SYLLABUS: POLICY PRACTICUM I - SPRING 2014
COURSE NUMBER: 833:640:02
Instructor:
Time/Location:
Office Hrs. /Location:
Dr. Alan D. Cander alan.cander@rutgers.edu 848-932-2757
Thursdays 1:10PM-3:50 PM/CSP 170 and the Cornwall Center at
47 Bleeker Street, Newark, NJ 07102
Tuesdays 2:00PM to 6:00PM CSB 259
COURSE DESCRIPTION AND PURPOSE
This course is designed to provide you with hands-on experience in conducting policy-relevant
research for the Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies of Rutgers UniversityNewark. CC, who is your client, is an urban research institute affiliated with Rutgers University
and its Newark Campus. It facilitates research and learning exchanges among scholars and other
stakeholders in the public, private, and non-profit sectors to address urban and metropolitan
challenges. One of CC’s projects involves gathering data on best practices in other communities
to assist the City of Newark in boosting the post-secondary educational attainment levels of its
citizens. That post-secondary initiative will be the focus of your project work. You will be
working closely Dr. Roland Anglin (CC’s Director), Mahako Etta (who serves as the Project
Manager for our work), along with other research personnel and a variety of agencies. Through
your work with CC you will be analyzing cases of best practices and providing associated data
and recommendations that can be implemented in Newark for increasing the level of postsecondary educational attainment among its citizenry. In so doing, you will: 1) develop an
understanding of how research can be used to inform decisions about programs and public
policies pertaining to educational attainment; and 2) use your reading, writing, reasoning, and
analytical skills to implement a policy-based research project.
At the end of the course, you will be able to:
 Develop a scope of work that details tasks, deliverables, and deadlines
 Develop/utilize a protocol for collecting data and conducting interviews
 Collaboratively produce a professional quality research report, including data book, and
presentation that is based on your interpretation of peer-reviewed research, policyrelevant literature (including case studies), your analysis of the data you have collected,
and a series of recommendations.
 Evaluate your colleagues using reasonable standards.
REQUIRED TEXTS
There are no required texts for the course, but you will be expected to have completed reading
materials supplied by CC and to have conducted reviews of relevant literature and case studies,
some of which will also be supplied by CC, that pertain to your specific topic within the realm of
post-secondary educational attainment policy. On occasion, I may suggest readings pertinent to
your analysis and will make them available on our class Sakai site under Resources.
LATENESS, ABSENCE
Unexcused lateness and tardiness negatively affect the quality of the group’s work on this project
and will negatively affect your grade. The only valid excuses for lateness and tardiness are
confirmed illnesses or personal or family emergencies such as a death or severe illness in the
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immediate family or an accident. If you are legitimately ill you must provide a doctor’s note or a
note from one of the Rutgers Health Centers.
PROJECT DELIVERABLES
The project is broken down into Phase I and Phase II and a Final Group Report. Again, please
consult the Practicum Project Plan generated by CC for a full explanation of the deliverables and
associated research and analytic considerations. All written deliverables shall be sent/emailed to
CC and a copy shall be uploaded to our class Sakai site.
Phase I
 Phase I consists of several separate deliverables (parts):
 Part I: Four in-depth Case Studies and Analytic Frameworks
 Kalamazoo, MI “Kalamazoo Promise”
 Syracuse, NY “Say Yes to Education”
 New Haven, CT “New Haven Promise”
 Pittsburgh, PA “Pittsburgh Promise”
 Part II: An in-depth Case Study on Newark and Inventory Scan of Pre-Existing Programs
 Case Study on Newark
 Project GRAD
 READY Program
 Inventory Scan of Pre-Existing Programs
 Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) completion programs
 Newark Public School administered programs
 Community-based programs
 University and community college based programs
 Dual credit programs
 Part III: Data Collection and Data Book
 Based on 4 indicators: postsecondary readiness, postsecondary enrollment,
postsecondary persistence, postsecondary attainment
 Part IV: Project Recommendations and Conclusion
 The Group will provide 3 to 4 recommendations for delivering an
effective and comprehensive post-secondary citywide initiative aimed at
increasing the percentage of post-secondary attainment in Newark.
Phase II
 Phase II entails a 25-30 minute Group PowerPoint Presentation that mirrors the Group
Report.
