SACSCOC Fifth Year Interim Report
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Assessment : 2011 - 2012 : Educational Programs :
Family and Consumer Sciences BS (Food Service Management)
Family and Consumer Sciences BS (Food Service Management)
3 Goals 3 Objectives 3 Indicators 3 Criteria 3 Findings 3 Actions
| GOAL: Internship |
| Objective |
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| Food service management interns will demonstrate applied skills worthy of recruitment for entry-level management positions by their internship supervisors. |
| Indicator |
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| The supervisor evaluation form for food service management 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 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 food service management 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/food service management 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 courses (FCS 469). The other programs that use this same form are interior design, general family and consumer sciences (without a teaching certificate), and fashion merchandising. |
| Criterion |
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| 80% of business supervisors of food service management 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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| There were 5 students who graduated with the BS in Food Service Management for the 2011-2012 cycle. Data was collected on all of them. All of the business supervisors of these student interns (100%) assigned them ratings of 3.5 or higher (all were rated either 4 or 5). In addition, all of the business supervisors (100%) stated that they would hire the student intern for a suitable, entry-level opening in their business or agency (one of them did her internship with a greater-Houston-area food bank). Therefore, this criterion was met. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
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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, would hire without reservation" and "Yes, would hire with reservation." For those who checked "Yes, would hire with reservation," we could then ask an open-ended question designed to give us feedback needed for program improvement. We will make a stronger attempt to implement that process for the coming cycle. In order to do this, an immediate update of our Internship Handbook is required. |
| GOAL: Student Knowledge Of Content Area |
| Objective |
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| Students graduating from the food service management program will demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary for entry-level management in food service/restaurant positions. |
| Indicator |
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| The Exit Survey for food service management majors includes multiple-choice and short-answer sections that test retention of course material and a case study that applies directly to food service management; 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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| 80% of students who complete the food service management 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 3 of the 5 program graduates of this program for the 2011-2012 academic year. All three scored a grade of Pass, so this Key Performance Indicator was met for those for whom data was collected. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
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| Program graduates were successful at retaining knowledge and skills as they progressed through the program. Students appear to be retaining program content well. We will keep this criterion for next year before retiring it if the percentage remains as high. |
| GOAL: Computer Literacy |
| Objective |
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| To assure competency in the area of computer literacy, students are required to complete specific assignments in FCS 268 (a written assignment requiring use of a word-processing program and a budget assignment requiring the use of a spreadsheet) and FCS 462 (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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| Students who graduate from undergraduate programs in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences will satisfactorily complete three assignments in courses required of all undergraduate majors in the department: a word-processed assignment and a budget prepared using a spreadsheet in FCS 268 Consumer Education and a presentation involving use of PowerPoint in FCS 462 Presentation Techniques. |
| Criterion |
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| 90% of program majors who take the courses FCS 268 and FCS 462 during the 2009-2010 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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| 100% of food service management majors pursuing the BS degree 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:
| Action |
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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 small program shares courses and resources (no additional courses, resources, or faculty are required) with two much larger programs, Food Science and Nutrition (BS only) and Family and Consumer Sciences (BA & BS options). There is great demand in the job market for program graduates, and business supervisors are pleased with the knowledge and preparation program graduates bring to the entry-level positions for which they are hired. This program, along with the other two, are in great need of a faculty position (preferably an RD) in the area of food preparation, and a faculty position will continue to be requested to fill that need. These students did very well with the entire computer literacy component as shown above. However, there were 2 out of 5 who did not take the content area Exit Survey, and for such a small program, that means a very incomplete data set. Therefore, a greater effort will be made to collect a more complete data set for the next cycle. All employers/business supervisors rated interns 4 or 5 (data was collected on all 5), so there obviously is great satisfaction with program graduates. This "free ride" program is doing well and needs to continue to be an option for those food science and nutrition majors who are not able to meet the rigor of that program and for those who truly intend to pursue careers in the food service industry, either working in restaurants or in food service facilites of health care or educational organizations.
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