The
CPCS educational program is organized around a competency-based,
outcome oriented curriculum. Students progress through the curriculum
by demonstrating their competence in a variety of skill and knowledge
areas.
Degree
requirements represent the configuration of competencies that
a student must complete in order to obtain a Bachelor's degree
from the College of Public and Community Service. The CPCS distribution
requirements are designed to provide each student with a varied
and integrated educational experience that helps to achieve the
outcomes designated in the College's Mission Statement. Competencies
in the CPCS curriculum are clustered into the following three
categories: Core Knowledge& Skills, Majors and Concentrations,
and Writing Portfolio. The curriculum is also organized
into four developmental levels. Each level covers areas of skill
and knowledge that form building blocks to the degree. At each
level, students are provided multiple opportunities to develop
and apply appropriate academic and practice-oriented skills. Students
are expected to progress through the curriculum by level to insure
that they have the opportunity to build or demonstrate the requisite
skills and knowledge for successful completion of the degree.
Competency
Statements
On
the subsequent links (Core
Knowledge& Skills, Majors
and Concentrations, and Writing
Portfolio) you will be able to access Competency
Statements. Every competency in the CPCS curriculum is
defined in a competency statement. The general
purpose of Competency Statements is to provide
what the College refers to as transparency . That is,
each statement should spell out clearly and precisely – transparently
– exactly what a student needs to do to complete that particular
competency. A competency statement tells the student what learning
she is specifically expected to demonstrate, and it tells the
evaluator of her competency specifically what to assess.
Each
Competency Statement consists of five parts:
- Rationale.
This explains the competency's reason for being in the curriculum,
why it is important to the College's mission and why we think
it is an important skill or knowledge for a CPCS graduate to
have.
- Competency
Statement. A summary statement of the required learning
outcomes.
- Criteria.
The criteria spell out what one must do to demonstrate
that competency.
- Standards.
The Standards spell out how the Criteria must be met.
- Examples
of Demonstration. The Examples of Demonstration are
intended to suggest different ways in which students can show
– demonstrate – that they have developed the particular set
of skills or knowledge that that competency involves.
