ACPA/NASPA Professional Competencies Rubrics

ACPA/NASPA ProfessionalCompetencies Rubrics

Professional Competencies Rubrics Task ForceCo-Chairs:Martha Glass, Ph.D.Director of Assessment and ProfessionalDevelopmentVirginia TechJonathan O’Brien, Ed.D. (Co-Chair)Assistant Professor, Educational LeadershipCalifornia State University, Long BeachDustin Grabsch, M.A.Program Coordinator for Academic SupportInitiatives & AssessmentTexas A & M UniversityEllen Meents-DeCaigny, Ph.D. (Co-Chair)Assistant Vice President for Student AffairsDePaul UniversityMembersCoco Du, M.A.Director of Residential LifeMacalester CollegeJodi Koslow Martin, Ph.D.Vice President for Student EngagementNorth Park UniversityHayley Haywood, M.A.Director, Multicultural and First GenerationStudent SupportClark UniversityJason Pina, Ph.D.Vice President for Student AffairsOhio UniversityJerrid Freeman, Ph.D.Vice President for Student AffairsNortheastern State University2Professional Competency RubricsKen Schneck, Ph.D.Associate Professor, Leadership in HigherEducationBaldwin Wallace University

Table of ContentsIntroduction.4What are Competency Rubrics?.4Why Use Rubrics in Student Affairs?.5How Can I Use These Rubrics?.5Graduate Program Coordinators.5Graduate Students.7Supervisors and Hiring Managers.7Divisional Professional Development Coordinator.7Faculty.8Professional Organizations.8Assumptions and Limitations.9Competency RubricsAdvising and Supporting.10Assessment, Evaluation, and Research.13Law, Policy, and Governance.17Leadership.19Organizational and Human Resources.22Personal and Ethical Foundations.26Social Justice and Inclusion.28Student Learning and Development.30Technology.32Values, Philosophy, and History.35References.37ACPA—College Student Educators International & NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education3

IntroductionThe competency rubrics and their sourcedocument, Professional Competency Areasfor Student Affairs Educators (ACPA &NASPA, 2015), reflect decades of scholarshipdevoted to identifying the knowledge, skills,and dispositions for effective practice.Researchers have studied student affairscompetencies from multiple perspectives,including chief student affairs officers andgraduate preparation faculty (Burkard et al.,2005; Estanek et al., 2011; Herdlein, 2004;Dickerson et al., 2011; Herdlein, et. al., 2011),new professionals and supervisors (Cuyjet,Longwell-Grice & Molina, 2009), diversityeducators (King & Howard-Hamilton, 2003),and the content of job descriptions (Hoffman& Breciani, 2012). Analyzing the findings ofthese and other studies, Herdlein, Riefler, andMrowka (2013) concluded that the prominentcompetency areas were, “multicultural/diversity issues and student developmenttheory, followed by administrative topics suchas law, research and assessment, budget andfinance, ethics, campus organization, andstructure” (p. 266).Informed by scholarship and motivatedby the larger accountability movement inhigher education, professional associationshave made significant contributions to theestablishment of professional standards.The current version of the professionalcompetencies (ACPA & NASPA, 2015) andthese rubrics can be traced to a report froma steering committee convened by ACPA(2007), which proposed eight competencieswith outcomes distributed along basic,intermediate, and advanced levels. Two yearslater, a Joint Task Force on ProfessionalCompetencies and Standards was convenedand proposed ten competencies (ACPA &NASPA, 2010). Shortly after this publication,a team was formed by ACPA (n.d.) to writerubrics that are the prototype for the currentversion.4Professional Competency RubricsAs part of a regular review cycle, anew Joint Task Force on ProfessionalCompetencies (ACPA & NASPA, 2015) madea number of changes to the competencies,which are described in that publication. Therubrics in this document reflect the mostrecent revisions.What are Competency Rubrics?This document adapts the ProfessionalCompetency Areas for Student AffairsEducators (ACPA & NASPA, 2015) intorubrics. A rubric is a tool that professionalscan use to assess their knowledge, skills, anddispositions across foundational, intermediate,and advanced levels of experience. Eachrubric presents the definition of a singlecompetency and distributes its outcomesin a table that lists multiple dimensionsof the competency in rows and along adevelopmental scale in three columns.Dimensions. The dimensions of eachrubric are derived from the competencydescription and are listed along the leftcolumn. They are aspirational and strengthsbased, encouraging developmentalprogression in the domains of knowledge,skills, and dispositions for effective practice,as determined by the literature and expertpractitioners. Knowledge includes the evolving bodyof student development and learningtheories, relevant laws, policies andethical ideals, as well as managementand leadership concepts that guidestudent affairs practice. Skills are actions, best practices, andknowledge-based expertise, such as goalsetting, interpersonal communication, useof technology, and assessment. Dispositions are relatively stable patternsof behavior that are grounded in aneducator’s values and motives, such ascollaboration, critical thinking, tolerance

