Measuring BSW Student Learning in Field Instruction

This study investigates whether undergraduate social work students deepen their professional foundation knowledge as a result of completing the field practicum and two additional social work foundation courses. The Area Concentration Achievement Test in Social Work (ACAT), which tests knowledge of the social work professional foundation, was administered to 70 students in the BSW program at the University of Texas-Pan American; 32 had nearly completed field instruction, and 38 were approved for field instruction but had not yet begun it. No differences were found between these groups related to performance on the overall ACAT or in four individual content areas. This counterintuitive finding challenges the assumption that knowledge deepens as students proceed through the curriculum and field instruction. Other variables that could affect performance on the ACAT are also explored.