in the fulfillment of competencies and in the content of the assessment device in our March and October trainings each year, as well as online. The field instructor completes the computerized assessment and submits the instrument. The assessment instrument is available on our Internship Tracking Placement (ITP) program which each field instructor has access to. The results are then retrieved and analyzed by the social work program. The results are shared with the SW 497/498 practicum instructor to be used as part of the assessment for the course. The results are also shared with the student and the field work instructors as appropriate. Overall data is then compiled for the evaluation of the social work programs competencies. This assessment is completed each semester. The scale used for measurement: 1 = poor, 2 = fair, 3 = good, 4 = very good, 5 = excellent. Benchmark for success is considered to be 4 or very good. Success of competencies will be indicated in the next section e.g. Standard 4.0.2 of this report by the overall competency score for each competency 1 12, by semester, with sample size and overall average. For example, see the chart below.

Competency 1 Competency 2 Competency 3 Competency 4 Competency 5 Competency 6 Competency 7 Competency 8 Competency 9 Competency 10 Competency 11 Competency 12 AVG/Semester Sample Size excellent. Average Example of table for competency results of field instructor assesses student Key for competency number: (1) Identify as a Professional Social Worker and Conduct Oneself Accordingly; (2) Apply Social Work Values and Ethics to Guide Professional Practice; (3) Critical Thinking & Social Welfare; (4) Human Diversity- Cultural Realities; (5) Human Diversity & Social/Economic Justice; (6) Conduct and Apply Research; (7) Bio- psycho- social/ Person- in- environment/systems; (8) Social Policies & Service Delivery; (9) Leadership Responds to Contexts that Shape Practice ; (10) Generalist ; (11) Christian Service Practice ; (12) Preparation in a specific area of social work practice: Child Welfare/ Mental Health. The scale used for measurement: 1 = poor, 2 = fair, 3 = good, 4 = very good, 5 = Benchmark for success is considered to be 4 or very good. Specific competencies operationalized through measurable practice behaviors will be shown in a chart as exemplified below, with scores for each competency.

Social Work Competencies 2013 Identify as a Professional Social Worker and Conduct Oneself Accordingly Advocates/Collaborates Engages Supervision/Consultation Communication Professional Comportment Self Awareness Professional Boundaries Application/Integration/Navigation Apply Social Work Values and Ethics to Guide Professional Practice Manage Personal Values Applies Ethical Principles Critical Thinking & Social Welfare Analyze Information Integrate Methods Human Diversity- Cultural Realities Knowledge Action Human Diversity & Social/Economic Justice Knowledge Action Conduct and Apply Research Conduct Research Apply Research Bio- psycho- social/ Person- in- environment/systems Knowledge of Bio- psycho- social Applies/Integrates Eclectic Models/Methods Social Policies & Service Delivery Understand, formulate, and analyze social polices Application of policy Leadership Responds to Contexts that Shape Practice Leadership Context/Technology Generalist Practice Understands and applies the generalist social work model Uses fundamental skills, professional values, and ethics Engagement Assessment, intervention, and problem solving Christian Service Christian Service Preparation in a specific area of social work practice: Child Welfare/ Mental Health Preparation in a specific area of social work practice

Assessment Data Summarize the assessment data that your plan has generated this year. Where possible, report the data in terms of the percentage of students who met the program outcomes at the levels described below. If some of your assessment results do not match this format (as with certain types of indirect measures, for example), simply use an appropriate alternative format to summarize the results. (BYU-Idaho) BACCALAUREATE SOCIAL WORK PROGRAM ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES LAST COMPLETED ON (2012) Form AS4 (B) Duplicate and expand as needed. Provide table(s) to support self -study narrative addressing the accreditation standards below. This form is used to assist the COA in the evaluation of the program s compliance with the accreditation standards below: 4.0.2 The program provides summary data and outcomes for the assessment of each of its competencies, identifying the percentage of students achieving the benchmark. 4.0.4 The program uses Form AS 4 (B) and/or AS4 (M) to report assessment outcomes to its constituents and the public on its website and routinely up-dates (minimally every 2 years) these postings All Council on Social Work Education programs measure and report student learning outcomes. Students are assessed on their mastery of the competencies that comprise the accreditation standards of the Council on Social Work Education. These competencies are dimensions of social work practice that all social workers are expected to master during their professional training. A measurement benchmark is set by the social work programs for each competency. An assessment score at or above that benchmark is considered by the program to represent mastery of that particular competency. COMPETENCY Identify as a Professional Social Worker Apply Ethical Principles Apply Critical Thinking Engage Diversity in Practice Advance Human Rights/ Social and Economic Justice Engage Research Informed Practice/ Practice Informed Research Apply Human Behavior Knowledge Engage Policy Practice to Advance Well- Being and Deliver Services Respond to Practice Contexts COMPETENCY BENCHMARK PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS ACHIEVING BENCHMARK licensure exam 4 Very good 99.8% 95% 4 Very good 99.9% 95% 4 very good 99.7% 95% 4 very good 99.9 95% 4 very good 99.7% 95% Practice Engagement Practice Assessment Practice Intervention Practice Evaluation

