SACSCOC Fifth Year Interim Report
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Assessment : 2011 - 2012 : Educational Programs :
Public Administration MPA
Public Administration MPA
3 Goals 3 Objectives 3 Indicators 3 Criteria 3 Findings 3 Actions
| GOAL: Written Comprehensive Exams |
| Objective |
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| Students must demonstrate competency in the some of the core areas of public administration including financial management, research methods, and ethics. |
| Indicator |
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| We utilize written comprehensive exams as a tool for measuring students' knowledge and skills. Prior to graduation students complete three written comprehensive exams in areas relevant to their coursework. Exam questions are written by faculty with expertise in the students' areas of study and the questions are based on the comprehensive exam reading lists and the content of the overview courses (see department level goal of revise written comprehensive exam process for more information on the reading lists and overview courses). Students' exams are graded by at least two faculty members (more when possible) who have expertise in the areas of study pursued by students. Exams are assigned one of the following scores: high pass, pass, and no pass. If the two faculty members issue conflicting scores (e.g., pass and no pass), a third faculty member will be asked to score the exams and issue a final ruling. |
| Criterion |
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| We expect that at least 80% of our students will pass their exams on the first attempt and that 100% of the students who have to take the exam a second time will pass. Efforts noted in our 2008-2009 actions will be implemented, specifically, we require students to attend a comprehensive exam study skills session conducted by the graduate director and graduate faculty members. Utilizing a rubric developed in the spring of 2010, graduate faculty will determine low pass, pass, and high pass. We believe that this will produce at least 2 high passes for this year's cohort. |
| Finding |
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The exam revisions noted in the 2010 - 2011 OATD were fully implemented in spring 2012. Four students took the revised exams each in spring 2012. All four students passed the first exam. Three students failed the second exam. The second exams were scored by two faculty members who provided contradictory scores of pass and fail. The department did not have a policy addressing a situation where two professors give contradictory scores. The graduate director required the students to take the exam a second time and all three passed on their second attempt. It was expected that at least 80% would pass all exams on their first attempt and 100% would receive a pass on their second attempt. Thus the results for written comprehensive exams were mixed. We exceeded our goals for students taking the first exam but not the second exam. Faculty found that students need to develop greater comprehension of research design, data, and methods. |
Actions for Objective:
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Discussion among the graduate director and MPA faculty suggested that if a third reader had been involved in the scoring the students would have passed the second exam on their first attempt. In other words, one of the faculty members scoring the second exam was not adhering to the grading rubric. A meeting was called to discuss the need to adhere to the grading rubric and to develop a policy to address situations where contradictory scores are issued by two readers. In the future if contradictory scores are issued, the graduate director will appoint a third reader. Also all readers will be required to carefully abide by the grading rubric. To address the need to improve students' comprehension of research design, data, and methods the syllabi in each MPA graduate course will emphasize these skills. |
| GOAL: Oral Comprehensive Exams |
| Objective |
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| Students must demonstrate competency in the some of the core areas of public administration including financial management, research methods, and ethics. |
| Indicator |
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| We will use oral comprehensive exams as a tool for measuring students' knowledge and skills. After completing the written comprehensive exams, students will be required to participate in an oral comprehensive exam. The exam will be conducted by faculty members who graded the students' written exams (two faculty graders per exam). During the oral exams students will be given the opportunity to elaborate upon sections of their written exams that the faculty members deemed weak. Oral exams will be assigned one of the following grades: high pass, pass, and no pass. If the faculty members issue conflicting scores (e.g., pass and no pass), the student will be asked to participate in a second oral exam and during that exam a third faculty member will be asked to score the student's performance and issue a final ruling. |
| Criterion |
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| We expect that at least 80% of our students will pass their exams on the first attempt and that 100% of the students who have to take the exam a second time will pass. We require students to attend a comprehensive exam study skills session conducted by the graduate director and graduate faculty members. Utilizing the rubric developed by political science faculty members in the spring of 2010, graduate faculty will determine low pass, pass, and high pass for students taking the exam in 2011-2012. We expect that this will produce at least two high passes for this year's cohort. |
| Finding |
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| We had initially hoped to implement both written and oral exams. However, it became clear that such an approach raised serious logistical issues. Most of our students are full time professionals who do not live near campus. Thus attempting to schedule time for oral exams proved almost impossible. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
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SHSU policy allows departments to determine whether "comprehensive exams are written, oral, or a combination of the two." In the future we will use written exams. |
| GOAL: Student Conference Attendance And Professional Writing |
| Objective |
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During their second year of enrollment MPA students will be expected to demonstrate their ability to develop a professional conference paper. |
| Indicator |
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| Faculty members and the graduate director identify second year graduate students whose professional experience would be enhanced through participation in academic conferences. Students are encouraged to submit their papers for presentation at a professional conference. We believe that the acceptance rate is a good indicator of our students' professional performance as paper proposals are reviewed by members of the scholarly community and are only accepted if the proposals meet the standards set by the scholarly community. |
| Criterion |
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| At least 50% of our second year students will submit papers for presentation and at least half of the papers will be accepted for presentation. We expect that all of the students accepted to a conference will apply for funding from a variety of sources. |
| Finding |
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| Two of the MPA students did present papers at professional conferences. However, the remaining MPA students indicated that participation in professional academic conferences was not an activity that would improve their professional standing. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
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In fall 2012 and spring 2013 the MPA graduate director will begin collecting more detailed information about students’ professional goals. MPA faculty members will design assignments appropriate to the students’ professional goals and require students to complete one of the assignments prior to graduation. For example, if a student wishes to seek employment as a city manager, he or she would be required to submit mock budget proposals and policy recommendations. |
| Closing the Loop |
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Conference Attendance: In fall 2012 and spring 2013 the graduate director will begin collecting more detailed information about students’ professional goals. Faculty members will design assignments appropriate to the students’ professional goals and require students to complete one of the assignments prior to graduation.
Written Comprehensive Exams: We believe the adoption of a new policy regarding contradictory scores issued by two exam readers and a more strict enforcement of the grading rubric will allow us to meet our original goal of 80% passing rate on first attempts. We will continue to expect a 100% passing rate on second attempts. To address the need to improve students' comprehension of research design, data, and methods the syllabi in each MPA graduate course will emphasize these skills. Oral Comprehensive Exams: Oral exams are logistically problematic and thus we decided to rely on written exams. |