Final Group Report
 This is essentially a compendium in one cohesive document of the written products from
Phase I and as well as typed slides from the Group Presentation from Phase II.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Academic misconduct includes plagiarism, cheating, failure to cite sources, fabrication and
falsification, copying ideas/language and deliberate slanting of research designs to achieve a
preconceived result. All writing assignments and products for this course will be evaluated using
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TurnItIn.com, and any assignments or products that produce similarity reports that are
problematic will not be graded and the student will receive a score of zero. Depending on the
level of the violation you may be subject to dismissal from the Bloustein MPP program and
Rutgers University. For additional information, please consult the University’s Academic
Integrity Policy, which can be found at http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/integrity.shtml#.
SPECIAL NEEDS
If you have disability-based accommodations needs, you should notify me during the first week
of class and provide me with a Letter of Accommodation (LOA) that describes the
accommodations you need. In order to be provided with accommodations, you need to be
registered with the Rutgers Office of Disability Services. For more information, please contact
Assistant Dean Steve Weston.
GRADING AND EVALUATION
Your grade for this course will be based on what your have earned in our section of the
practicum. The grading for our section will be based on a combination of the following: 1) my
analysis of the overall quality of the required deliverables, the Data Book, the Group Report and
the Presentation, which will necessarily take into account the client’s satisfaction; and 2) your
peer evaluation. A simple, reasonable format for the peer review process will be provided on
during the semester class that will reflect the following:
 The amount of work the teammate performed relative to the other team members;
 The quality of the work that the teammate performed;
 The timeliness of the work that the teammate performed; and
 The overall experience of working with the teammate.
A=90-100
B+=87-89
B=80-86
C+=77-79
C=70-76
Below 70 = F
SCHEDULE OF PROJECT TASKS AND DELIVERABLES
The schedule below provides a quick reference for the project tasks and deliverables. Any
reading of this schedule must be paired with your thorough reading and digesting of CC’s Project
Plan, which has been emailed to you. As indicated, above, in PROJECT DELIVERABLES
your work on this project will occur in Two Phases and will involve several written products,
including a Data Book and Group Report, and a Presentation. You will also note that several of
our classes will be meeting at CC, itself, which is located at 47 Bleeker Street on the Newark
Campus. The main contact number and email for CC are as follows: 973-353-1750
cornwall@andromeda.rutgers.edu. Note: Deliverable dates are boldfaced.
Date
Project Activities (Tasks and Deliverables)
Jan 20
Student Resumes and Bios due
Jan 23
Class meets at CC at 12:30 for Kickoff Lunch and First Class
Students have completed all readings CC sent over Winter Break
Discuss Project Plan, meeting schedule and expectations
Meet with community representatives
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Date
Project Activities (Tasks and Deliverables)
Jan 25
Students meet in Newark for “Tour of Newark” with Alan and Mahako; time and
locale to be determined
Jan 30
Class meets at CC
Prepare your “road map” and present on how Group will tackle project (Phase I,
Phase II, Final Group Report)
Feb 6
Class meets at CSB 170 to go over progress as we proceed with Phase I Part I
Feb 13
Class meets at CC to provide project update
Feb 17
Phase I Part I due via email to CC by 5 PM and on Class Sakai Site by 5 PM
Feb 20
Class meets at CSB 170 to go over progress as Phase I Part II commences
Feb 27
Meet at CC to provide project update and discuss Parts I and II of Phase II
Mar 3
Phase I Part II due via email to CC by 5 PM and on Class Sakai Site by 5 PM
Mar 6
Class meets at CC to provide project update
Mar 13
Class meets at CSB 170 to go over progress as we proceed with Phase I Part III
Mar 20
Spring Break - No Class
Continue work on Phase I Part III
Mar 24
Phase I Part III due via email to CC by 5 PM and on Class Sakai Site by 5
PM
Mar 27
Class meets at CSB 170 to go over progress as we proceed with Phase I Part IV
April 3
Class meets at CC to provide project update
April 10
Class meets at CSB 170 to go over progress
Begin thinking about Final Group Report as we proceed with Phase I Part IV
April 17
Class meets at CSB 170 to go over progress on Phase I Part IV
Continue considerations about Final Group Report
Start thinking about Phase II Group Presentation
April 24
Class meets at CSB 170 to go over progress on Phase I Part IV
Continue considerations about Final Group Report
Continue considerations about Phase II Group Presentation
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Date
Project Activities (Tasks and Deliverables)
April 28
Phase I Part IV due via email to CC by 5 PM and on Class Sakai Site by 5
PM
May 1
Class meets at CSB 170 to go over progress on Final Group Report and Group
Presentation and do a dry run of Group Presentation
May 8
Final Group Report and Group Presentation (Phase II) due via email to CC
by 5 PM and on Class Sakai Site by 5 PM
Class meets at CC to deliver hard copy of Final Group Report and give
Presentation
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