Exiting seniors should exhibit comprehensive knowledge of key concepts provided during their educational experience
Objective
Exhibit Comprehensive Knowledge
Graduating seniors will exhibit comprehensive knowledge of core criminal justice course work.
Indicator
Senior Exit Exam
Each semester, all graduating seniors are asked to complete an exit exam, on the SHSU Blackboard academic support system, that provides faculty a means of assessing students' comprehension and retention on key concepts provided to them during their educational experience. The 60-item Exit Exam, created by faculty, assesses learning in seven core areas.
Criterion
70% Average Score On Each Competency Area
The average on each competency area: (1) Criminal Law; (2) Corrections; (3) Law Enforcement; (4) Courts; (5) Theory/Criminology (6) Research Methods/Statistics, and (7) Diversity within the Criminal Justice System will be at least 70% for graduating seniors taking the exit exam at the end of their capstone course.
Finding
Seniors Scored 70% And Above On All Areas Except Criminology Theory
Graduating seniors achieved an average of 82% on the overall exit exam and between 69% and 89% on the component areas representing the undergraduate curriculum.
Senior exit exam scores for the 2010-2011 academic year indicated that students had the following averages across the six core competency areas: Crime, Criminal Justice, and Policy (89%), Crime, Justice, and Social Diversity (86%), Criminal Law (89%), Policing and Law Enforcement (77%), Courts (84%), Corrections (81%), Juvenile Justice (75%), Criminology/Theory (69 %), and Research Methods/Statistics (83%). Results indicated that the graduating seniors scored well above 70% on all competency areas except for Criminology/Theory.
Action
Improve Students' Overall Knowledge And Comprehension Of Core Competency Areas.
This was our first administration of the senior exit exam that represents our newly developed undergraduate curriculum. We will continue to collect this exam data through 2011-2012 to obtain a higher N before we make changes to the exam or coursework. We will be watching each competency score carefully, with special attention on the Criminology/Theory score as this was low for our first administration.
Goal
Development Of Writing And Research Skills
Undergraduates should possess the necessary tools to write a good research proposal.
Objective
Competence In Writing And Research Skills
Students will demonstrate competence in their writing and research skills.
Indicator
Writing And Research Skills Rubric
All undergraduate criminal justice students are invited to develop a scholarly research paper/poster proposal. Writing and research skills are judged by a faculty committee who provide feedback on their proposals and final papers/posters. Students are given specific guidelines developed by a faculty committee. These guidelines include areas of organization, content, quality of research, and writing. All papers are reviewed by one or more faculty committee members and judged according to the rubric developed by the faculty. Once reviewed, papers/posters that meet the objectives set forth in the guidelines are accepted and progress to the next stage of expanding ideas. Those students displaying competence in guidelines are invited to present at a local, regional, or national conference where their papers will be peer reviewed.
Criterion
Students Will Score At Least 80% On Scoring Rubric
The majority of students will score at 80% or above on the paper/poster scoring rubric.
Finding
Over Half Of The Students Who Were Accepted Scored Above 80%.
Twenty-six students submitted paper/poster proposals and were accepted for the next stage of the proposal process. Four students decided to drop out before their final paper was due. Of the remaining 22 students, all proposals were judged as competent and accepted for conference presentation. Their scores ranged from 48% to 99% on the research paper/poster scoring rubric created by our faculty, with 12 of the students scoring above 80%.
Although two students scored low in all areas of the scoring rubric, the remaining students lost points in the areas of writing clear hypothesis and appropriateness of study method.
Action
Continue To Increase Student Writing And Research Skills
In order to further work on developing our students' writing and research skills, we will continue to offer an annual undergraduate conference and encourage more of our students' involvement by acquiring more faculty participation and mentoring of undergraduate students in their effort to present papers and posters. Additionally, we will continue to provide personal feedback to students on their proposals and final papers and posters. This offers them one-on-one mentoring to develop their skills with a faculty member. We will also actively encourage and help undergraduates propose and present papers and posters at regional and national conferences. In the next academic year we hope to continue to be able to accept all student research paper and poster proposals for inclusion for faculty mentorship and conference presentation. We will attempt to increase our students' scores by providing more mentoring on hypothesis writing and appropriate research methodology for their questions.