WORKING DRAFT - March 2, 2010 Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Practitioners: Informing Intentional Professional Development Design and Selection Working Draft March 2, 2010 A Joint Publication of ACPA and NASPA 1 WORKING DRAFT - March 2, 2010 Table of Contents Membership of Joint Task Force …………………………………………………………3 Introduction....……………………………………………………………………………..4 Competency Areas: Advising and Helping……………………………………………………………..7 Assessment, Evaluation, and Research……………………………………………8 Diversity and Inclusion…………………………………………………………..10 Ethical Practice…………………………………………………………………..11 History, Philosophy, and Values…………………………………………………12 Human and Organizational Resources…………………………………………...14 Law, Policy, and Governance……………………………………………………17 Leadership……………………………………………………………………......19 Self……………………………………………………………………………….21 Student Learning and Development…………………………………………...…23 Appendix…………………………………………………………………………………25 2 WORKING DRAFT - March 2, 2010 Membership of ACPA/NASPA Joint Task Force on Professional Competencies and Standards Co-Chairs: Marilee J. Bresciani Professor of Postsecondary Education San Diego State University Dwayne Todd Associate VP and Dean of Students Columbus College of Art and Design Members: Stan Carpenter Patty Perillo Professor and Chair Associate Dean of Students Texas State University – San Marcos Davidson College Steven M. Janosik Robert Reason Associate Professor Associate Professor Virginia Tech Pennsylvania State University- University Park Susan R. Komives Professor Ronni Sanlo University of Maryland – College Park Sr. Assoc. Dean President, CAS (Council on the UCLA Advancement of Standards) Bette M. Simmons Patrick Love VP for Student Development Associate VP for Student Affairs County College of Morris Rutgers University Steve Tyrell David McKelfresh VP for Student Affairs Director, Assessment and Research Alfred State College Colorado State University Steven Neilson Special Assistant to the President Rollins College 3 WORKING DRAFT - March 2, 2010 Introduction Purpose: This compilation of Professional Competency Areas is intended to define the broad professional knowledge, skills, and attitudes expected of student affairs professionals, regardless of their area of specialization or positional role within the field. All student affairs professionals are expected to demonstrate their ability to meet the basic list of outcomes under each competency area regardless of how they entered the profession. Thus, this document is intended to inform the design of professional development opportunities for student affairs professionals by providing outcomes that are to be incorporated into the design of specific curriculum and training opportunities. If a student affairs professional desires to grow in a particular competency area, he/she can examine expected learning and skills in the intermediate and advanced level. Such examination allows individual practitioners to use this document to help guide their own choices about professional development opportunities afforded to them. Finally, graduate student affairs program faculty may choose to utilize this document to develop or refine their curriculum, preparing students for the competencies expected of practitioners in the field. Process: In the summer of 2009, ACPA and NASPA, the two largest comprehensive student affairs professional associations, committed to work together to establish one set of professional competency areas that both associations would endorse for the broad field of student affairs. ACPA and NASPA created the Joint Task Force on Professional Competencies and Standards to develop a set of competency areas and outcomes and present it to each association’s governing bodies for approval. Members of the joint task force were selected by these two associations because of their work with each professional association; however, members were instructed to engage in the conversation, not as representatives of their respective nominating professional association but as members of the profession of student affairs who are interested in articulating the performance standards for the future of their profession. Members of the joint task force were charged with drafting a document that articulated common professional competency areas applicable to all student affairs professionals, regardless of their specific area of emphasis within the field. Their work is contained within this document. The work of this joint task force included the investigation of current literature and research pertaining to professional competencies, standards, and expectations of student affairs professionals. While past research and publications informed the conversations of the task force, the task force members also discussed the competency areas that would be needed for the future of the profession. The task force also reviewed a report (Weiner, Bresciani, Hickmott, & Felix, Under review) based upon an analysis of 19 separate documents, including reports, proposals, and professional development curriculum that were sanctioned by the boards of NASPA, ACPA, and CAS (A full listing of these documents is included in the Appendix). As part of this report, the researchers also conducted an extensive literature review and connected the literature to the competency areas that emerged from the document analysis. From this extensive literature review and document analysis, the researchers developed a set of eight learning goals that were based upon the themes that emerged. 4 WORKING DRAFT - March 2, 2010 In October 2009, the joint task force held an initial conference call to consider the document analysis report (Weiner, et alia) and develop a project plan. The task force then met in person in December 2009 with the goals of establishing a draft list of competency areas and assigning responsibility to members to develop the content corresponding to each area. Working from the document analysis report, additional existing literature, and other professional association documents, the task force agreed upon a final set of ten competency areas that are identified in this document. Task force members worked in pairs to develop the content for each competency area, which was then reviewed and revised by the task force at large. The draft list of professional competency areas will be available for leadership and membership review and comment during the 2010 annual conference/convention of each association. Members are also encouraged to submit comments to an online blog site (http://sacompetencies.wordpress.com). Following feedback from the NASPA and ACPA membership, the joint task force document will be refined and forwarded to the respective association governing boards for their vote at their July 2010 joint meeting. Guidance on Using the Document: