SACSCOC Fifth Year Interim Report
| GOAL: Effective Teaching |
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Faculty demonstrate high levels of teaching effectiveness. |
| Indicator |
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| Students rate the Teaching Assistants using IDEA. |
| Criterion |
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| A summary IDEA score at or above the institution mean is considered to be satisfactory. Consistent with IDEA recommendations, converted averages on IDEA evaluations that are in the gray box (middle 40%) are considered to be "effective teaching." All faculty have students evaluate each of their classes during the Fall and Spring semesters using the IDEA teaching evaluations. The IDEA system focuses on students' perceptions of learning 12 specific objectives, and the system solicits students' feedback on their own learning progress, effort, and motivation, as well as their perceptions of the instructor's use of 20 instructional strategies and teaching methods. In addition, the system surveys instructors regarding their overall goals and highlights for them in the analysis and report. The system adjusts evaluation scores for five areas beyond the instructor's control, such as class size, student motivation, effort and work habits, and disciplinary difficulty. The scores are then compared to national norms. Teaching effectiveness is assessed by: Overall Ratings and the average student agreement with statements that the instructor and class were excellent. |
| Finding |
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| There were eight sections of Introductory Psychology taught by doctoral students during the 2012-2013 academic year. In all sections, the TAs performed exceedingly well, scoring in or above the "shaded gray area" on the IDEA evaluations. On the 5-point scale for the total summary score, the range for the TAs was 4.2-4.5 with a mean of 4.35. The Departmental mean was 4.2. Thus, the doctoral TAs teaching Introductory Psychology did quite well with respect to instruction. |
| Action |
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We are very proud of the job that was done by the doctoral TAs this past academic year. With a new group of TAs starting in the fall 2013 semester, we will require that they: 1. attend the University Teaching Conference prior to the start of the academic year; 2. meet bi-weekly with the coordinator of Introductory Psychology TAs to discuss issues and problems that arise. Also, TAs will be instructed to use activities in and out of class that show how what is being presented and learned is germane to the lives of the students taking the class. For each topic, we will come up with an assignment in which the materials presented can be used in the students' everyday lives. Finally, we have, well the chair has, decided to change the rubric of performance assessment to be the t-score for the Summary Evaluation Compared to the Discipline." The goal will be to have each TA have a score of at least 50 for each of his or her sections. |
| GOAL: Ability To Conduct Empirical Research |
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| Students will demonstrate the ability to design, carry out, prepare, and submit for publication to scientific journals or for presentation at scientific paper sessions original research. |
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Students will prepare manuscripts for publication in scientific journals or presentation at national conventions. Acceptance for publication or presentation will be the indicator. |
| Criterion |
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| At least 50% of the students beyond their first year will have materials accepted for publication or presentation at a national conference. First year students will be engaged actively in research projects sponsored by program faculty. Students will review feedback from journal editors or conference program individuals with their faculty research mentors to determine how to revise the manuscript or presentation proposal to address weaknesses and resubmit. |
| Finding |
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Presently, 94% of currently enrolled students second year and beyond have at least one publication in a refereed scientific journal or a presentation at a national conference, from 1998 when 61% had authored publications. 89% of first year students are funded as Research Assistants while all (100%) of the students in the program are actively involved in research projects with program faculty. An area of concern is diversity of resesarch experience for our students. |
| Action |
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Efforts have been successful in funding students who enter the program at the BA/BS level as Research Assistants. A number of program faculty are working with the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs to identify and apply for appropriate funding through various agencies and programs. This past year 23 students were funded to attend and present their work at the National American Psychology-Law Society convention. In an era of ever tightening budgets, additional efforts will be made to expand available travel funds for student presentations. Additionally, to provide experience with diverse research, we will encourage students to seek mentors outside, as well as inside, the program faculty. Such experiences will provide a wealth of research projects and additional learning. |
| GOAL: Broad Knowledge Of Psychology |
| Objective |
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| Students will demonstrate a core understanding of the scientific foundation of psychology, including biological, social, developmental, and cognitive/affective bases of behavior, history and systems of psychology, psychological measurement, research methodology, techniques of data analysis, and issues of cultural and individual diversity. |
| Indicator |
