COMPREHENSIVE INSTRUCTIONAL
PROGRAM REVIEW
Political Science
Riverside City College
2012
Prepared by: Dr. Mark Sellick
Web Resources:
http://www.rccd.edu/administration/educationalservices/ieffectiveness/Pages/ProgramReview.aspx
Need Help? Contact Dr. Jim Thomas (Jim.Thomas@norcocollege.edu) or
David Torres (David.Torres@rccd.edu) )
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Table of Contents
A.
Mission and Relationship to the College ………………………………….
3
B.
History ……………………………………………………………………..
4
C.
Data and Environmental Scan …………………………………………….
6
D.
Programs and Curriculum …………………………………………………
9
E.
Student Outcomes Assessment ……………………………………………
10
F.
Collaboration with Other Units ……………………………………………
15
G.
Outreach …………………………………………………………………… 15
H.
Long Term Major Resource Planning …………………………………….. 15
I.
Summary ………………………………………………………………….. 16
J.
Recommendations to the Program Review Committee……………………
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16
COMPREHENSIVE INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM REVIEW
POLITICAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINE
RIVERSIDE CITY COLLEGE
2012
A. Mission and Relationship to the College(s)
Mission
The political science discipline fulfills the mission of the Riverside Community College District and the
particular missions of Riverside City College, the Moreno Valley College and the Norco College by offering
students a broad range of classes that fulfill a variety of functions. Generally, the courses offered by the
political science discipline reflect the district’s aim to provide courses in “the liberal arts and sciences” that
create the conditions “for intellectual and cultural awareness, critical and independent thought, and selfreliance.” In the tradition of a liberal arts education, the discipline considers the study of politics to be
essential to the development of well-rounded academics and competent citizens.
The primary emphasis of the discipline is to teach students about the history, culture, traditions and
institutions that inform American politics. Our primary course – American politics – fulfills the American
Institutions requisite for a number of the Associates of Arts degree programs in our district as well as the
Graduation Requirement in U.S. History, Constitution, and American Ideals for the California State
University system, and the American History and American Institutions requirement for the University of
California.
The Political Science discipline also concerns itself with exposing students to techniques used in the
social sciences that have been central to the study of contemporary politics. Although the discipline
does not offer courses in empirical design or statistical analysis, it nonetheless explains the current
techniques that are used in Political Science research – such as survey methods and system analysis
– and provides students with a basic understanding of the “science” component of Political Science.
Finally, the discipline is committed to the idea that individuals pursue politics – implicitly and
explicitly – almost continuously in their daily lives. Rather than conceptualize politics merely as a
contestation over resources that happens in state and federal governments, the discipline is oriented
by Carol Hanisch’s oft-cited phrase that “the personal is political.” For the discipline, this means
that students in Political Science must confront how their seemingly mundane activities, such as
buying groceries or befriending a particular person, have implications for social, political, cultural
and economic institutions. By equipping students with a basic understanding of political institutions
as well as knowledge regarding how these institutions function within a broader historical and
cultural framework and how individuals can work to modify or perpetuate them, we prepare them to
become more competent actors in a complex, ever-changing world. It is in this sense that we
provide students “intellectual and cultural awareness, critical and independent thought, and selfreliance.”
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B. History
Faculty
The Political Science discipline consists of six full-time tenured faculty members, all with Ph.D.
degrees in political science, with three professors at Riverside City College, two at Norco College
and one at Moreno Valley College. We, as a discipline, firmly believe that students are best served
by content-matter experts who have shown a commitment to teaching excellence and that this
expertise is best reflected in the attainment of the highest degree of academic commitment, the
Doctor of Philosophy. So far, two of our colleagues have also achieved the status of full professor.
Transfer Model Curriculum
The discipline is currently awaiting approval of its Transfer Model Curriculum (TMC). When this is
accomplished, the discipline hopes to award Associate of Arts degrees in Political Science
beginning in the 2013-14 school year. In order to accomplish this task, the discipline has engaged in
updating its Course Outlines of Record (CORs) in order to bring them in line with the Course
Identification Numbering System (C-ID). To date, the discipline has begun updating a number of
courses and hopes to bring the CORs in line with C-ID before 2012 is over.
