Student Name:
BSSW Program – Rubric for Application to the Major Essays
Reviewer Initials:
Essay A -- – Content Evaluation:
High / 5
Academic Readiness
4
One or more clear, relevant
statements of evidence for all areas:
 Academic abilities &
achievements,
 Oral & written communication
skills,
 Teamwork skills,
 Leadership abilities.
Very good evidence of selfassessment of strengths and/or
challenges in all areas OR engaged in
high degree of self-assessment in at
least 2 areas.
Essay B – Content Evaluation:
3
Score: ________
2
1
0/Low
At least one clear, relevant statement Minimal to no statement(s) of evidence in
of evidence for at least 2 of the
all 4 areas:
following areas:
 Academic abilities &
 Academic abilities &
achievements,
achievements,
 Oral & written communication
 Oral & written communication
skills,
skills,
 Teamwork abilities,
 Teamwork abilities,
 Leadership abilities.
 Leadership abilities.
Acceptable evidence of selfassessment of strengths and/or
challenges in at least 2 areas.
Definition and Application of Social Work
Minimal to no evidence of selfassessment of strengths and/or
challenges in any of the 4 areas.
Score: ________
High / 5
4
Definition of social work practice that
integrates professional literature with own
words.
3
2
Acceptable definition of social work practice
OR only used other’s definition.
1
0 / Low
Vague OR no definition of social work
practice AND did not provide their definition
of social work from their perspective.
Accurately identified a field of social work
practice AND provided thoughtful
reasoning for selecting this field.
Identified a field of social work practice
AND provided at least one reason for
selecting this field.
Did not identify at least one field of social
work practice OR demonstrated minimal to
no knowledge of the selected field of practice
AND provided minimal to no reason for
selecting this field of practice.
Identified appropriate theory, perspective,
model AND discussed 2 or more aspects
of this theory AND demonstrated good
application to the selected field of
practice.
Identified appropriate theory, perspective,
model AND demonstrated some knowledge
of it, AND demonstrated some ability to
apply to selected field of practice.
Did not identify a theory, perspective, model
OR selected inaccurate theory OR
demonstrated minimal to no knowledge of
selected theory, perspective, model OR
selected more than 1 and did not address
any well.
Good discussion of at least 2 roles and
tasks of selected field of social work
practice.
Demonstrated some knowledge of roles
and tasks of selected field of social work
practice.
Demonstrated minimal to no knowledge of
the roles and tasks of selected field social
work practice.
Essay C – Content Evaluation
Values, Diversity, & Privilege
Reviewed 2.18.15. May 2015. Finalized 111815. BSSW Program Meeting.
Score: ________
BSSW Program – Rubric for Application to the Major Essays
Reviewer Initials:
Student Name:
High / 5
4
3
2
1
0 / Low
Well stated reason for choosing social
work AND good discussion of future
goal(s).
Identified reason for choosing social work AND
some discussion of future goal(s).
Minimal to no information about reason(s) for
choosing social work AND/OR future goal(s
Identified 1 NASW Code of Ethics core
values that the applicant possesses.
Identified 1 NASW Code of Ethics core values that
the applicant possesses.
Identified 0 or misidentified NASW Code of Ethics
core values that the student possess OR did not
correctly identify values.
Good discussion of how this value will
guide applicant’s development and
practice.
Acceptable discussion of how these 2 values will
guide applicants’ development and practice.
Minimal to no discussion of how values will guide
applicant’s development and practice.
Strong evidence of experiences with
diverse communities’ experiences AND
good discussion of strengths and
challenges in working with diverse
communities.
Acceptable discussion of experiences with diverse
communities AND some discussion of strengths
and challenges in working with diverse
communities.
Minimal to no evidence of experiences with
diverse communities OR minimal to no discussion
of strengths and challenges in working with
diverse communities.
(if applicable) Evidence of thoughtful plan
for increasing their experiences with
diverse communities.
(if applicable) Acceptable evidence of plan for
increasing experiences with diverse communities.
(if applicable) Minimal to no evidence of plan for
increasing their experiences with diverse
communities.
Privilege well defined, AND provided good
discussion of the role of privilege in their
life, AND presented a good plan to
address the impact of privilege in their
future practice.
Acceptable definition of privilege, AND some
discussion of the role of privilege in their life, AND
presented acceptable plan to address the impact
of privilege in their future practice.
Minimal to no definition of privilege, OR minimal to
no information of the role of privilege in their life,
AND/OR minimal to no evidence of plan to
address impact of privilege in their future practice.
Overall, Written Communication Demonstrated in Essays
High / 10
9
8
7
6
Score: ________
5
4
3
2
1
0/Low
Writing is very clear, organized AND good
sentence and paragraph structure.
Writing is clear, organized; AND acceptable
sentence and paragraph structure with minimal
errors.
Writing is very vague, disorganized AND/OR
multiple problems with poor sentence and
paragraph structure.
Minimal to no grammatical or spelling
errors.
Some grammatical and/or spelling errors but
does not interfere with the reading and content.
Multiple grammatical and/or spelling errors that
interfere with the reading and content.
Followed all APA style formats.
Acceptable use of APA with a few errors but not
of significant value.
No evidence of APA; OR evidence of multiple
APA style errors.
Good application of formal
academic/professional style of writing.
Acceptable application of formal
academic/professional style of writing; Some
informal writing noted but did not interfere with
tone/presentation.
Minimal to no evidence of academic/professional
writing style OR very informal writing style and
interfered with tone, content, application, etc.
All essays were complete in 2-3 pages.
2 essays were complete in 2-3 pages.
One or more essays were 3 or more pages OR 1
or more essays were 1 page or less.
Good integration of personal voice and
professional writing.
Acceptable integration of personal voice and
professional writing.
Over use of personal voice (concern about
boundaries, too much information).
APA = Cover page, headers (if appropriate) page numbers, running header; Use of references; appropriate intext citations;
Reviewed 2.18.15. May 2015. Finalized 111815. BSSW Program Meeting.