Assessment Report Standard Format
July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2010
PROGRAM ASSESSED: Criminal Justice Program
ASSESSMENT COORDINATOR: Tracey Steele
YEAR 1 of a 5 YEAR CYCLE
1.
ASSESSMENT MEASURES EMPLOYED
What was done? Internships were assessed and exit interviews were conducted with seniors graduating from the program.
Who participated in the process? Data were gathered from program faculty by the Program
Director (Tracey Steele) and the Administrative Assistant (Mary Zurawka). Data analysis and report preparation was performed by the Program Director.
What challenges (if any) were encountered? None.
2.
ASSESSMENT FINDINGS
A. Objectives Assessed –Objectives are not analyzed until year three of the assessment cycle.
B. Learning Outcomes Assessed – (1, 3)
1. Graduates will have substantive knowledge of procedures and operations in law enforcement, probation, parole, or legal agencies.
The measures for assessing successful attainment of this learning objective include
“completion of an internship in a probation or parole office, in a police department or completion of a pre-law internship.” Student success is based upon evaluation by “police department of internship directors”. Though not included in the assessment plan for this outcome, exit interview data from qualitative questions directly relating to both the completion and quality of the internship experience, and quantitative data specifically addressing this concern, are included to aid in the assessment of this outcome.
Information from the Sociology Internship coordinator (an annual average of 94% of students taking the internship do so through this department) and senior exit interviews confirms accomplishment of this outcome. Students are completing this requirement* and data from the exit interviews confirm that a considerable number of students find this course was their most-significant learning experience among their major courses. Several indicators underscore our success on this measure. For example, except in the rarest of circumstances, students satisfactorily complete assignments related to the internships (and if they fail they are required to repeat the work until they “get it right”), they receive satisfactory evaluations from internship supervisors, they communicate overall satisfaction with the internship experience in their exit interviews and students confirm acquisition of substantive knowledge of agency’s procedures, techniques, and/or operations from the internship experience during their exit interview.
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Student exit interview scores relevant to this outcome are highlighted in Appendix 1 but overall the results show very high scores on all measures addressed in the exit interviews, specifically; scores of 4.0 or higher (on a 5.0 scale) on all but one item (this item measured the effectiveness of the program in teaching students oral presentation skills and came in with a
3.9 average). The item measuring student satisfaction with the internship attained the highest average (4.81) whiles the item directly assessing this outcome posted a 4.5 average indicating substantial program success.
* All students in the program are required to obtain an internship experience. There are two exceptions to this requirement; 1) students who have a year or more relevant full-time criminal justice work experience can substitute another upper-level criminal justice elective course in place of the internship and, 2) students who fail requisite background checks or drug tests will take a service learning or advanced statistics course in place of the internship.
3. Graduates will acquire practical criminal justice experiences.
Measures for this outcome include 1) Completion of an internship in a probation or parole office, in a police department or completion of a pre-law internship (based upon evaluation by faculty internship directors). This measure was addressed above (measure repeated for outcomes one and three). To summarize however, unless exempted for reasons discussed previously, all majors successfully fulfilled this requirement by the time of their graduation. It should also be noted that the scope of internship opportunities has dramatically expanded with internship positions now extending to the Federal level including internships with agencies such as the US Marshalls and Secret Service, as well as expansion of local internships including those with private investigatory firms, correctional facilities, and rehabilitative services.
The second measure for outcome three is evaluation of student performance by internship supervisors (based upon evaluations by agency supervisors/liaisons). For all, internship agency input is solicited by the internship coordinator and is a central component of a student’s final evaluation (i.e. grade). Students are required to receive satisfactory feedback from the agency supervisor and regular feedback for each student, including their timesheet, is solicited from the agency supervisor. These reports have been extremely positive; so much so that our majors are now in high demand for internship positions within the community and some have even been hired by the agencies with which they have interned.
3. PROGRAM IMPROVEMENTS
Program faculty will be encouraged to consider the addition of oral communication skills into their courses.
4. ASSESSMENT PLAN COMPLIANCE
Full compliance
5. NEW ASSESSMENT DEVELOPMENTS
Not Applicable
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