What's going on?! This week we will learn about the CalSWEC Eval project. Thank you, Megan Paul, for answering the following questions about the CalSWEC Eval Project.
What is the CalSWEC Eval project?
CalSWEC is the California Social Work Education Center, which is a partnership of social work educators and practitioners dedicated to developing a professional social service workforce to effectively serve California’s diverse population. CalSWEC is hosted by the University of California, Berkeley School of Social Welfare. CCFL has contracted with CalSWEC to develop five test plans and test item banks (a total of 420 multiple-choice items) for use in evaluating California’s Common Core training for new Child Welfare Social Workers.
Who are the members of the CalSWEC Eval project?
Megan is the project director. The team also includes Kate Stephenson and Stephanie Weddington. All three team members work together to develop test plans and write and review test items.
When did the CalSWEC Eval project begin, and how long is it for?
CalSWEC issued a request for proposals in June 2015, and CCFL was awarded the project in the fall of 2015. Work began in February 2016 and will be completed at the end of June 2017.
Any challenges in the project/job assignment?
Writing test items requires consultation with subject matter experts (e.g., trainers, curriculum developers) who are familiar with the training and the work. For this project all the subject matter experts are volunteers, which means their time is very limited and they are not readily accessible to answer questions. This can make item-writing much more difficult. In addition, due to delays in the project start date and tight interim deadlines established by CalSWEC, there have been significant time crunches, which have been very challenging. Working on a team with great coworkers helps to offset the challenges!
What’s the most exciting or best part of getting to work on or being part of this
project/job assignment?
Becoming intimately familiar with another state’s new worker training curriculum and evaluation processes is interesting and provides us with greater knowledge and experience that we can apply in our work with Nebraska DHHS.