In order to implement the TMC and ensure the timely matriculation of political science majors,
RCC plans on offering its four core TMC classes – POL 1 (American Politics), POL 2
(Comparative Politics), POL 4 (World Politics) and POL 11 (Political Theory) – each semester on
the RCC campus, beginning in Spring 2013. RCC will also continue to offer other courses such as
POL 5 (Law and Politics), POL 6 (Political Economy) and may consider teaching POL 3 (Intro to
Political Science) on a yearly basis. It is also the expectation within the discipline that MVC and
Norco will offer POL 2, 4 and 11 yearly along with POL 1 and other courses.
Political Science Student Association (PSSA)
In the interest of helping potential political science majors to matriculate, understand the transfer
process and maximize their time and energies at RCC, the discipline is considering creating a
Political Science Student Association (PSSA). The nature and structure of the club is currently in
the discussion stages, but the faculty hopes to have the details hammered out by Spring 2013.
Outreach/Collaboration
Beyond the provision of standard courses in politics, our faculty has participated in several District
programs including Honors, Model United Nations, and Study Abroad. Faculty continues to teach
Honors American Politics at RCC and is active in the Honors Program, generally. Riverside City
College faculty oversee the Model United Nations Program and continues its legacy of excellence.
Faculty from Moreno Valley College were involved in the latter’s first trip to Beijing, China in the
Spring term of 2011 and has been selected for its Fall 2013 trip to Florence, Italy.
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The Political Science discipline faculty members also have served in several leadership positions
such as being elected in the Spring of 2012 as officers of the RCCD Faculty Association, acting as
Vice President for RCC and Grievance Chair, as Vice President for MVC and Political Action
Committee (PAC) Chair and as District President. We have also served on a variety of hiring
committees including those for the highest administrative positions such as District Chancellor,
College Presidents, Vice Presidents and Deans.
Goals
The five goals identified in the discipline’s 2009 CPR were as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Continued development of emphasis-area courses in the program
Assessment of success rates
Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes
Improve our full-time to part-time teaching ratio at Moreno Valley
Determine class size on pedagogical practice
Of these, numbers 2 and 3 remain the most relevant and urgent for RCC. As to the former, the
discipline is in the process of reviewing its success rate, which has continued to go down since 2008
and currently stands at 48.8%. This number is quite a bit lower than the success rates of MVC and
NC, which are 63.2% and 62%, respectively. The RCC discipline faculty will be meeting over the
Winter 2013 break to discuss the matter and to try and construct means for addressing it.
Regarding the SLO assessment, the RCC faculty have assessed and revised curriculum and methods
for POL 1 (American Politics), POL 4 (World Politics), POL 5 (Law and Politics) and POL 11
(Political Theory). POL 2 (Comparative Politics) and POL 6 (Political Economy) are in the process
of being assessed and the results of the assessment will be given to MVC since it will be assessing
these courses in Fall 2013.
Turning to the less-pressing goals – the development of emphasis-area courses and the
determination of class sizes – the discipline has been considering these matters as well. The main
reason that emphasis-area course development has been given a lower priority is the current state of
educational funding. Because of the current fiscal situation in the state of California, the discipline
has been less inclined to develop specialty courses that attract a small number of students. The
discipline is in the process of developing a methods course for the major, but this class likely will
not be completed by Spring 2013.
In terms of class-size considerations, the discipline is currently considering its global caps for its
courses and their reasonableness. Historically, cap sizes for discipline offerings were not based on
pedagogical considerations. Given that political science is a social science and that many of the
other disciplines in the social sciences use quantitative-information examination methods – e.g.
class quizzes, multiple-choice exams, etc. – it appears that the disciplines’ caps were set in
accordance with these other fields. However, political science courses at RCC generally do not
utilize these examination methods. Indeed, the faculty is committed to developing the academic
skills of its students and generally considers essay-based assignments and examinations to be the
preferred means to this end. With this in mind, the discipline is currently crafting an argument for
lowering its class sizes to a more manageable number, one that is in line with the writing-intensive
courses offered in English and the Humanities.
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Finally, the discipline’s goal of improving the full to part-time teaching ratio at MVC by hiring one
more full-time faculty member is unlikely to be met until the current financial situation improves
considerably. Nevertheless, this remains a priority of the discipline faculty on all three campuses as
the discipline would like to get more in line with the 75/25 expectations of Title V.
C. Data Analysis and Environmental Scan
Riverside City College currently employs three full-time professors in the discipline as well as two part-time
faculty members. The discipline has continued to achieve very high levels of efficiency, far beyond the
college average of 542.95 in 2011. The discipline also has impressive retention numbers. As noted above,
however, it has seen its success rates decline since 2008 to a level of 48.8%.