for ambiguity, flexibility, and openness toconstructive feedback.Scale. The scale has three levels:foundational; intermediate; and advanced.Each level is a column, beginning to the rightof the Dimension column. The outcomeswithin each column describe increasinglycomplex levels of knowledge and skills in eachdimension.Precisely locating one’s position onthe scale is difficult since a variety ofcharacteristics influence professionaldevelopment (e.g., lived experience, positionin the organization, formal education,association involvement, etc.). It is reasonableto infer that graduate students and noviceprofessionals are learning to apply individualcompetencies at the foundational level,while senior-level professionals, who arepresumably capable of synthesizing multiplecompetencies, would occupy advanced levels.Although the rubrics can help to assess theprofessional competency of individuals, theyare not valid instruments for measuring growthor comparing the performance of others.Users must adapt the rubrics for their owngoals and the context of their institution andjob function.Why Use Rubrics in StudentAffairs?Rubrics are a convenient way toconvey expectations for performance andstructure feedback in a uniform and conciseway (Stevens & Levi, 2011). They offer adependable set of criteria that help studentaffairs practitioners to identify areas forgrowth, create a personal development plan,clarify responsibilities and outcomes, andfacilitate consensus among colleagues aboutwhat constitutes good practice. Educators canuse them to create learning outcomes, designcurriculum, or evaluate conference programsand session proposals.How Can I Use These Rubrics?Mastery of outcomes in each dimensioncan be tracked in many ways, includingobservations, pre- and post-tests, formalcoursework, or case study analysis. Userscan document achievement by creating ascale for individual competency outcomes(e.g., Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree) oradding additional rows or columns to write inevidence of achievement.Rubrics can be used in a variety ofcontexts including professional development,graduate preparation, employment andsupervision, and professional associations.Some suggestions are provided below.Graduate Program Coordinators Include the Rubrics along with theCompetencies, as required texts forintroductory courses. The Rubricspromote students’ reflection and selfassessment by showing them howproficiency develops over time, acrossthe multiple dimensions that compriseeach competency. Early in the firstsemester, ask students to identify theirlevel of mastery in each competencyarea. This also helps programcoordinators to focus on the areas wherestudents need the most attention. Repeatthis assessment in a year, and share theresults with faculty advisors to discussduring an annual progress meeting. Offer a workshop for field-basedexperience supervisors. Not allsupervisors for field-based experienceshave knowledge of the Rubrics (or theCompetencies) so it might be helpful tohost a session explaining the Rubricsto supervisors and how they might beincorporated into assignments of tasksand performance evaluations.ACPA—College Student Educators International & NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education5

Create and evaluate learning outcomesfor field-based experiences using theRubrics. The Rubrics are a consistentstandard that helps students to articulateacademic learning outcomes that arealso tied to practical expectations ofemployers and the profession. Askstudents to work with their internshipsupervisors to review the Rubrics andselect three to five competencies thatare relevant to their job responsibilities.Within each competency, the dimensionsand their definitions offer concisestatements of the knowledge, skills,and dispositions that form the basisof learning outcomes. The levels ofmastery identify the student’s existinglevel of proficiency and describe what isexpected as mastery increases. Incorporate the Rubrics into mockinterview days and cover letter/resumewriting workshops. Employers areincreasingly starting to ask students injob interviews to describe their skills andabilities in terms of the Competencies.As students prepare for graduationand employment, they can use thedescriptions of each dimension in therubrics as a guide for cover letters,resumes, and interview preparation.Have mock interviewers ask candidatesquestions specifically based on theknowledge, skills, and dispositionsoutlined in the Rubrics. For example:6 How would you build an inclusivenetwork of campus stakeholdersdedicated to facilitating change? Give us an example when youincorporated social media or digitalcommunication in the design of astudent learning experience. Talk about a program you haveeither led or attended thataddressed power, privilege &difference.Professional Competency Rubrics Tie the Competencies/Rubrics intostudents’ conference experiences.Before students attend conferences,discuss with them how the conferencewill help them to develop their masteryof the Competencies. Students canuse the Rubrics as a framework whennavigating a (sometimes overwhelming)conference schedule and it can maketheir participation much more intentional.When they return, have studentsarticulate (either in discussion or writtenreflection) which sessions they attendedand how it influenced the development oftheir knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Use the Rubrics in curriculumdevelopment and program assessmentby evaluating the curriculum accordingto the knowledge, skills, and dispositionsexpected of practitioners in the field.While it is not possible for every singledimension to be incorporated into thecurriculum, the Rubrics provide specificexamples of learning goals and outcomesthat can be used to evaluate andrevise syllabi and for designing courseassignments that lead to the mastery ofcompetency across the curriculum. Incollaboration with other program faculty,use the Rubrics at a meeting devotedto curriculum review or use them asan external standard to prepare for anaccreditation report or visit. Distribute the Competencies/Rubricsduring Prospective Student InterviewDays. It is never too early to let studentsknow that the Competencies exist andthat they are a foundational elementof your program and the field at large.Provide prospective students with ahand-out during a brief discussion.With more time, use the Rubrics todemonstrate the process of intentionalstudent development, and allowsome time to place themselves in theCompetencies before they begin theirgraduate student careers.