Social Work Competencies 2012 1. Identify as a Professional Social Worker and Conduct Oneself Accordingly Advocates/Collaborates 4.69 Engages 4.62 Supervision/Consultation 4.70 Communication 4.62 Professional Comportment 4.65 Self Awareness 4.40 Professional Boundaries 4.71 Application/Integration/Navigation 4.72 2. Apply Social Work Values and Ethics to Guide Professional Practice Manage Personal Values 4.77 Applies Ethical Principles 4.70 3. Critical Thinking & Social Welfare Analyze Information 4.59 Integrate Methods 4.60 4. Human Diversity- Cultural Realities Knowledge 4.71 Action 4.83 5. Human Diversity & Social/Economic Justice Knowledge 4.73 Action 4.73 6. Conduct and Apply Research Conduct Research 4.52 Apply Research 4.60 7. Bio- psycho- social/ Person- in- environment/systems Knowledge of Bio- psycho- social 4.75 Applies/Integrates Eclectic Models/Methods 4.64 8. Social Policies & Service Delivery Understand, formulate, and analyze social polices 4.60 Application of policy 4.56 9. Leadership Responds to Contexts that Shape Practice Leadership 4.52 Context/Technology 4.70 10. Generalist Practice Understands and applies the generalist social work model 4.79 Uses fundamental skills, professional values, and ethics 4.78 Engagement 4.82 Assessment, intervention, and problem solving 4.68 11. Christian Service Christian Service 4.90

12. Preparation in a specific area of social work practice: Child Welfare/ Mental Health Preparation in a specific area of social work practice 4.78 The scale used for measurement: 1 = poor, 2 = fair, 3 = good, 4 = very good, 5 = excellent. Benchmark for success is 4 or very good. Analysis and Improvement Plan: Describe program improvement efforts that were made over the past year, and discuss any corresponding evidence from this year s assessment data of improved student performance. Discuss general areas of strength and weakness in the program. Develop an improvement plan for the coming year that focuses on one (or more) of the program outcomes. Competency of Program Students in passing the Baccalaureate Social Work Licensure Exam Administered by ASWB: Obviously, the procedure here is regulated and administered by individual states, (who license social work in their jurisdictions) and ASWB. But overall competency, it seems to us, is largely determined by whether someone prepared to license, is licensed or not, and can practice professional social work. Therefore, we present data (statistics compiled and provided by ASWB and obtained from them by our request and following their procedures and paying a fee to obtain the data from ASWB ). The data provided by ASWB on our BYU- Idaho social work graduates who have passed the baccalaureate licensing exam, showed that in 2012 BYU- I social work students had a 95% pass rate on the National social work licensure exam. 4.0.2 The program provides evidence of ongoing data collection and analysis and discusses how it uses assessment data to affirm and/or make changes in the explicit and implicit curriculum to enhance student performance. What will follow in the tables listed below are the results for assessment of all BYU- Idaho competencies from the field instructor assesses student survey instrument. Data will be presented on baccalaureate licensure exam passage/fail rates by our graduates and some data on graduates from our program who have gone on for graduate studies. Data presented provides evidence of data collection and tabulation for evaluation purposes. Along with these tables there will be a brief discussion as to how the program uses the data to affirm and/or make changes in the explicit and implicit curriculum to enhance student performance. Results from Field Instructor Assesses Student Instrument: Contains all program competencies exhibited by students in field work as assessed by field work instructor. Semester Fall 2012 Winter 2012 Summer 2012 Average Competency 1 4.64 4.66 4.62 4.64 Competency 2 4.64 4.70 4.78 4.70 Competency 3 4.63 4.67 4.66 4.65

