SACSCOC Fifth Year Interim Report
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Assessment : 2013 - 2014 : Educational Programs :
Political Science BA/BS
Political Science BA/BS
2 Goals 2 Objectives 2 Indicators 2 Criteria 2 Findings 2 Actions
| GOAL: Develop Students' Knowledge Of Government And Politics |
| Objective |
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| Throughout their enrollment, students will explore the following themes in a national and international context: the structure and operation of various forms of government, political philosophies, informal and formal political organizations and actors, public policies, and political behavior |
| Indicator |
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Each field of study will be assigned a team of 2 faculty members who have expertise in the particular field. Each semester the individual teams will receive and review 5 randomly selected papers from an upper division course in their respective fields. Faculty members from each subfield will evaluate the papers using the attached rubric. The papers will be scored on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the highest. |
| Criterion |
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We expect that at least 75% of the essays will score a 3 or above. This will represent an increase of over 5% from the previous year. |
| Finding |
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Using a scoring system of 1-5 to evaluate 5 random papers in the department's upper division courses for the AY 2013-2014, faculty members evaluated 55 papers submitted by the students. Faculty scores differed in 18 of the papers (~33%). It should be noted that the differences in scores only exceed one point in all but one of the cases. The average score was 3.95, which is a decrease over the previous two years (4.25 and 4.09 respectively). We did, however, exceed our goal of 70% scoring a 3 or better (85%). |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
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| The department will continue using the current procedures for evaluating students' knowledge of government and politics. However, plans for addressing weaknesses in students' knowledge and skills have not been implemented or administratively enforced in the past,. There are several reasons for this failure: not all faculty were involved in discussions about what actions could be taken to improve students' knowledge and skills, actions designed to improve students' knowlege and skills were vague, and not enough attention was given to using campus resources for how best to improve students' skills, specifically writing skills. |
| GOAL: Develop Students' Skills |
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All political science majors are required to successfully complete POLS 3379. Upon completing the course students will be able to analyze scholarly writing, interpret empirical data, discuss argumentation, and write clearly and correctly. |
| Indicator |
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Faculty members teaching POLS 3379 Research and Writing will randomly select 5 papers from each course. All papers will be reviewed by the faculty members who teaching Research and Writing. Faculty members will evaluate the papers using the attached rubric. The papers will be scored on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the highest. |
| Criterion |
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| At least 75% of students will score a "3" (acceptable) or better. This represents an increase of 5% over the previous year's expectation. |
| Finding |
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The faculty that routinely teach POLS 3379 used a scoring scale (see attached rubric) of 1-5 to evaluate 5 randomly selected papers from the POLS 3379 courses for the AY 2013-2014. In the sample of 20 papers, facutly scored the essays differently in 10 (50%) cases, however, the difference in scores only exceede one point in a single case. The average scored was 3.925 which was an improvement from AY 2012-2013 (3.43) as well as AY 2011-2012 (3.8). The results also indicate that 80% of the sample exceeded a 3 or better eclipsing our goal of 75%. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
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The department will continue using the current procedures for evaluating students' knowledge of government and politics. However, plans for addressing weaknesses in students' knowledge and skills have not been implemented or administratively enforced in the past,. There are several reasons for this failure: not all faculty were involved in discussions about what actions could be taken to improve students' knowledge and skills, actions designed to improve students' knowlege and skills were vague, and not enough attention was given to using campus resources for how best to improve students' skills, specifically writing skills. |
| Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
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The department will focus on revising the assessment rubrics:
1. POLS 3379 will focus on research skills and writing skills separately 2. Upper division courses will focus on substantive content and writing skills separately. 3. Upper division courses will have different rubrics based on subfields (i.e., theory, International Relations/Comparative Politics, American politics). |
| Update on Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
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In F13 an interim chair was appointed to the department and a new chair was appointed in F14. The transition in the chair of the department disrupted the work flow and prevented the following elements from being implemented: separating research skills and writing skills development in POLS 3379, separating substantive content and writing skills develpment in upper division courses, and developing different evaluation rubrics for subfields.
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| Plan for Continuous Improvement |
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Goal 1: Develop Concrete Plans for Improving Students' Knowledge and Skills: The current method is useful for evaluating students' knowledge and skills. However, the method has failed to result in concrete actions designed to address weaknesses in students' knowledge and skills. In AY 2014 - 2015 the following actions will be taken to resolve the problem:
1. All faculty have consistently agreed that students' writing and data analysis skills need improvement. POLS 3379 Research and Writing is a required course that addresses writing and data analysis skills. However, students tend to take the course during their last semester in the program. The department will begin taking steps to require that all majors take POLS 3379 as one of their first upper division courses. 2. Officials from the Professional and Academic Center for Excellence (PACE) will be asked to give a presentation to facutly addressing best practices for improving students' writing skills. 3. Faculty will be encouraged to make better use of SHSU resources, such as the Writing Center. Goal 2: Students Knowledge of Civic Engagement and Social Responsibility: One goal of the department's five year strategic plan is to create a climate that encourages civic engagement. In F14 faculty teaching American Government and Texas Government courses as well as all ACE courses will be asked to develop an agreed upon definition of civic engagement, introduce learning material into their courses related to civic engagement, and develop and implement a tool for measuring students' knowledge of civic engagement. |