Applying an Intersectional and Multi-Systemic Level Approach to ADEI Institutional Assessments in Social Work Higher Education

Author

Diana A. Melendez, The Graduate Center, City University of New YorkFollow

Date of Degree

6-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Social Welfare

Advisor

Alexis Jemal

Committee Members

Barbra Teater

Bryan Warde

Subject Categories

Curriculum and Social Inquiry | Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | Higher Education | Organization Development | Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education | Social Justice | Social Work

Keywords

institutional assessment, higher education, decolonial instrument development, social work higher education

Abstract

Institutional Anti-racism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ADEI) tools and assessment models are needed to support schools of social work in demonstrating compliance with the Council on Social Work Education’s (CSWE) 2022 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). This study develops a new tool and model for ADEI institutional assessment in social work higher education using a collaborative, intersectional and multi-systemic level approach. The primary aim of the project was to develop and test a new tool to gather and document experience(s) of coloniality within a social work higher education institution, from multiple stakeholders’ perspectives, as a usable model of ADEI institutional assessment. Two identified sub-aims were achieved using a qualitative multi-methodological approach to: 1) develop an initial draft of the tool; and 2) collaborate with stakeholders in pilot testing the tool by using a school of social work as a case study. Two sub-sets of participants were recruited as part of the study’s design: a) content experts (N=4) in social justice work collaborated with the researcher in a cumulative, iterative process of refining the tool; and b) stakeholders (N=8), including students, faculty, and staff assessed their social work for examples of coloniality. The selected school is located within an urban, public university in the northeastern United States. Preliminary findings reflect that the new Mapping Institutional Coloniality Assessment Tool (MICAT) successfully gathers and documents examples of coloniality as presented from the perspective of social work education stakeholders by integrating two intersecting critical domains at which power manifests: Ideologies of Dominance and Socio-ecosystemic Levels. The MICAT collected close to 200 examples over the course of eight individual semi-structured interview sessions pilot testing the tool. Visual content analysis and deductive thematic analysis of the data elucidate the ubiquity of coloniality within and around social work higher education. Study limitations and directions for future research are reviewed, as well as implications for identifying ADEI goals within social work education institutions. ADEI institutional assessments informed by and developed through decolonial approaches can better inform leadership in how to direct resources when seeking to align their program or school’s structures, policies and practices, culture and overall environment with commitments to social justice and anti-racism.

Recommended Citation

Melendez, Diana A., "Applying an Intersectional and Multi-Systemic Level Approach to ADEI Institutional Assessments in Social Work Higher Education" (2024). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/5893