Criminal Justice
Assessment Strategy and Plan
April 1999
Proposed EPC Actions
• Effective Spring 2000;
• New course approvals: 240, 250, 260, 270, 316, 361, 400,415, 416, 417, 418, 430,450, and
499;
• Approve change from 382 Security Management to 381 Security Administration.
Overall Description
Criminal Justice programs at SAU are reorganized within the Department of Social Science, College of Arts and Science. Criminal Justice program affiliations include undergraduate major (BA), the graduate major (MCJ), Juvenile Justice Education Program (M.Ed. Special Education), and the Midwest Crime Prevention Institute, in cooperation with Professional Development.
Undergraduate Program Assessment
1) Mission Statement
The aim of the Criminal Justice curriculum is to develop informed citizens and liberally
educated, entry-level, criminal justice practitioners. The Criminal Justice program is
professionally oriented with a balance between technology and humanism, founded on the liberal learning. While most graduates will work in the criminal justice system, they will also have the capacity to contribute to the public good by virtue of their value-oriented collegiate preparation.
2) Learning Objectives for Majors
The Criminal Justice student will:
1. Gain an entry-level knowledge of police, courts, juvenile justice, corrections, and
prevention-security practices.
2. Become well grounded in criminological theory, including postmodernism.
3. Acquire effective interpersonal communication skills—verbal and written.
4. Be able and willing to collaborate with others in effective problem solving.
5. Understand
the social science foundations of criminal justice, including scientific method.
6. Study the U.S. Constitution and American criminal justice, with emphasis on due
process, civil liberties, and personal freedoms.
7. Personalize a sense of professional ethics.
8. Apply theory to actual problems via a practicum and/or alternate culminating experiential option.
3) Methods for Assessment
1. Course syllabi, as a source of formative evaluation, will be maintained for each class offered.
2. Student portfolios, to include student writing samples, will be created and maintained for each major.
3. Each semester, student success and progress will be assessed via review of the plan-of-study, including GPA, and related co-curricular activities.
4. CrJu 407 in conjunction with CrJu 421 (Practicum) will be utilized as capstone
experiences for summative evaluation of the overall progress for each student while in the program.
5. Program personnel will survey graduates every five years to ascertain success and to solicit suggestions for program improvement.
6. Selected employers of program graduates will he surveyed in conjunction with student exit interviews/questionnaires to determine nature, extent, and fields of employment secured by graduates.
7. Faculty will meet regularly and collect feedback from the Criminal Justice Advisory
Board.
8. The faculty will assess all feedback (1-7) for "goodness-of-fit" with ACJS Standards.
4) Documentation of Student Learning
The program coordinator will maintain an assessment file for student portfolios to include the following academic outcome indicators for majors:
• student transcripts and grade reports
• copies of written samples for courses: PHIL 207, PSCI 304, CrJu 316, CrJu 400, CrJu
407, and CrJu
421
• 421 - Practicum: paper, log, student evaluation of the agency, agency evaluation of
intern
• career placement or alumni survey results for the assessment period
• evidence of related student professional activity.
5) Use of Assessment Information
Criminal Justice faculty will review graduating student papers (407/421) annually for
comparison. During the year prior to the next program review. Criminal Justice faculty will
review all portfolio documents, graduate surveys/employer surveys. Advisory Board input,
and current ACJS guidelines. Taken together, these data provide the rationale for
program/assessment change and/or revision.
6) Evaluation of the Assessment Plan
ACJS Guidelines provide the normative standard for future evaluation of the Criminal Justice
assessment plan, i.e., are we progressing toward accreditation?
7) Review of Proposed Courses
Now in process and forthcoming following feedback from (adjunct) faculty.