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Students will demonstrate a broad-based knowledge of the scientific bases of behavior as measured by: 1. performance in preparing and defending either a Major Area Paper (MAP) or taking/passing Doctoral Comprehensive Examinations (DCEs); 2. performance on an external, standardized examination, the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP). |
| Criterion |
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1. Students are expected to complete successfully the Major Area Paper (MAP) or Doctoral Comprehensive Exams (DCE). A committee of faculty will determine if a student has done this successfully. Topics for students' MAPs must be pre-approved by the Program Faculty and must cover at least 3 broad areas of psychology. The DCE gives the student 24 hours in which to analyze a clinical case and answer specific questions, as well as review a selected research article. An unsuccessful MAP requires a student to take the DCE. Unsuccessful completion of the DCE requires the student to retake it. The student has one attempt to retake the DCE; a second failure triggers program dismissal. 2. Students are expected to sit for and pass the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP). Eighty percent of students who take the EPPP will pass it. |
| Finding |
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1. During the past year, 2 students successfully completed a MAP. For the DCE, 100% (1/1) successfully passed. 2. According to the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB), from 2007 - 2012, 32 of our graduates have taken the EPPP to date and 100% have passed. |
| Action |
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Program faculty were quite enthused with the results of the EPPP as we had one of the highest pass rates in the country. If less than 80% of students achieve licensure within 5 years of graduation, intervention would include faculty consultation and planning to address program deficiencies. External consultants (e.g., associated faculty, clinical supervisors, and DCTs from other accredited programs would be consulted as needed). At the present time, 90% of students who are 5 years beyond graduation hold state licenses. |
| GOAL: Effective Clinical Practice |
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| Students must demonstrate skills in the service delivery in broad and general clinical areas. |
| Action |
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We are assessing each student's clinical competence every semester. The group assessing the students is made up of program faculty chaired by the Director of Clinical Training and includes each person who has supervised the students' work during the semester. We have no control over how many APA approved internships are available. Yet, we can make sure our students are so well prepared that they are able to impress internship directors with their skills and competence. |
| GOAL: APA Accreditation |
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| This program will retain APA accreditation by assembling all paperwork, submitting an annual report, and responding to all questions/requests from APA Committee on Accreditation (CoA). |
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In 2012, APA submitted two additional items and requested a specific response by September 1, 2013. In addition, the usual annual report will be submitted by that time. Specific items: 1) Submit syllabi from courses taken by all students that require a literature review. 2) Revise Table B.2 to include aggregate data, both distal and proximal, evaluating progress on each of the official goals. |
| Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
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With respect to our students demonstrating a broad and general knowledge of psychology, the data show that we have reached an acceptable level at the present time. However, in an effort to improve that level, we are now offering a number of our basic courses annually rather than biannually to reduce class size and increase individual attention.
Program faculty will seek additional funding to support student research and to ensure that students are able to partake in national conferences. Teaching effectiveness was listed as reasonable. We do have some clear concerns and are dealing with those either on an individual basis or with changes to the entire system. We expect to improve the process by assessing more closely individual TAs. To this end, we have altered the organization so that the department chair is now charged with supervision of the TAs and the organization of the Introductory Psychology course. He will meet with each TA on a bi-weekly basis, addressing TA concerns and offering solutions to issues brought forth by students in the class. In addition, all TAs will be required to attend the annual College of Humanities and Social Sciences Teaching Conference. The TAs also will hand out mid-term evaluations to their students and address any concerns that may arise from those evaluations. The APA Commission on Accreditation has recommended specific changes in program websites to assist prospective students in comparing programs We are in the process of rearranging materials and post additional outcome data to increase transparency. |
| Update on Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
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Three required courses were moved to annual offerings to reduce class sizes and allow more individual attention: PSY 7360 Multicultural Psychology PSY 7362 Ethics in clinical Psychology PSY 8360 Forensic Assessment I The current fiscal year included severe budget restraints. We managed to maintain our level of travel funding for all of our doctoral students. We have reorganized and updated our program website to be in compliance with CoA requirements. Both format and content are consistent with those of other APA accredited programs. Specific outcome data is now displayed in tabular form for the following variables over a seven year period: a) Time to program completion b) Program costs to the student c) Internship placement d) Program attrition e) Completion of licensure f) Student publications and presentations |
| Plan for Continuous Improvement |
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