Master of Criminal Justice

Assessment Plan

Academic Year	Learning Outcome	Core Courses	Elective Courses
2020-2021	Critical Analysis	MCJ 6100	MCJ 6150, 6180
	Research Methods	MCJ 6110	N/A
	Writing	MCJ 6130	MCJ 6170, 6250
	Evaluation	MCJ 6120	MCJ 6190
2021-2022	Critical Analysis	MCJ 6100	MCJ 6210
	Research Methods	MCJ 6110	MCJ 6000
	Writing	N/A	MCJ 6200, 6255
	Evaluation	N/A	MCJ 6120, 6810

Assessment Report Submissions
- 2021-2022
  
  1) Review and comment on the trend of minority students enrolling in your classes (particularly lower-division, GEN Ed) and in your programs.
  
  2) What support (from enrollment services, advising, first-year transition office, access & diversity, etc.) do you need to help you recruit and retain students?
  
  3) We have invited you to re-think your program assessment. What strategies are you considering? What support or help would you like?
  
  We recently adopted a new assessment scheme for the program and are not considering any revisions or changes at this time.
  
  4) Finally, we are supporting our Concurrent Enrollment accreditation process. Does your program offer concurrent enrollment classes? If so, have you been able to submit the information requested from the Concurrent Enrollment office? Staff from OIE will reach out to you in the next few months to assist in finalizing that data submission as well as gather information for concurrent Gen Ed assessment.
  
  The full report is available for viewing.
- 2019-2020
  1) First year student success is critical to WSU’s retention and graduation efforts. We are interested in finding out how departments support their first-year students. Do you have mechanisms and processes in place to identify, meet with, and support first-year students? Please provide a brief narrative focusing on your program’s support of new students:
  - Any first-year students taking courses in your program(s).
    
    [This response was solicited after the original submission of ‘n/a’, when it was suggested that first year grad students would benefit from something as well – this is Brad’s follow-up response:]
    
    I think it would be a good idea to do something formal, like an orientation. As is, we email new students documents of expectations, best practices, and such when they are admitted to the program. They also take MCJ 6100 as their first class, so that might be an opportunity to do something uniform like a "first year" experience. One of the considerations is the online format of the program, so we'd have to be creative in terms of what the process would look like, but like I said, I like the idea.
  - Students declared in your program(s), whether or not they are taking courses in your program(s)
    
    Not applicable.
  2) A key component of sound assessment practice is the process of ‘closing the loop’ – that is, following up on changes implemented as a response to your assessment findings, to determine the impact of those changes/innovations. It is also an aspect of assessment on which we need to improve, as suggested in our NWCCU mid-cycle report. Please describe the processes your program has in place to ‘close the loop’.
  - The program has been working with Gail Niklason of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and the Graduate Council to ensure assessment expectations have been met and the current data collection format/procedures meets or exceeds university expectations - the current assessment plan has been approved by Gail and the Grad Council. This academic year is the first year we are collecting data on our new program objectives. As such, no changes will be implemented at this time with respect to our assessment findings. We will continue to collect data and identify any patterns that emerge. We also have our five year program review next year. These data will inform that review process.
  The full report is available for viewing
- 2017
  1) Based on your program’s assessment findings, what subsequent action will your program take?
  - We are currently in the process of revising our assessment process, so we have no findings at this time. We will pilot our new assessment plan in the spring and will be able to report on preliminary data from the pilot in the next annual report.
  2) We are interested in better understanding how departments/programs assess their graduating seniors or graduate students. Please provide a short narrative describing the practices/curriculum in place for your department/program. Please include both direct and indirect measures employed. Finally, what were your findings from this past year’s graduates?
  - We do not have a comprehensive summative assessment of our graduating graduate students in place at this time.
  The full report is available for viewing.
- 2016
  1) Based on your program’s assessment findings, what subsequent action will your program take?
  - We are waiting for our mandatory accreditation review to be completed. Once done, we will review our current assessment plan, as well as relevant comments related to assessment given throughout the review process, and make any necessary adjustments.
  2) We are interested in better understanding how departments/programs assess their graduating seniors. Please provide a short narrative describing the practices/curriculum in place for your department/program. Please include both direct and indirect measures employed.
  - Under review and development – see #1 above.
  The full report is available for viewing.
- 2015
- 2014
  1) Reflecting on this year’s assessment(s), how does the evidence of student learning impact your faculty’s confidence in the program being reviewed; how does that analysis change when compared with previous assessment evidence?
  - Both this year and last year, results indicated that course and program objectives were being successfully met, which speaks to the effectiveness of the teaching methods being utilized in our MCJ courses.
  2) With whom did you share the results of the year’s assessment efforts?
  - The Department Chair
  - The Dean
  - The faculty
  3) Based on your program’s assessment findings, what subsequent action will your program take?
  
  Program:
  - Faculty will continue to monitor student success in MCJ 6100, 6110, and 6120.
  - At present, associated professors will make pedagogical changes based on individual assessments of need and “what works.” Illustrative examples of subsequent actions were discussed above.
  - Assessment of program objectives will occur annually in the Fall semester.
  The full report is available for viewing.
- 2013
Program Review