Fall 2009
Fall 2010
Fall 2011
Efficiency: 851.08
Efficiency: 756.76
Efficiency: 835.07
Retention: 75.0%
Retention: 72.5%
Retention: 73.3%
Success: 55.7%
Success: 48.8%
Success: 48.8%
Enrollment rates skyrocketed in 2009 to an all-time high of 881. The number of students has
decreased over the past two years, however, mainly due to cuts to offerings in the discipline. The
enrollments nonetheless remain at least 15% higher than any other year in the 2000-8 data set,
which reveals a reasonably robust growth in the discipline. The discipline expects that it will add
courses back for 2013-14 in order to meet student demand.
Fall Enrollments
2009: 881
2010: 816
2011: 727
Perhaps the most problematic change in the discipline is the amount of FTEF allocated between the
years 2009-11. At its high-water mark for faculty in 2007, the discipline had an FTEF of 4.0, which
meant that it had enough classes to satisfy the load of its three full-time faculty members and still
have enough for one FTEF in part-time load. Unless there is a mistake with the accounting, this
number has gone down every year with 2011 hitting an alarming 2.8 FTEF. This means that if
current full-time faculty were to return to the classroom from their positions in the Senate and the
Faculty Association, there would not be enough classes available at RCC for them to meet their
load. This troublingly low FTEF, coupled with the high number of students enrolled and need for
students to take POL 1 and other classes as majors, needs to be addressed by the college
administration in terms of FTES allocation.
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POL FTEF
2009: 3.61
2010: 3.40
2011: 2.80
Table 1: Enrollments, Retention, Success Rates, FTEF and Efficiency
RIV POL Enrollments,
Retention and Success Rates, Fall 2000 - 2011
900
100%
810
720
80%
630
540
60%
450
360
40%
270
180
20%
90
Enrollments
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
624
709
517
613
560
529
605
700
683
881
816
727
Retention
84.5% 82.8% 77.4% 80.9% 83.0% 83.0% 80.3% 72.3% 80.5% 75.7% 72.4% 73.0%
Success
51.6% 54.4% 55.9% 53.5% 59.5% 62.0% 62.5% 51.1% 60.0% 55.7% 48.8% 48.8%
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0%
RIV POL Efficiencies,
Fall Terms 2006 - 2011
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Efficiency
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
668.81
607.97
698.44
851.08
765.76
835.07
4.0
3,500
3.6
3,150
3.2
2,800
2.8
2,450
2.4
2,100
2.0
1,750
1.6
1,400
1.2
1,050
0.8
700
0.4
350
0.0
FTEF
Discipline WSCH
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2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
3.80
4.00
3.40
3.61
3.40
2.80
2541.46
2431.86
2374.68
3074.52
2603.60
2338.20
0
WSCH
FTEF
RIV POL FTEF and WSCH,
Fall Terms 2006 -2011
D. Programs and Curriculum
Course
POL 1
POL 1H
POL 2
POL 2H
POL 4
POL 4H
POL 7A
POL 11
POL 13
Transfer
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Status
Active
Active
Active
Inactive
Active
Inactive
Active
Active
Active
Location
Norco
Norco
Norco
Norco
Norco
Norco
Norco
Norco
Norco
Assess Date
Fall 2012
Fall 2010
Fall 2011
Spring 2011
Fall 2012
Spring 2010
Fall 2012
COR Update
Fall 2012
Fall 2012
Fall 2012
Fall 2012
Fall 2012
Fall 2012
Fall 2012
Since the last program review, the Course Outlines of Record (CORs) for political science have
been updated. Some of these updates were made to flesh out some of the course information and to
make them more current. A faculty member, on December 31, 2011, performed a number of
revisions to POL 8 (Introduction to Public Administration and Policy Development), POL 12 (State
and Local Politics), POL 13 (Introduction to American Foreign Policy) and POL 14 (Internship in
Political Science).
On October 26, 2012, another faculty member undertook a review and revision of Political Science
CORs to bring them in line with the Course Identification Numbering System (C-ID). This activity
included adding new assignments for out-of-class readings, writing and other scholastic
preparations as well as updating suggested textbooks.
COURSE
POL 1
COR
UPDATE
08/7/2013
NOTES
American Politics. Updated with CID information, sample
assignments and recommended prerequisites. As of 10/2/2013, at
tech review (Level 5.0), awaiting approval.
