SACSCOC Fifth Year Interim Report
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Assessment : 2011 - 2012 : Educational Programs :
Family and Consumer Sciences BA
Family and Consumer Sciences BA
3 Goals 3 Objectives 3 Indicators 3 Criteria 3 Findings 3 Actions
| GOAL: Employer/Supervisor Feedback |
| Objective |
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| The student will demonstrate professional competence and the ability to apply what they have learned (e.g., appropriate product knowledge, knowledge of business procedures, knowledge of industry systems) in various aspects of family-and-consumer-sciences-related positions. |
| Indicator |
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| Supervisor evaluation form for general family and consumer sciences interns evaluates three skill areas (personal skills, interpersonal skills, and professional characteristics including appropriate use of knowledge from the program content). Both questions from this form used as indicators are essentially overall supervisor ratings of the intern. One of them rates the interns on a Likert-type scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest rating and 5 being the highest rating. The other is a "yes-no" indicator of whether the employer would hire the intern in the company for an entry-level management position. Internship is a requirement for degree completion in this program, so all fashion merchandising students are evaluated in this way. The instrument, which includes the supervisor rating of the intern that will be extracted and reported, was developed by the department faculty as a whole. Instruments used by other family and consumer sciences colleges and departments were reviewed in the development of the instrument. The attached instrument was designed to be generic for all programs in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences that require this type of internship and is published in the Internship Handbook which serves as the textbook for the internship course (FCS 469). The other programs that use this same form are interior design, fashion merchandising, and food service management. |
| Criterion |
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| 80% of business supervisors of family and consumer sciences interns will give the intern a rating of 3.5 or higher on a 5.0 scale and 80% of business supervisors will indicate that they would hire the intern given the availability of a suitable entry-level management position in the company. |
| Finding |
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| All five (100%) of the students who received the BA in family and consumer sciences received a rating of 3.5 or higher from their business/student teaching supervisors. In addition, all five (100%) business/student teaching supervisors indicated that they would hire the student for a suitable opening in their business or school. Therefore, this criterion was met at 100%. |
Actions for Objective:
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Although this goal is met at 100%, additional feedback would be helpful. During last year's cycle, it was suggested that we attempt to gather additional information by dividing the "Yes" option into "Yes, hire without reservation" and "Yes, hire with reservations." For those who checked "Yes, hire with reservations," we could then ask an open-ended question that would give us feedback needed for program improvement. We will make a stronger attempt to implement that process for the coming year. This means that an immediate update of our Internship Handbook is required. |
| GOAL: Student Knowledge Of Content Area |
| Objective |
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| Students graduating from the family and consumer sciences program will demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary for entry-level management in family-and-consumer-sciences-related positions. |
| Indicator |
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| The Exit Survey for family and consumer sciences majors includes multiple-choice and short-answer sections that test retention of course material and a case study that applies directly to retail apparel merchandising; it is graded on a pass/fail basis. (Each program area has multiple-choice, short answer and other questions that are specific to that program content.) To develop this instrument, faculty in the content area reviewed course and program objectives and chose questions from exams that reflected important concepts that students should retain. The test is used repetitively and the scoring is consistent. For security reasons, the "test" portion (multiple-choice questions, short essay questions, and case study) is not attached. However, this document is available in the chair's office. |
| Criterion |
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| 90% of students who complete the family and consumer sciences program's Exit Survey will score a grade of Low Pass, Pass or High Pass on the content portions of the exam. |
| Finding |
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| Data was collected on 4 of the 5 graduates of this program for the 2011-2012 academic year. All four of the graduates scored a grade of Low Pass or Pass, so this criterion was met. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
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| Program graduates met this criterion at 100%. For last year's cycle, we raised the percentage criterion from 80% to 90%. However, because number of graduates in this program is often below 10, raising it higher than this level would be meaningless since a single person with a low score would make the difference as to whether this criterion was met. Students appear to be retaining program content well. |
| GOAL: Computer Literacy |
| Objective |
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Students will demonstrate computer literacy through specific assignments in FACS 2368 (word-processing assignment and a budget assignment using a spreadsheet) and in FACS 4362 (a presentation using PowerPoint). Satisfactory completion of these three assignments will indicate achievement of basic computer literacy skills that students are projected to need as they graduate from FCS programs and enter the world of work. |
| Indicator |
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There is a specific rubric for each assignment. |
| Criterion |
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| 90% of family and consumer sciences majors who take the courses FACS 2368 and FACS 4362 during the 2011-2012 academic year will score 3 or better on a 5-point scale with 5 being the highest score and 1 being the lowest score on the three assignments that are required to meet this computer literacy competency. Examples of assignment sheets for these three assignments and rubrics for grading them are attached. |
| Finding |
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| 92.9% of family and consumer sciences majors who took one or both of the courses FACS 2368 and FACS 4362 during the 2011-2012 academic year scored 3 or better on the assignments used to measure computer literacy. Therefore, this criterion was met. |
Actions for Objective:
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| For the last cycle, it was decided that instructors who teach the courses believed that additional work in the area of database management was needed. |
| Closing the Loop |
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This program continues to do well. Students leave with both knowledge and practical skills needed for employment as event planners, professionals in non-profit and social service agencies, and various types of consumer-oriented businesses. As the business supervisor evaluation form is modified so that we are better able to collect information on areas where program improvement is called needed, the program will be better able to address weaknesses. Computer literacy is adequate for program graduates, but more work on database management is needed. A meeting will be convened of the faculty who teach the budget assignment to determine how student performance in this area can be improved. In general, however, employers and supervisors are very complimentary of the marketable knowledge and skills program graduates bring to their real world professional positions.
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