Self-Assessment Instrument
Many reasons might drive your decision to attend an educational session at the
convention. Perhaps you are drawn to the topic, or the presenter, or perhaps it is scheduled
during a convenient time. However, if you are choosing your sessions as a way to develop your
professional competencies, we encourage you to take some time to complete this survey. While
we realize that it is not a complete or thorough assessment of your skills in each competency
area, it may serve as a guide to help you decide where to put more of your time and energy given
the plethora of offerings available. Specifically, you could choose sessions in order to strengthen
your knowledge and skills in particular competencies.
Step 1: Complete the Self-Assessment Survey
For each of the competencies below, circle the level of knowledge and skill you possess. For
purposes of this instrument, it is assumed that the level of knowledge has a strong relationship
with skill level (without knowledge the skill level is not likely to be strong).
Rate your KNOWLEDGE and Competency
SKILLS related to each outcome listed
below on a scale where:
1=Very Limited Knowledge/Skill and
5=Expert Knowledge/Skill
Advising and Helping: Application of theories
1 2 3 4 5 and skills related to providing support, direction,
feedback, critique, and guidance to individuals and
groups.
Assessment, Evaluation, and Research: The
design and implementation of quantitative and
1 2 3 4 5 qualitative techniques and tools focused on student
learning and satisfaction, organizational issues and
development, professional development and
training, student development, and other emergent
issues.
Ethics: The ability to assess daily activities from an
1 2 3 4 5 ethical perspective as well as understanding and
applying ethical standards to one’s work.
Legal Foundations: The ability to assess daily
1 2 3 4 5 activities from a legal perspective as well
understanding and applying knowledge of legal
issues to one’s work environment and relationships.
Leadership and Management/Administration:
1 2 3 4 5 Organizational competencies such as influencing,
motivating, and enabling others to contribute
toward the effectiveness and success of the
organizations of which they are members; and the
deployment and manipulation of resources to
advance institutional or organizational mission,
goals, and initiatives.
Pluralism and Inclusion: An understanding and
valuing of diverse groups and views, civic
1 2 3 4 5 engagement and social responsibility, as well as
recognizing the importance of language and culture
in pursuit of creating and maintaining more
pluralistic and multicultural campuses.
Student Learning and Development: Knowledge
and understanding of concepts and principles of
1 2 3 4 5 student development and student learning theories,
and ability to apply theory to improve student affairs
practice.
Teaching: Knowledge and understanding of
1 2 3 4 5 concepts and principles of teaching, learning, and
training theory and how to apply these theories to
improve student affairs practice and education.
Step 2: Consider the following questions:
On which competencies did you rate yourself highest? Lowest?
Which competencies are most relevant to your current position?
Which competencies are most relevant to the position you aspire to next?
How much time in your job do you devote to each competency?
How much time have you devoted to learning about each competency?
Step 3: Plan your convention participation:
Identify the competency or competencies you would most like to work on during the 2009
ACPA Convention. Go to http://cdms.myacpa.org/programs/book. This will allow you to
search the convention program by competency and receive a listing of all the programs at the
convention related it. You can use this information to allocate your time and select sessions to
attend that will help you achieve the competencies most important to you.