POL 1H
08/7/2013
Honors American Politics. Updated with CID information, sample
assignments and recommended prerequisites. As of 10/2/2013, at
tech review (Level 5.0), awaiting approval.
POL 2
08/7/2013
Comparative Politics. Updated with CID information, sample
assignments and recommended prerequisites. As of 10/2/2013, at
tech review (Level 5.0), awaiting approval.
POL 2H
08/7/2013
Honors Comparative Politics. Updated with CID information,
sample assignments and recommended prerequisites. As of
10/2/2013, at tech review (Level 5.0), awaiting approval.
POL 3
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08/07/13
Introduction to Political Science. Updated with CID information,
sample assignments and recommended prerequisites. As of
10/2/2013, at tech review (Level 5.0), awaiting approval.
POL 4
08/7/2013
Introduction to World Politics. Updated with CID information,
sample assignments and recommended prerequisites. As of
10/2/2013, at tech review (Level 5.0), awaiting approval.
POL 4H
08/7/2013
Honors Introduction to World Politics. Updated with CID
information, sample assignments and recommended prerequisites.
As of 10/2/2013, at tech review (Level 5.0), awaiting approval.
POL 5
08/7/2013
Law and Politics. Updated with CID information, sample
assignments and recommended prerequisites. As of 10/2/2013, at
tech review (Level 5.0), awaiting approval.
POL 6
08/7/2013
Introduction to Political Economy. Updated with CID information,
sample assignments and recommended prerequisites. As of
10/2/2013, at tech review (Level 5.0), awaiting approval.
POL 7A-D
11/10/2005
Current political issues. Potential changes to COR are being
discussed in discipline.
POL 8
08/7/2013
Introduction to Public Administration and Policy. Updated with
CID information, sample assignments and recommended
prerequisites. As of 10/2/2013, at tech review (Level 5.0), awaiting
approval.
POL 10A-D
11/10/2005
International Organizations. Potential changes to COR are being
discussed in discipline.
POL 11
08/7/2013
Introduction to Political Theory. Updated with CID information,
sample assignments and recommended prerequisites. As of
10/2/2013, at tech review (Level 5.0), awaiting approval.
POL 12
12/31/2011
State and Local Politics. Minor course modifications made to
update curriculum, SLOs.
POL 13
12/31/2011
Introduction to American Foreign Policy. Minor course
modifications made to update curriculum, SLOs.
POL 14
12/31/2011
Internship in Political Science. Minor course modifications made
to update curriculum, SLOs.
Other classes in the catalogue, such as POL 5 (Law and Politics) and the POL 7 and POL 10 series
classes will be discussed and assessed during Spring 2013. Further, the discipline is considering
revisiting the COR for POL 3 (Introduction to Political Science) since it has an articulated C-ID
(POLS 150). Finally, the discipline will be considering the creation or acceptance of a methods
class to reflect this class in C-ID (POLS 160). This will be decided in Spring 2013 as well. (*The
honors classes have the same C-ID SLOs as regular classes.)
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E. Student Learning Outcomes Assessment
RCC has ongoing and cyclical assessment of its main Political Science offering, POL 1 (American
Politics) and has been assessing POL 1H (Honors American Politics), POL 2 (Comparative
Politics), POL 4 (Introduction to World Politics), POL 5 (Law and Politics) and POL 11 (Political
Theory).
Given that the Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) for Political Science courses have been modified
to bring them in line with C-ID language, there will necessarily be a slight difference between what
has been assessed historically and what will be done in the future. Modifications made to SLO
assessment will be addressed in the subsequent unit plans that follow this review.
POL 1:
Regarding POL 1 (American Politics), a faculty member has been involved in testing the efficacy of
students’ abilities to “[d]escribe, analyze and evaluate concepts, theories and institutions of
American politics” by asking them to explain and connect a number of political institutions.
Specifically, his students are asked to read works that explain and are critical of the American
constitution and to write essays that reveal a mastery of an argument that assails the Constitution on
democratic grounds.
