OFFICE OF ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION

GOAL ASSESSMENT REPORT: AY 08/09

School of Criminal Justice & Social Sciences

Section One: Describe all department activities with respect to improving student learning in the major. This may include new faculty hires, course revisions, assignment creation, rubric revisions, goal evaluations, etc.

Activity Statement:

The current year represents a year of transition for the School of Criminal Justice and Social Sciences (SCJSS). The SCJSS went through a transition of deans in the middle of the fall semester. While this may have disrupted the SCJSS, the professional faculty and staff continued to perform in an outstanding manner and any bumps in the road were minor to the students. Outcomes processes will continue to play a crucial role in the development and modification of educational strategies and program development in an effort to maximize the school’s mission for providing critical educational and specialized job skills for both future educational and professional experiences. Across the school content analysis of AY 2008-2009 outcome data reveals students are indeed obtaining detailed expert professional knowledge and skills for their respected educational and professional areas. Writing skills also remain a critical area for instructional focus and educational performance improvement. The SCJSS is continuing to combine the writing skills with the critical thinking skills to enhance the students’ skills in the specialized job sets. Curriculum adjustments around writing and ethical decision-making have reflected this focus and is showing student learning gains as a result of this increased emphasis. Also as the result of Action Plans from last year’s report we have conducted a lot of outreach to possible businesses and agencies for more internship opportunities. Because of the success of our outreach we now have established internships with the United States Secret Service and the Target Corporation in addition to other numerous sites.

Section Two: Describe which program goal(s) in the Major Program Plan was assessed during the academic year.

Intended Outcomes 1:

Report on Activities of the School of Criminal Justice Advisory Board.

Assessment Criteria:

The purpose of the Advisory Board is to:

·  Review the SCJ curricula requirements and make work with the SCJ toward improving the overall program.

·  Assist in the development of new academic programs.

·  Advise the SCJ on employment opportunities in corrections, forensic psychology, law enforcement and juvenile justice.

·  Assist the SCJ in identifying agencies that are w willing to serve as field internship sites.

·  Assist the SCJ in locating faculty.

·  Assist the SCJ in identifying other instructional resources.

Results of Outcomes Activity:

2008-2009 / Met/Not Met
Not Met / Data Details
The School of Criminal Justice and Social Sciences Advisory Board has been discontinued.

Intended Outcome #2:

Assessment of Internship data to evaluate the overall effectiveness of SCJSS Internships.

Assessment Criteria:

Using the Internship Evaluation form as our rubric. 90% of all interns will be rated above average or better by site supervisor and receive an “85%” or better for their final grade. The grade and the Internship form reside in the Dean’s office and the grade is recorded in the registrar’s office as SCS470 “Internship.”

Results of Outcome Activity:

2008-2009
/ Met/Not Met
Met
Not assessed. / Data Details
91% of all internship grades were rated 90% or better by site supervisors. Of 57 completed internships, 56 received a grade of above average (A or B) from site supervisors.
Data not retrieved on final papers.

Intended Outcomes 3:

Increase student’ opportunities to network with a working professional in their chosen fields of study.

Assessment Criteria:

CJSS will support at least two working professionals to visit campus and present to students/classrooms each semester during the academic years. At least 50% of the school’s majors will attend at least one of the presentations during the academic year.”

Results of Outcomes Activity:

2008-2009
Fall 2008
Spring 2009
/ Met/Not Met
Met
Met
Met (estimate only). / Data Details
11 visitors met with students
Three visitors/sets of visitors met with students in fall, 08. Visitors represented the following majors:
NASIC: GNS: LE/HST
Eight visitors/sets of visitors met with students in spring 09.Visitors represented the following majors:
GNS, CJ, LE, HST, COR, FP
Attendance not surveyed at year’s end, but overall participation appeared widespread with much satisfaction among students and faculty was reported.

Section Three: Describe analysis of assessment data and action plans for upcoming academic year.

Analysis and Action Plans:

During the past couple of years new outcomes goals and assessment strategies were developed and implemented by faculty with data collected at the education delivery level. This year we utilized the Educational Testing Services’ Standardized Major Field Test (MFT) for the first time for criminal justice and psychology majors.

The results from the MFT in 2009 will serve as a baseline for SCJSS in the future. A total of 21 students took the Criminal Justice MFT Exam (which represents less than 50% of the SCJSS enrollment targeted for assessment). Subsequent assessments shall try to obtain larger samples. The MFT mean score for the Criminal Justice MFT exam was 147, while the mean score for outside comparison school samples who took this MFT was 154. In looking at the seven criminal justice domains measured--the exam content reflecting the core Criminal Justice courses were the highest amongst our students. One of the core areas, Research and Statistics, ranked with 45% of the comparison institutions falling below the scores of our SCJSS students. The Psychology 2008-09 GAR report discusses initial data from its psychology field exam, noting that 30% of the comparison schools scored at or below the mean for TU SCJSS students.

As current outcomes from this test are used as a baseline, the results will continue to be reviewed to determine how the SCJSS programs are ranking with other institutions. Decisions will be made in regards to judgment on the success of current MFT endeavors and the need to utilize this test on a yearly basis or bi-yearly bases.

As part of the ongoing assessment process, we intend to continue to explore the development of additional assessment tools and processes to determine the success of student learning and program goals across core criminal justices courses and the majors or concentrations within the SCJSS. The SCJSS has very unique majors; while the MFT is a good tool provided by an outside testing entity, the MFT alone will not be a complete or a true measure of this school’s curriculum.

Next year’s goal is to develop an assessment tool for the core Criminal Justice courses relating to all of our SCJSS majors as well as one targeted specifically to each specialized concentration. We are considering the development of a two-tiered assessment process that would measure and allow comparison of the outcomes from two distinct periods in a student’s progress toward graduation. This assessment process will continue, through several methods, to look at the process of preparing our students for careers or graduate school after their undergraduate experience. We will also continue to rely on the internships in which our students participate as an essential part of the assessment process. The internship program and its assessment is an essential connection to the professional mission of this School and University and is essential for the practical application of student learning gained in the classroom. These internships have in the past indicated a sound level of success from the vantage point of internship instructors, faculty, and students. We will consider whether development of tools which would allow additional follow-up measurement post graduation may be useful.

Finally, we intend to revisit the concept of using the Advisory Board as a method for both assessing present teaching and for developing and improving on our programs. The advisory concept was not utilized in 2008-09.The SCJSS intends to evaluate and to develop, as discussed above, further assessment tool(s) and goals that relate to all of our SCJSS majors.

Work also continues on the assessment plans for all of our master’s degree programs and concentrations. Data will be collected based on the plans and included in next year’s report.