Students will develop knowledge and understanding of key concepts and skills relevant to agricultural science.

Students, through the Master of Science Curriculum, will develop a global perspective of agriculture while also gaining scientific and technical knowledge with research and analytical skills in agriculture and related sciences.

All MS students pursuing the thesis route are required to successfully complete a oral examination and all MS students pursuing the non-thesis route are required to successfully complete a written comprehensive exam.  A committee of faculty members with expertise in the subject area will evaluate students’ oral and written performances.

We expect that at least 80% will pass on their first attempt and there will be a 100% passing rate for those students taking the exams a second time.

Although all students passed their exams on the first attempt the faculty grading exams identified two problems with the evaluations process. First, faculty were using different scoring systems. For example, some faculty used a simple no pass versus pass scoring system while others used a more refined scoring system of no pass, low pass, pass or high pass. Second, faculty used slightly different criteria when evaluating the exams.

During the summer of 2010 faculty will develop detailed grading rubrics for both the written and oral exams. Faculty will also adopt a consistent scoring system of no pass, low pass, pass, and high pass.

Students will learn the skills necessary to compete in the professional marketplace

During their enrollment in the program students will be required to complete assignments that require students to demonstrate skills their ability to compete in the professional marketplace.

All students enrolled in the program must complete AGR 614 in their final year of enrollment. AGR 614 and 635 addresses the professional skills necessary for employment in the field of agriculture. Faculty members with expertise in the field of agricultural will meet to discuss students’ performance on key assignments in AGR 614 and 635.

There will be general agreement among faculty members that at least 70% of the students enrolled in AGR 614 and 635 performed at an acceptable level.

Faculty agreed that at least 70% of the students enrolled in AGR 614 and 635 performed at an acceptable level. However, faculty identified several weaknesses in the evaluation process, specifically the lack of a detailed grading rubric and agreed upon developing a uniform scoring mechanism..

Faculty will take the following actions designed to correct problems identified in the findings. At the end of each semester a 3 – 5 member committee with expertise in the subject matter of agriculture will review seven randomly selected assignments taken from AGR 614 and 635. Faculty members will evaluate the assignments using a grading rubric designed and agreed upon by the committee members. Assignments will be scored on a scale of 1 - 5 with 5 being the highest.

We expect that: (1) Faculty scores will not vary in the vast majority of cases and when there is a difference in scores the difference will not be greater than a single point. If faculty scores do differ beyond a single point, faculty will be asked to review the grading rubric and discuss its application and (2) At least 70% of the papers will score a 3 or above.

The agricultural department is not offering AGR 614 or 635 during the summer or fall of 2010 and thus we cannot implement and test the effectiveness of the proposed changes to the evaluation process. However, similar changes to the evaluation process of student performance in various upper division courses will be taking place in summer of 2010. Any corrections made to the evaluation process will be assessed and applied to the evaluation process of AGR 614 and 635.