In the last evaluation cycle (Fall 2011), a faculty member assessed 130 essays from his POL 1
classes. For the assignment, students were asked to explain the argument made by Sanford Levinson
in his text Our Undemocratic Constitution by answering a series of questions that addressed
particular claims that Levinson made regarding the Constitution’s shortcomings as well as the
broader themes that informed the discussion. What the faculty member found was that of the 13
questions he asked regarding the Constitution, the institutions it engenders and the problems that
Levinson discerns in it that students had the most difficulty understanding the historical
interpretation of the Good Behavior Clause of Article III, the role of politics in the federal judiciary
and the problems created by life tenure for judges. These questions were:



How has the Good Behavior Clause been interpreted? Explain.
Why is Scalia “entirely correct” about the role of politics in the federal judiciary? Explain.
What is the “final problem attached to life tenure?” Explain.
In his subsequent discussion of the essays with his students, the faculty member found that the
problems students had with the questions had mainly to do with how the author phrased certain
passages. The students explained that they had a hard time understanding that judges could be (and
are) political actors who craft policy as the result of their judgments. With this in mind, the faculty
member modified the questions for his POL 1 classes in the Spring, Summer and Fall 2012
semesters. He found that the students better understood the role of the judiciary, how politics are
part of its makeup and how Levinson is making his argument, but he has chosen to use a new text
for Winter 2013 that may better explain the issues in a more concise form.
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POL 1H:
For POL 1H (Honors American Politics), a faculty member focused on the SLO that expects
students will “[d]emonstrate their knowledge, understanding and academic skills through effective
essay writing for research assignments of 2-4 pages and examinations.” For the assignment, the
faculty member gave a series of questions from a number of 19th Century American authors. The
assignment was an approximately 6-page essay that asked students to answer 14 questions. The
questions specifically asked students to explain themes and answer questions from texts by Henry
David Thoreau, Frederick Douglass and John C. Calhoun. The students were asked a series of
questions such as:



Why, for Calhoun, is it “a dangerous error to suppose that all people are equally entitled to
liberty?” Explain.
What danger does Thoreau find in the press? Explain.
In the Oration, why does Douglass argue that Lincoln was “preeminently the white man’s
President?” Explain.
During the Spring 2012 cycle of assessment, the faculty member examined the 19 essays offered by
his students. He found that the students fared better on questions from Thoreau and Douglass and
worse on those having to do with Calhoun’s A Disquisition on Government. The average grades for
the Douglass/Thoreau reading questions (on a 4-point scale) were 3.23, with a standard deviation of
.21 whereas the average grades for the Calhoun questions were 2.78, with a standard deviation of
.24.
After handing back the papers, the faculty member and the class had a discussion regarding the
assignment and its outcomes. In the discussion, the students explained that the questions for
Calhoun seemed more difficult to grasp. One question in particular stood out. It asked:
According to Calhoun, what is the “concurrent majority?” Explain.
Students claimed that they did not know how to best summarize this concept or how to place it
relative to the “numerical majority,” a concept with which Calhoun contrasts it. After a discussion
of this question and the other questions on the assignment, the faculty member decided to choose a
different Calhoun reading, one that is less involved and digressive than the Disquisition. The faculty
member will be using these alternative texts in Spring 2013.
POL 2:
A faculty member assessed POL 2 (Comparative Politics) during the Fall 2011 semester. He
focused on the SLO that students “[e]xamine, analyze, and compare the political systems of certain
key foreign governments. To assess this SLO, which he has been performing regularly since 2009,
the faculty member provided students with a set of questions for a “reaction paper” essay. The
students were asked to compare a number of governments in the Western Hemisphere, particularly
those of Third World countries, and to consider the nature of the relationships between these
countries and gauge them relative to prominent conceptual paradigms in the field. Examples of
these questions were:
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


What role does imperialism play in explaining the difficulty with freedom and economic
growth in the Third World?
Cuba demonstrates “that the Cold War framework has been scarcely more than a pretext to
conceal the standard refusal to tolerate Third World independence” (p. 154). Critique this
statement by [Noam] Chomsky.
What is the tragedy of Haiti?
The faculty member gave students a breakdown of the way in which their assignments would be
assessed, clarifying that analysis (40% of total grade), evidence (40% of total grade), organization
(10% of total grade) and style (10% of total grade) would all be factors in the grading. Once he
collected the papers, the faculty member performed an analysis of the questions and found that the
majority of the students had pronounced difficulty when asked to compare a country’s current plight
to a particular concept. For example, students had problems understanding the use of the word
“imperialism” in Chomsky’s essays. To remedy this, the faculty member has prepared his lecture
for this section of the class differently and intends to work with Dr. Biancardi to improve student
understanding of certain conceptual language that is necessary for a mastery of the SLO in question.
