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.

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 is now a part of the syllabus for CJ 530.

Review Criteria For Grading Research Papers. With the course sequence change for 09-10, students will be assessed according to course syllabus guidelines that include linkage to organizational theory context. At least 70% of students will be assessed as "satisfactory" or better.

Academic year 09-10 is a transition period. The course sequence for 09-10 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 10-11, CJ 530 has been rescheduled as a second year course.

The revised criteria specified above will be applied for the 10-11 academic year.

Requisites for research design will be more closely integrated between 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. This will result in a more successful outcome on research design.

With the integration between CJ 634, CJ 636, and CJ 692, students will be asked to complete a satisfactory research design. The outcome of this design will demonstrate the relationship between all three courses. The documentation of this assessment will be required of the assigned instructor.

Students will be asked to develop a research paper outlining a design to test a program actually practiced by the student's employing agency. These research papers will demonstrate the requisites put in place by the embedded assessment.

The criterion was applied for the offering of CJ 692 for the Spring 10semester. 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%.  One student received "good" due to inappropriate use of APA citation format.  Student was directed to writing center for help.

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 - Compter/Technology APplications in Criminal Justice, and CJ  692 - Program Evaluation for Criminal Justice Management. However, the basic assessment method will remain unchanged.  Students will be encouraged to turn in papers on bi-weekly basis so writing format can be critiqued early and help given in the proper format.

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 will be reviewed by faculty committe.

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 09-10 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 2010 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 instructor 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 10-11 is a once in a decade event. The College will implement committee review of the Portfolio projects in Academic year 10-11.