Source (2025): https://calstatela.curriculog.com/proposal:18078/form

Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs)

Competency 1: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior

• make ethical decisions by applying the standards of the National Association of Social Workers 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 the context;
• demonstrate professional behavior; appearance; and oral, written, and electronic communication;
• use technology ethically and appropriately to facilitate practice outcomes; and
• use supervision and consultation to guide professional judgment and behavior.

Competency 2: Advance Human Rights and Social, Racial, Economic, and Environmental Justice

• advocate for human rights at the individual, family, group, organizational, and community system levels; and
• engage in practices that advance human rights to promote social, racial, economic, and environmental justice.

Competency 3: Engage Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ADEI) in Practice

• demonstrate anti-racist and anti-oppressive social work practice at the individual, family, group, organizational, community, research, and policy levels; and
• 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 constituencies, acknowledging them as experts of their own lived experiences.

Competency 4: Engage In Practice-informed Research and Research-informed Practice

• apply research findings to inform and improve practice, policy, and programs; and
• 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

• use social justice, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive lenses to assess how social welfare policies affect the delivery of and access to social services; and
• 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

• apply knowledge of human behavior and person-in-environment, as well as interprofessional conceptual frameworks, to engage with clients and constituencies; and
• 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

• apply theories of human behavior and person-in-environment, as well as other culturally responsive and interprofessional conceptual frameworks, when assessing clients and constituencies; and
• 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

• engage with clients and constituencies to critically choose and implement culturally responsive, evidence-informed interventions to achieve client and constituency goals; and
• 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

• select and use culturally responsive methods for evaluation of outcomes; and
• critically analyze outcomes and apply evaluation findings to improve practice effectiveness with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

Fit with the Institutional Mission or Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILO) 

The BASW Program in the School of Social Work at California State University, Los Angeles prepares students for beginning strengths-based generalist practice in socially, culturally and economically diverse urban communities. Our BASW graduates are educated to promote social and economic justice and facilitate change and growth at all levels of professional practice. Our Institutional Mission is aligned with the broader University Institutional Mission of delivering cutting-edge academic programs that prepare students to be innovative leaders in both their professional and civic lives and foster thriving communities across greater Los Angeles.

Our BASW program is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), which formulates, promulgates, and implements the accreditation standards for baccalaureate and master’s degree programs in social work, for ensuring that the standards define competent preparation, and for confirming that accredited social work programs meet the standards.

CSWE has adopted a competency-based education framework for its Educational Policy & Accreditation Standard (EPAS). A competency-based
approach identifies and assesses what students demonstrate in practice.

Social work education at the baccalaureate level shapes the profession’s
future through the education of competent professionals, the generation of knowledge, the
promotion of evidence-informed practice through scientific inquiry, and the exercise of leadership.
Social work educators serve the profession through their teaching, research, scholarship, and
service. Social work educators are responsible for ensuring that students are prepared to practice
safely, competently, and ethically with all clients, constituents, and the public. Additionally, social
work education prepares competent practitioners to develop socially responsible policy, address the
policy implications of their work, and implement strategies to address inequalities and inequities.

As described, the BASW program at Cal State LA is consistent with the University Institutional Mission and its Learning Objectives and competency-based CSWE EPAS.