POL 4:
In POL 4 (World Politics), a faculty member has been involved in testing the efficacy of students’
abilities to “[d]escribe, analyze and evaluate the various theories of International Relations and their
application on a number of pressing global issues.” To test this SLO, the faculty member’s students
were asked to read works that explain global politics in general and international political economy
in particular, from dominant and critical perspectives and paradigms such as the idealist, realist,
corporate globalist, constructivist and global humanist perspectives. His students were also asked to
apply these theoretical frameworks to various pressing global issues, such as the political economy
of human rights, and to write essays that demonstrate an educated understanding of the major
problems national and international governments must tackle.
In the last evaluation cycle (Fall 2011), the faculty member assessed 42 essays from his POL 4
class. For the assignment, students were asked to explain the argument made by Noam Chomsky in
his text Turning the Tide by answering a series of questions that addressed the particular claims that
Chomsky made regarding US government’s desire to protect its “fifth freedom” in its global pursuit
of the four freedoms outlined in the Atlantic Charter. What the faculty member found was that
when students were asked 8 questions regarding the four freedoms outlined in the Atlantic Charter
and their application and implementation in the post-World War II global economy, students had a
very limited and fragmented understanding of the actual implications for and standings of those four
freedoms in the global community. This was particularly the case in Third World countries in which
the US government has a significant military and financial investment. These questions were:



Identify and explain the four freedoms outlined in the Atlantic Charter.
Identify and explain Noam Chomsky’s notion of the fifth freedom.
How has the fifth freedom undermined or promoted those four freedoms? Explain.
In his subsequent discussion of the essays with his students, the faculty member found that the
problems students had with the questions had, to some degree, to do with the style of Chomsky’s
13 |
writing, the concepts he used and how he phrased certain passages. The students also explained that
they needed more background information on Chomsky’s notion of the “fifth freedom” so they
would be better equipped to make the connections between the four freedoms outlined in the
Atlantic Charter and the fifth freedom as it was articulated by Chomsky. With this in mind, the
faculty member assigned several related articles from other authors in his POL 4 class in fall 2012
semester. He also devoted more in-class discussion of supportive readings.
The faculty member also noted that the students gained a better historical understanding of the four
freedoms as applied to Third World countries regardless of their political and economic affiliations.
They also reached a better understanding of the correlation of the four freedoms as outlined in the
Atlantic charter and the fifth freedom articulated by Noam Chomsky. The faculty member has
selected several more current and relevant readings on that subject for his fall 2013 POL 4 course so
those may better explain this topic in a more concise form.
POL 5:
In the last assessment of POL 5 (Law and Politics), which occurred in Fall 2011, a faculty member
assessed the SLO “[a]nalyze the changes in civil rights and liberties.” To do so, the faculty member
assigned his students a series of essays that asked them to explain the landmark decisions of
Lochnerv. New York, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education and other civil rights cases.
The texts that the faculty member used were the original opinions from the three above-mentioned
cases as well as a supplemental text by Dr. Lucas Powe entitled, The Supreme Court and the
American Elite. Some of the questions the faculty member asked the students were:



In Plessy, what is the “underlying fallacy” that Brown references? Explain.
In Lochner, on what grounds does Harlan support the New York law? Explain.
What was the Court’s position in Minesville School District v. Gobitis? Explain.
In assessing the students’ abilities to understand the Court’s doctrinal shifts in civil rights,
particularly those in areas that regard substantive due process, the faculty member found that
students had a difficult time understanding the intersection of a particular right (i.e. freedom of
contract) and the due process standards that a state must reach in order to infringe upon it (i.e.
justifiable police powers). Questions that addressed the matter of substantive due processes during
the two periods in the Court’s history where this approach was taken (during the Lochner period
and following Griswold v. Connecticut) were answered poorly in comparison to other questions,
such as those regarding religious liberties (i.e. Gobitis) and racial equality (i.e. Brown).
After discussing the matter with the students at length, the faculty member concluded that the Powe
text did not provide substantive context or analysis of substantive due process such that the students
could be able to answer questions regarding it. To remedy this, the faculty member has chosen to
replace the Powe text with Robert McCloskey’s The Supreme Court, to pare back the length of the
Locher and Rowe readings, to provide supplemental, up-to-date essays on substantive due process
and to add multi-media elements to the lecture. This has taken place during Fall 2012 with more,
but still limited, success.