Competency 4 4.68 4.74 4.80 4.74 Competency 5 4.65 4.69 4.70 4.68 Competency 6 4.39 4.63 4.70 4.57 Competency 7 4.64 4.66 4.75 4.68 Competency 8 4.55 4.48 4.70 4.57 Competency 9 4.42 4.58 4.65 4.55 Competency 10 4.71 4.71 4.80 4.73 Competency 11 4.86 4.98 4.95 4.93 Competency 12 4.69 4.68 4.80 4.70 AVG/Semester 4.62 4.68 4.74 Sample Size 35 36 31 Key for competency number: (1) Identify as a Professional Social Worker and Conduct Oneself Accordingly; (2) Apply Social Work Values and Ethics to Guide Professional Practice; (3) Critical Thinking & Social Welfare; (4) Human Diversity- Cultural Realities; (5) Human Diversity & Social/Economic Justice; (6) Conduct and Apply Research; (7) Bio- psycho- social/ Person- in- environment/systems; (8) Social Policies & Service Delivery; (9) Leadership Responds to Contexts that Shape Practice ; (10) Generalist ; (11) Christian Service Practice ; (12) Preparation in a specific area of social work practice: Child Welfare/ Mental Health. The scale used for measurement: 1 = poor, 2 = fair, 3 = good, 4 = very good, 5 = excellent. Benchmark for success is considered to be 4 or very good. Analysis: Although the benchmark was reached for each competency; 6 conduct & apply research and 8 social policy indicate our weakest and these will be focused on to enhance / shore up our program in these areas. As a result of analysis of the assessments / data discussed we can conclude and affirm that the program overall is reaching the majority of its benchmarks, and students and program are exhibiting the competencies. However, assessment has also allowed us to identify some of our weakest competencies and curriculum which appear to be competency 6 (apply/conduct research), 8. Both fall slightly below the benchmark for the alumni survey. Although other surveys indicate that these same two competencies and their benchmarks were met, including the field work instructor assess student survey. However, these same two competencies were the lowest scored in that survey. Thus, there is room for improvement and change. Changes in the explicit and implicit curriculum based on an analysis of the assessment data: Explicit curriculum: Faculty have met and discussed ways to shore up and improve our research and policy competencies in our curriculum. After discussions we feel that the policy service delivery competency may be related with the research competency. That is, the link from class work to field work application with policy and research has been weaker than other parts of the curriculum. This may be partly due to the fact that many agencies do not have ongoing research projects etc. But we have also recognized that in order to more directly address this issue we need to eventually move our research class into a later position in our curriculum. Students many times take the research class early in the program and we need to change and move it forward so they take it later in the curriculum, where it can be linked more directly with the field work experience and application opportunities. We are in the process of trying to accomplish this but it will have to be implemented over time, due to

catalog and other timing issues. The important thing is, we have plans to accomplish this to enhance and shore up these components in our curriculum. Although some of those changes will occur over time, Richard Whiting, our SW 340 Research instructor, has current plans to integrate the SW 340 Social Work Research class with the SW 464 Intervention with Diverse Clients class and with the SW 466 Social Welfare Policy class. See SW 340 class syllabi Goal 5: Student will incorporate an understanding of diversity and difference into the research process. Objective: Students will identify potential concerns with their research design relative to diversity and difference, and include specific methodologies in their design that address those concerns. Implicit curriculum: One of the plans for implementation has come from some revisions in our SW 464 Intervention with Diverse Clients class. The plan is to more fully implement a cultural immersion experience as part of the curriculum that will be coupled with the student doing a culturally competent practice evaluation in an applied setting or in their practicum experience. This will enhance the learning environment for research and will affirm and support persons with diversity. This should allow the implicit curriculum to enhance explicit curriculum and vis- a- vis. For example, some of our students are participating in the Heber J. Grant program (see 3.1.1 University Aid Resources section for a more thorough explanation of this program). The objective of the Program is to provide a student- led organization that identifies and assists individuals in their efforts to overcome disadvantaged backgrounds through providing financial support, mentoring, leadership opportunities, and more. This program often supports those who come from diverse backgrounds, providing opportunities for them that they would not have otherwise. Plans are to link the SW 464 Intervention with Diverse Clients class with this program in a more involved way. Having some of our students participate with this program should enhance cultural immersion and cultural competence application experiences. It should also help the participants in the Heber J. Grant program (a few of them even our students), receive assistance to be successful and improve their quality of life through education. Other students will have similar experiences with their field work, and culturally competent evaluations, to improve opportunities and the quality of life for diverse populations in their field work settings. In order to fully accomplish this plan, we will eventually move our research class to a later position in our curriculum. We have already planned this in our course sequencing to be implemented. We may also need to combine or switch places in our course sequencing with the SW 470 Populations at Risk class to accomplish this. This would be done to allow the cultural competence evaluation experience to be research oriented and related when possible to field work applications. This should also allow better integration of research to practice settings and strengthen the overall context and curriculum. We will strive to continue to support and enhance other aspects of the implicit curriculum students and faculty may use related to research; e.g. information technologies, computers, books, periodicals, agencies that provide opportunities to develop competencies etc. We will also continue to support professional development of faculty who teach research and policy curriculums. Explicit Curriculum: The SW 340 class instructor also has plans to more fully integrate social policy into the research curriculum. See SW 340 Syllabi, Appendix 1, Goal 6 Students will demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between social policy and research practice and how research can be an important and effective tool to advance social and economic well- being. Objective: Students will identify the implications of their research design for social policy. They will state how their research design and findings can contribute to the body of social work research knowledge, and lead to more

effective social welfare policy and to the practice of social work. Again, this should allow integration of policy within the overall curriculum to strengthen it. As a result of the analysis of our assessment data we are exploring other ways to integrate and improve research / policy competencies within our curriculum. These areas will continue to be monitored for effective change. We see assessment as an ongoing process rather than an end in and of itself.