Fieldwork Performance Evaluation

Some of the OT and OTA programs affiliated with the WNY OT Fieldwork Consortium use the AOTA online Fieldwork Performance Evaluation (FWPE). For these schools, the Academic Fieldwork Coordinator will provide you will a link, instructions, and due dates for mid-term and final fieldwork performance evaluations. The AOTA online evaluation tool offers online access for educators and students to complete midterm and final reviews, built-in compliance with a validated assessment, automatic scoring and documentation with reviews provided to educators and students via email and PDF. Prior to dates of mid-term evaluation and final fieldwork fieldwork, schools using the AOTA Field Performance Evaluation will email you a link. These emails may be sent from "FormStack", the company that manages the AOTA Fieldwork Performance Evaluation. Be sure to check your junk/spam folders in case emails are sent there. Both student and fieldwork educator receive links to complete the evaluation.

Schools that have developed their own proprietary forms have incorporated their own assessment validation as well as procedures intended to support ease of use. For schools that use other fieldwork performance evaluations, the Academic Fieldwork Coordinator will provide you with access to their proprietary forms prior to the start of fieldwork. They will orient you to their procedures.
  • Note that the time to read, view and review the fieldwork performance evaluation resources can count toward your own Independent Study Continuing Competency Activities (for NYS OT/OTA license renewal).
  • Following are resources to orient you to effectively use the AOTA Fieldwork Performance Evaluation as a tool to guide fieldwork learning experiences and evaluate student performance:

Fieldwork Performance Evaluation
Guide for Educators (brief overview):

How to Administer AOTA's Fieldwork Performance Evaluation:
OTfieldwork is not affiliated with AOTA.  Links are provided as a convenience for visitors to this site. AOTA membership log-in required for some links.

Site-Specific Learning Objectives (Fieldwork Goals)

Standard C.1.3. of 2018 Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE®) states that academic programs and fieldwork sites must provide documentation that academic and fieldwork educators "agree on established fieldwork objectives prior to the start of the fieldwork experience, and communicate with the student and fieldwork educator about progress and performance throughout the fieldwork experience" (page 39). Commonly referred to as "site-specific learning objectives", these fieldwork goals are intended to bridge your expectations for student performance at your facility with the items contained in fieldwork evaluation. Site-specific learning objectives should essentially answer the question "What should I observe, hear, or otherwise measure at MY facility to determine if the student has satisfactorily met each fieldwork evaluation item?" Site-specific fieldwork objectives must: 
  • Be agreed upon BEFORE the start of the fieldwork experience.
  • Be based on collaboration between the fieldwork site and the academic program.
  • Be presented and reviewed with students so they understand what they must do, know, or produce to meet the objectives.
  • Be used by the fieldwork educator and student to evaluate progress and performance throughout the fieldwork experience, and aid in completion of the fieldwork evaluation at mid-term and end of fieldwork.
  • Include at least one objective that addresses the psychosocial aspects of occupations and occupational therapy. 

Writing Site-Specific Learning Objectives (Fieldwork Goals)

Similar to how you might write treatment goals for a client, when you write your site-specific learning objectives, you should define the observable behaviors and actions, quantifiable outcomes, and descriptive attributes expected of a recently hired competent entry-level occupational therapy practitioner at your facility. In other words, "what do you expect of a student by the final 2 weeks of fieldwork"? You are essentially describing what you would expect of a student who meets or exceeds the definition of “Proficient” performance (score of 3), based on the AOTA Fieldwork Performance Evaluation rating scale: 
If you write your site-specific fieldwork objectives based on the AOTA rating score of “3” (Proficient Performance), you should be able to rate the student who meets those expectations with a score of 3 (Proficient Performance), as well as rate a student who exceeds this level of performance with a score of 4 (Exemplary Performance), and rate the student who performs less than “proficient” with a score of 2 (Emerging Performance) or 1 (Unsatisfactory Performance).  
Tips:
  • Strive to write 6 to 10 site-specific learning objectives that represent the most important responsibilities, activities, skills, abilities, or expectations related to an entry-level occupational therapy practitioner at your facility.
  • Use verbs to convey the observable actions/behaviors the student should exhibit/demonstrate.
  • Start your objectives with "By the end of the Level II experience, the student will [insert verb] ...."
  • Use adjectives to reflect the quality or accuracy of performance or outcome, or the condition or circumstance under which you expect the student to demonstrate competency.
  • Use quantities (actual numbers or percentages) to enable measurability of outcomes.
  • An objective may correspond to multiple items of the fieldwork evaluation. Therefore, it may not be necessary to write an objective every fieldwork evaluation item.
  • Search relevant job descriptions, service-competency checklists, and other documents at your facility for duties and responsibilities of entry-level practitioners. These sources can provide some great ideas for site-specific learning objectives.

NOTE: The time involved in developing or revising your site-specific fieldwork objectives can be counted toward your Independent Study activities related to New York State OT/OTA License renewal (3 hours of independent study = 1 Continuing Competency Unit).