Each competency area begins with a general definition, followed by a listing of knowledge, skills, or attitudes that student affairs practitioners are expected to demonstrate. These lists are divided into basic, intermediate, and advanced levels that delineate the increasing complexity and ability that must be demonstrated by practitioners as they grow in their professional development. These levels should not be confused with one’s years of service in the field, nor with one’s current positional role or title. Rather, the levels of basic, intermediate, and advanced correspond only to the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that one can demonstrate to others at a given point in time. In other words, not all student affairs professionals would be expected to hold an intermediate or advanced level of skills in all areas. Moreover, for some professionals, due to the type of work in which they engage, it may be advantageous for them to advance their knowledge and skill in certain competency areas, while still holding a basic level of knowledge and skill in other competency areas. However, all student affairs professionals would be expected to hold the basic level of knowledge and skill in all competency areas. Those who demonstrate an intermediate or advanced level of competency in a given area are presumed to also be able to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of the level(s) below their current level of attainment. Individuals are encouraged to consider the overall spirit and intention conveyed within each level when determining the level at which they are currently achieving, rather than simply using the model as a “check-off list” of professional accomplishments. Lastly, it is the joint task force’s expectation that these Professional Competency Areas and the outcomes contained within them will be reviewed and updated on a regular basis, especially as new topics and areas emerge within the field of student affairs and within the literature. The task force hopes that this evolving model will be a useful framework to guide today’s and tomorrow’s student affairs practitioners as they become more strategic and intentional in their professional development efforts. 5 WORKING DRAFT - March 2, 2010 Guidance for Providing Feedback on this Draft: We invite and welcome your feedback on this working draft and ask you to post your comments, suggestions, and questions at http://sacompetencies.wordpress.com by April 21st, 2010. We ask you to specifically consider the following guiding questions as you review the proposed professional competency areas: 1. Do the labels for the competency areas clearly communicate that which our professional practitioners value as well as the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are essential for every student affairs practitioner? 2. Will this set of competency areas be applicable to every practitioner within the entire field of student affairs? 3. Is the content underneath each competency area appropriate for that competency area? 4. Are the levels underneath each competency area clearly defined and differentiated? 5. Is the content underneath each competency area written in a way that will inform the comprehensive design of professional development programs? 6. Is there anything missing? 7. Is there any redundancy? 8. Do you have any other comments, concerns, or suggestions? If you prefer, you may also submit direct comments to the co-chairs, who will forward your comments to the Task Force. Their contact information follows: Marilee Bresciani, NASPA Co-Chair; [email protected] Dwayne Todd, ACPA Co-Chair; [email protected] 6 WORKING DRAFT - March 2, 2010 Advising and Helping Description: The Advising and Helping competency area addresses the skills related to providing counseling and advising support, direction, feedback, critique, referral, and guidance to individuals and groups. One must be able to: Basic • Exhibit active listening skills (e.g., appropriately establishing interpersonal contact, paraphrasing, perception checking, summarizing, questioning, encouraging, avoid interrupting, clarifying). • Establish rapport with students, groups, colleagues, and others. • Facilitate reflection to make meaning from experience. • Understand and use appropriate nonverbal communication. • Strategically and simultaneously pursue multiple objectives in conversations with students. • Facilitate problem-solving. • Facilitate individual decision-making and goal-setting. • Challenge and encourage students and colleagues effectively. • Know and use referral sources (e.g., other offices, outside agencies, knowledge sources), and exhibit referral skills in seeking expert assistance. • Identify when and with whom to implement appropriate crisis management and intervention responses. Intermediate • Perceive and analyze unspoken dynamics in a group setting. • Facilitate or coach group decision-making and goal-setting. • Facilitate or coach group process. • Conduct individual professional development needs assessment and group assessment of organizational needs. • Identify patterns of behavior that signal mental health concerns. • Manage conflict. • Mediate differences between/among individuals or groups. • Appropriately mentor students and staff. • Effectively use culturally appropriate advising, helping, coaching, and counseling strategies. • Initiate crises intervention responses and processes. Advanced • Provide effective therapeutic counseling services to individuals and groups. • Effectively assess responses to counseling interventions. • Provide and arrange for the necessary training and development for staff to enhance their advising and helping skills. • Effectively exercise institutional crisis intervention skills, and coordinate crisis intervention and response processes. 