Students will gain knowledge and skills that are associated with advanced degrees in political science.
Objective
Written Comprehensive Exams
Students must demonstrate competency in the core areas of political science. These areas include political theory, methodology, and one of the following fields: American government, public administration, comparative politics, international relations, or a third related field outside the department.
Indicator
Successful Completion Of Written Comprehensive Exams
We will use written comprehensive exams as a tool for measuring students' knowledge and skills. Prior to graduation students will be required to complete three written comprehensive exams in areas relevant to their coursework. Exam questions will be written by faculty with expertise in the students' areas of study and the questions will be based on the comprehensive exam reading lists and the content of the overview courses (see department level goal of revise written comprehensive exam process for more information on the reading lists and overview courses). Students' exams will be graded by at least two faculty members (more when possible) who have expertise in the areas of study pursued by students. Exams will be assigned one of the following scores: high pass, pass, and no pass. If the two faculty members issue conflicting scores (e.g., pass and no pass), a third faculty member will be asked to score the exams and issue a final ruling.
Criterion
Written Comprehensive Exams
We expect that at least 80% of our students will pass their exams on the first attempt and that 100% of the students who have to take the exam a second time will pass.
Efforts noted in our 2008-2009 actions will be implemented, specifically, we will require students to attend a comprehensive exam study skills session conducted by the graduate director and graduate faculty members.
By the spring of 2010 the new rubric developed by the graduate faculty will be utilized to determine low pass, pass, and high pass. We believe that this will produce at least 2 high passess for the 2010-2011 exams (the cohort that will be affected by the changes that are implemented in 2009-2010).
Finding
Written Comprehensive Exams
67% of the students taking comprehensive exams passed on their first attempt and 33% failed on their first attempt. All students required to retake the exams passed on their second attempt. A total of six exams were scored. Only one exam received a high pass. Thus we did not meet our expectations. Conversations with students who took the comprehensive exams revealed two aspects of the exam process that most likely contributed to a low passing rate and low scores, specifically student confusion regarding faculty's expectations of students' exam performance and (2) students' failure to begin preparing early for the exams.
Action
Written Comprehensive Exams
We will take action designed to correct the problems identified in our finds. First, students will be provided a more detailed statement regarding expectations of students' exam performance and an explanation of what constitutes a no pass, pass, and high pass. Second, students will be informed that the minimum amount of preparation time for comprehensive exams is three months and any preparation time of less than three months will most likely produce failing scores.
Goal
Student Conference Attendance And Professional Writing
Students will be strongly encouraged to present at professional confences.
Objective
Student Conference Attendance And Professional Writing
Student presentation of papers at professional conferences will increase.
Indicator
Submission And Acceptance Of Proposals To Professional Conferences
Faculty members will indentify students' papers that have a strong possibility of being accepted for presentation at a professional conference. Students will be encouraged to submit their papers for presentation at a profesional conference. We believe that the acceptance rate is a good indicator of our students' professional performance as paper proposals are reviewed by members of the scholarly community and are only accepted if the proposals meet the standards set by the scholarly community.
Criterion
Student Conference Attendance And Professional Writing
At least 60% of our second year students will submit papers for presentation and at least half of the papers will be accepted for presentation.
We expect that all of the students accepted to a conference will apply for travel grants from both the graduate school and participating conferences.
Finding
Student Conference Attendance And Professional Writing
We found that 50% (6 out of 12) graduate students submitted paper proposals to academic conferences with a 100% acceptance rate. We concluded that 60% was too high of an expectation given our diversity of students and their professional priorities. For example, conversations between the graduate director and the students revealed that many of the graduate students do not see presentations at conferences as important to the career objectives. Those attending conferences were able to secure some travel grants from the graduate school.
Action
Student Conference Attendance And Professional Writing
The graduate director will identifiy MA students that will benefit from conference attendance and encourage their participation. The expectation of the number that will apply will be lowered to 50% as the graduate director assesses the needs of the students. In addition, more local conferences and professional writing opportunities will be identified that align more closely with our students' career aspirations.
Goal
Oral Comprehensive Exam
Students will gain knowledge and skills that are associated with advanced degrees in political science.
Objective
Oral Comprehensive Exam
Students must demonstrate competency in the core areas of political science. These areas include political theory, methodology, and one of the following fields: American government, public administration, comparative politics, international relations, or a third related field outside the department.
Indicator
Successful Completion Of Oral Comprehensive Exams
We will use oral comprehensive exams as a tool for measuring students' knowledge and skills. After completing the written comprehensive exams, students will be required to participate in an oral comprehensive exam. The exam will be conducted by faculty members who graded the students' written exams (two faculty graders per exam). During the oral exams students will be given the opportunity to elaborate upon sections of their written exams that the faculty members deemed weak. Oral exams will be assigned one of the following grades: high pass, pass, and no pass. If the faculty members issue conflicting scores (e.g., pass and no pass), the student will be asked to participate in a second oral exam and during that exam a third faculty member will be asked to score the student's performance and issue a final ruling.
Criterion
Oral Comprehensive Exams
We expect that at least 80% of our students will pass their exams on the first attempt and that 100% of the students who have to take the exam a second time will pass.
Efforts noted in our 2008-2009 actions will be implemented, specifically, we will require students to attend a comprehensive exam study skills session conducted by the graduate director and graduate faculty members. By the spring of 2010 the new rubric developed by the graduate faculty will be utilized to determine low pass, pass, and high pass. We believe that this will produce at least 2 high passess for the 2010-2011 exams (the cohort that will be affected by the changes that are implemented in 2009-2010).
Finding
Oral Comprehensive Exam
67% of the students taking comprehensive exams passed on their first attempt and 33% failed on their first attempt. All students required to retake the exams passed on their second attempt. A total of six exams were scored. Only one exam received a high pass. Thus we did not meet our expectations. Conversations with students who took the comprehensive exams revealed two aspects of the exam process that most likely contributed to a low passing rate and low scores, specifically student confusion regarding faculty's expectations of students' exam performance and (2) students' failure to begin preparing early for the exams.
Action
Oral Comprehensive Exams
We will take action designed to correct the problems identified in our finds. First, students will be provided a more detailed statement regarding expectations of students' exam performance and an explanation of what constitutes a no pass, pass, and high pass. Second, students will be informed that the minimum amount of preparation time for comprehensive exams is three months and any preparation time of less than three months will most likely produce failing scores.