Students in the Master of Science Degree program in Criminal Justice Leadership and Management will demonstrate knowledge of the application of organization theory premises and principles in the context of criminal justice agency administration.
The College of Criminal Justice has offered a Master of Science in Criminal Justice Leadership and Management degree for over 30 years in an intensive weekend format. Enrollment is limited to persons employed in criminal justice positions for at least two years. Conceptually, the program is designed to prepare practitioners for managerial roles. A cohort of 20 students is admitted each autumn. Courses meet during five weekends a semester - a "Saturday" course and a "Sunday" course. The program is regarded as one of the College's hallmark efforts to concurrently maintain the highest academic standards while being responsive to needs of the field.

Effective in September 2009 a parallel on-line format is being launched. Like the weekend format, student enrollment is limited to two courses per semester, thus requiring two years to completion. Courses completed in a distance learning format are taken "one at a time," each course lasting 7 weeks. Students may choose to mix and match the online and intensive weekend formats that best fit their learning style or calendar - completing the entire program on-line, or some semesters in the distance learning mode, but others in the intensive weekend format.

The conceptual premises of the program are enumerated in the following ten observations.

1. SHSU has checked the Texas "market" for a Criminal Justice M.S. Distance Learning Degree:
- One baccalaureate program has apparently done quite well, Mountain State in West Virginia. There are no master's degrees in the field available.
- Presidents of statewide police associations believe the M. S. program would be very successful in policing - the largest market.
- There are according to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, approximately 13,000 police officers in the state with baccalaureate degrees - the initial potential market. One percent equals 130 students.
2. SHSU implemented a vigorous marketing program during the summer of 2009.
3. Technical support for distance learning format development became available to design state-of-the-art delivery formats with the employment of two specialists in distance learning design - both with extensive experience, most recently at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
4. The program enrolls students in one course at a time, each course lasting 7 weeks. This is a completion rate of two courses a semester, six semesters total, consistent with our existing M.S. weekend program.
5. Sam Houston State University and the College of Criminal Justice is committed to a quality degree.
6. Extending Number 5 - integration of multi-media is required in the content delivery. This translates to taped lectures, commercial media (a film on Leadership), voice over PowerPoint, discussion boards, etc.
7. Faculty are being provided a special stipend for course development. Expectations are appropriately high.
8. Extending Number 5 - the College faculty assigned to the program met weekly during the academic year to develop a truly integrated degree program, not a mere collection of courses.
9. Extending Number 5 - the College is developing an agreed upon standard of assignments consistent with the expectations for graduate courses offered in traditional delivery modes.
10. Implementation is Fall 09.

It is important to note that the developmental effort dedicated to the newly implemented distance learning format is being "back-filled" to the 30 year old weekend format.

Students will be able to articulate linkage of the principles and issues from the generic literature on organization theory to application in public administration in general, and criminal justice management in particular.

A consistent scoring methodology will be applied to research papers submitted for CJ 530 - Critical Analysis of Criminal Justice Administration. The research paper will demonstrate application of organizational theory principles taught in CJ 633 - Seminar in Organization and Administration, CJ 696 - Legal Aspects of Criminal Justice Management, CJ 632 - Resource Development in the Organizational Context, and CJ 665 - Community Theory and the Administration of Justice. Student guidelines were developed by College faculty assigned to the program. This faculty committee met weekly during the academic year to develop a truly integrated degree program describing necessary linkage. Documentation of such linkage will be a part of the syllabus for CJ 530.

Review criteria developed by college faculty committee assigned to the program will be applied to grading research papers. This review criteria will include guidelines describing necessary linkage to appropriate organizational theory context. At least 70% of students will be assessed as satisfactory or better with the indicator rubric.

Academic year 08-09 is a transition period. The course sequence for 08-09 scheduled CJ 530 in the first semester of the weekend program format. This did not allow application of the Indicator. Therefore the assigned instructor for the course, was solely responsible for review of the research papers employing traditional criteria. For academic year 09-10, CJ 530 has been rescheduled as a second year course.

The revised criteria specified above will be applied for the 09-10 academic year.

Students will recognize basic premises of effective program evaluation in the criminal justice management context.

Students will be required to complete a satisfactory research design to test a hypothesis in the context of a criminal justice intervention program. The requisites for a satisfactory research design will be embedded in CJ 634 - Research Methods and Quantitative Analysis in Criminal Justice, CJ 636 - Computer / Technology Applications in Criminal Justice, and, CJ 692 - Program Evaluation for Criminal Justice Management

The primary course project for CJ 692 will be a research paper outlining a design to test a program actually practiced by the student's employing agency (all enrollees in this program are employed in a criminal justice agency - required for program admission). Review criteria for grading research papers in CJ 692 will explicitly include linkage to appropriate requisites for a satisfactory research design. Documentation of the extent of such linkage will be required of the assigned instructor(s). At least 70% of students will be assessed as "satisfactory" or better.

The criterion was applied for the offering of CJ 692 for the Spring 09 semester. The assigned instructor included as a course requirement that "All students will be required to develop a Program Evaluation Proposal focusing on any issue or program currently related to their particular agency of employment (or to any specific criminal/juvenile justice agency of their choosing for any students who are not currently employed in an agency). This project will be worth up to 100 class points to be applied toward the final semester grade. These points will be awarded based on the following criteria: Clarity of statement of problem and description of program/policy being evaluated (20 points); Review of salient scholarly literature related to program/policy to be evaluated (25 points); Description of methodology/methodologies to be employed during the proposed evaluation (25 points); Appropriate use of Rossi et al.'s material to support methodological choices (10 points); Appropriate use of APA citation format (10 points) and; Quality of presentation during final class session (10 points)."

Of eleven students enrolled, ten were assessed as excellent, or 91%.

For subsequent semesters an effort will be made to more closely integrate assignments for CJ 634 - Research Methods and Quantitative Analysis in Criminal Justice, CJ 636 - Computer / Technology Applications in Criminal Justice, and, CJ 692 - Program Evaluation for Criminal Justice Management. However, the basic assessment method will remain unchanged.

Students will demonstrate the ability to integrate knowledge, skills, and abilities from the totality of the degree coursework.

Satisfactory completion of a Research and Publication Portfolio in the program's capstone course, CJ 688 - Emergent Issues in Criminal Justice Leadership.
CJ 688 is designed as a capstone course in the Master of Science in Criminal Justice Leadership and Management program. Implemented a year ago, the primary rationale was that the program lacked an educational component that integrated the various bodies of knowledge included in the program. In particular this course is designed to assist students in articulating a personal approach to management and leadership in their careers.
CJ 688 replaced CJ 637, Directed Management and Development Projects. An assignment paralleling the CJ 637 project is integrated in the CJ 688 course.

At least 80% of the students enrolled in CJ 688 will complete a Portfolio judged acceptable by a committee of instructors teaching in the degree program.

Academic year 08-09 is a transition period. With the change in meeting time format for the weekend program, and the implementation of the new distance learning version of the degree, faculty were preoccupied with program development. Indeed, virtually all of the faculty assigned to the program were immersed in the summer of 2009 in developing distance learning formats for their respective courses. Therefore the assigned instructor for the course, was solely responsible for review of the projects. the has taught the course replaced by CJ 688, CJ 637, for years. He modified his review of the written capstone assignments appropriately.

Implementation of the distance learning format for the degree in Academic year 09-10 is a once in a decade event. The College will implement committee review of the Portfolio projects in Academic year 09-10.