7 WORKING DRAFT - March 2, 2010 Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Description: The Assessment, Evaluation, and Research competency area (AER) focuses on the ability to use, design, conduct, and critique qualitative and quantitative AER analyses; to manage organizations using AER processes and the results obtained from them; and to shape the political and ethical climate surrounding AER processes and uses on campus, One must be able to: Basic • Differentiate among assessment, program review, evaluation, planning, and research and the methodologies appropriate to each. • Effectively articulate, interpret, and use results of assessment, evaluation, and research reports and studies, including professional literature. • Facilitate appropriate data collection for system/department-wide assessment and evaluation efforts. • Assess trustworthiness and other aspects of quality in qualitative studies and assess the transferability of these findings to current work settings. • Assess quantitative designs and analysis techniques, including factors that might lead to measurement problems, such as those relating to sampling, validity, and reliability. • Explain the necessity to follow institutional and divisional procedures and policies (e.g., IRB approval, informed consent) with regard to ethical assessment, evaluation, and other research activities. • Explain to students and colleagues the relationship of AER processes to learning outcomes and goals. • Identify the political and educational sensitivity of raw and partially processed data and AER results, handling them with appropriate confidentiality and deference to the organizational hierarchy. Intermediate • Design ongoing and periodic data collections efforts such that they are sustainable, rigorous, and as unobtrusive as possible. • Effectively manage, align, and guide implementation of results of assessment, evaluation, and research reports and studies. • Contribute to the understanding of colleagues, faculty, and other publics in the university of the relationship of departmental AER processes to learning outcomes and goals at the student, department, division, and institutional level. • Discern and discuss the appropriate design(s) to use in AER efforts based on critical questions, necessary data, and intended audience(s). • Construct basic surveys and other instruments with consultation. • Use culturally relevant and culturally appropriate terminology and methods to conduct and report AER findings. • Create the climate at the department level that assessment, 8 WORKING DRAFT - March 2, 2010 evaluation, and research are central to the department’s work and ensure that training/skill development in these areas is valued, budgeted for, and fully embedded in day-to-day procedures. • Apply the concepts and procedures of qualitative research, evaluation, and assessment, including creating appropriate sampling designs and interview protocols with consultation, participating in analysis teams, contributing to “audit trails,” participating as “peer de-briefer,” and using other techniques to ensure the trustworthiness of qualitative designs. • Participate in design and analysis of quantitative AER studies, including understanding statistical reporting that may include complex statistical methods such as multivariate techniques, and articulating the limitations of findings imposed by the differences in practical and statistical significance, validity, and reliability. • Manage the implementation of institutional and professional standards for ethical AER activities. Advanced • Effectively lead the conceptualization and design of on-going, systematic, high quality, data-based strategies at the institutional, divisional, and/or unit-wide level to evaluate and assess learning, programs, services, and personnel. • Effectively use assessment and evaluation results in determining the institution’s, the division’s, or the unit’s accomplishment of its missions/goals, re-allocation of resources, and advocacy for more resources. • Lead a comprehensive communication process to the campus community of the relationship of institutional AER processes to learning outcomes and goals at the student, department, division, and institution level. • Lead the writing of assessment and evaluation reports and other research studies and activities that include translation of data analyses into goals and action. • Lead the strategic use of budgetary and personnel resources to support high quality program evaluation, assessment efforts, research, and planning. • Lead, supervise, and/or collaborate with others to design and analyze qualitative studies and evaluation, assessment, and other research activities, including assessing transferability and trustworthiness in a sophisticated way. • Lead, supervise, and/or collaborate with others to design and analyze quantitative studies, data collection schemes, and other AER activities, including writing and disseminating statistical reporting for audiences at varying levels of statistical expertise in a way that informs practice. • Create the expectation in the institution, division, or unit that AER are central to professional practice and ensure that training/skill development happens across the organization. • Ensure institutional, divisional, or unit compliance with professional standards concerning ethical AER activities. 9 WORKING DRAFT - March 2, 2010 Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Description: The Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity competency area includes the knowledge and skills for student affairs professionals to create learning environments that are enriched with diverse views and people of varied backgrounds, races, cultures, and beliefs, and to create an institutional ethos that accepts and celebrates differences among people and helps to free them of any misconceptions and prejudices. One must be able to: Basic • Identify the contributions of similar and diverse people within and to the institutional environment. • Integrate cultural knowledge with specific and relevant diverse issues on campus. • Assess and address one’s own awareness of diversity, inclusion, and equity, and articulate one’s own differences and similarities with others. • Demonstrate personal skills associated with diversity and inclusion by participating in activities that challenge one’s beliefs. • Facilitate dialogue effectively among disparate audiences. • Interact effectively with a diverse range of individuals. • Interact with diverse staff, and implement programs, services, and activities that reflect an understanding and appreciation of cultural and human differences. • Recognize social systems and their influence on people of diverse backgrounds. • Design culturally relevant and inclusive programs, services, policies, and practices. • Demonstrate fair treatment to all individuals and change aspects of the environment that do not promote fair treatment. Intermediate • Analyze the interconnectedness of societies worldwide and how these global perspectives impact institutional learning. • Engage in hiring and promotion practices that are fair, inclusive, proactive, and non-discriminatory. • Integrate cultural knowledge with specific and relevant cultural issues on campus. • Develop effective multicultural training that expands the cultural knowledge of one’s staffs. • Identify systemic barriers to equality and inclusiveness, then advocate for and implement means of dismantling them. • Apply advocacy skills to assist in the development of a more multiculturally-sensitive institution and profession. • Supervise, challenge, and educate other professionals around issues of diversity and inclusion. • Provide opportunities for self-reflection and self-evaluation on 10