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POL 11:
Another core political science course, POL 11(Political Theory), was assessed most recently in
Spring 2011. During that time, a faculty member assessed the SLO that expects students to
“[d]escribe, analyze, and evaluate political concepts, theories, and institutions.” To accomplish this,
he assigned a systematic political theoretical text, Plato’s Republic, and gave a number of short, 1-2
page paper assignments on several of the chapters. Examples of these questions are:



How does Cephalus define justice? Explain.
How does one create justice in the soul? Explain.
What are the qualities of the democratic city? Explain.
The faculty member asked these questions – and refrained from asking questions about the simile of
the line and the allegories of the sun and the cave – because he found that students were not able to
grasp Plato’s fundamental epistemological and ontological claims in previous papers. Instead, the
faculty member found that an in-class discussion regarding these issues was more beneficial.
Moreover, the faculty member found that students were able to explain the elenchus and how Plato
utilized it in Book I and connect it to theories of justice that were articulated, to understand that
justice is a matter of harmonizing disparate, fundamental elements and that the qualities of cities
reflected to nature and quality of this harmonizing. That said, the faculty member also found that
the students often began to have problems maintaining the total argument of Republic as they
moved through its constituent chapters. The faculty member, in 2012, changed up some of the
questions from the text in order to try and keep students engaged, but found the quality of the
papers and class discussions fell as the weeks wore on. As a result, he has decided to switch texts, to
Plato’s Apology, and reintroduce a section of Machiavelli’s The Prince as an attempt to re-engage
the students and offer works that may assist them in understanding and applying political concepts.
Finally, POL 2 (Comparative Politics) and POL 4 (World Politics) will be assessed by MVC in the
Fall 2013 term, when they will next be offered as part of the Study Abroad Program to Florence,
Italy. The results of this assessment will be made available to members of the discipline so that
they may modify their courses accordingly.
F. Collaboration with Other Units Including Instructional, Student
Services, or Administrative Units (Internal)
(see part B.)
G. Outreach Activities
The discipline also intends to work with the chairs of the political science departments at UC
Riverside, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, CSU Fullerton and CSU San Bernardino to help develop
curriculum and practices that ensure RCC political science students can transfer to top-notch
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institutions. The discipline already has sent students to these colleges and other Tier One
universities such as UC Berkeley, UCLA and Claremont McKenna. The discipline hopes to
effectively assess its current offerings in order to help its students to be successful in completing
their undergraduate degrees and to help them to pursue interests in the field.
H. Long Term Major Resource Planning
As noted above, the Political Science discipline has introduced a Transfer Model Curriculum
(TMC). As a result, the four political science core courses (POL 1, 2, 4 and 11) will be taught each
semester at RCC. We expect three of these courses (POL 2, 4 and 11) will be taught yearly at MVC
and NC.
The discipline must enter into discussions regarding its low course offerings and the problems this
is causing for students wishing to matriculate. POL 1 is a vital course for student transfer to the UC
or CSU system and needs to have several sections on the RCC campus. This necessitates classes
being added back to the discipline in order to meet demand.
The goal of adding a full-time Political Science faculty at MVC remains a priority, although that
may have to await the return of financial health to our District.
I. Summary
During the next four years, the discipline hopes to achieve the following:
1. Pass the Transfer Model Curriculum (TMC) and work toward AA degrees in political
science: The discipline hopes to have its SB1440 requirements completed before the end of
2012. It looks forward to offering degrees in political science in Spring 2014.
2. Further development of its planning process: The department will be using the PSSA as a
means to create a political science cohort in the fall of 2013. Its aim is to determine how this
cohort congeals, how the PSSA contributes to its viability and to track how well and where
students transfer to four-year universities. This will allow the discipline the ability to
determine the number of political science majors and to see what methods best assist them
in reaching educational goals.
3. Recapture of FTEF: The discipline must recapture some of its course offerings, classes that
have been cut disproportionately when compared to the behavioral sciences and other
departments that do not have courses as central to student success as POL 1 (American
Politics). The discipline intends on taking this matter up with the Vice President of
Academic Affairs in the immediate future.
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4. Assessment of success rates: The discipline will also undergo a thorough examination of its
success rates in order to determine what means may lead it to improve the current figures on
the City College campus.
J. Recommendations to the Program Review Committee
(none at this time)
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