Review Assessment Report

Part 1: Contact & Program Identification

Report Year and Contact Information
Academic Year	Modified By	Date Modified
2020-2021	[email protected]	2021-11-19T18:42:37.734Z

School	Name of Program	Courses
CHSS	Political Science AA Degree	BCIS 1110,ENGL 1120,ENGL 1110,POLS 1110,POLS 1120

Part 2: Program Summary

Provide a high level review of the program to include highlights, successes, challenges, significant changes, and significant resources needed to support the program
No significant activities occurred during AY 20-21, beyond coping with the pandemic. The program was entered into the program review cycle in 20-21 at the dean's discretion to keep an eye on graduation rates and declining enrollment. Looking forward, the program currently has no full-time faculty member, which may have significant ramifications for the program.

Part 3: Data Review

	2018-2019	2019-2020	2020-2021
Annual number of graduate awards is greater than 10	11	22	20
Number of declared majors	150	145	133
Average Class Size	21.3	20.7	19.5
Annual Average Class withdrawal rate is 30% or below (SAGE 35%)	12%	15%	13%
Annual C-Pass rate for coursework is 60% or above	74%	72%	67%
Average class fill rate at 60% or above capacity within a term or over a year	85%	84%	81%
Graduate Transfer to 4-year Schools	64%	50%	n/a
Full-time Faculty Coverage by Section	35%	35%	35%

Summarize how your program met or did not meet the target measures based on the data above
As noted above, the program came back to program review for AY 20-21 because of a longer-term trend in graduates and course fill rates. The graduation rate appears stable, even with a declining number of enrolled majors. Likely this is attributable in large part to a more predictable schedule for students that ensures combinations of offerings of core pairs of classes each term so that students consistently taking POLS courses will have the appropriate range of electives to accomplish the term-by-term. The average class size does not align to the fill rated noted above, but that could be a function of when measurements occur. The declining enrollment has been a challenge for scheduling and ensuring a coherent schedule for students, so the graduation rate is extra-gratifying in that sense. The dip in course success rates seems to mirror the College's dip during the pandemic.

Summarize how your program met or did not meet the target measures based on the data above

As noted above, the program came back to program review for AY 20-21 because of a longer-term trend in graduates and course fill rates. The graduation rate appears stable, even with a declining number of enrolled majors. Likely this is attributable in large part to a more predictable schedule for students that ensures combinations of offerings of core pairs of classes each term so that students consistently taking POLS courses will have the appropriate range of electives to accomplish the term-by-term. The average class size does not align to the fill rated noted above, but that could be a function of when measurements occur. The declining enrollment has been a challenge for scheduling and ensuring a coherent schedule for students, so the graduation rate is extra-gratifying in that sense. The dip in course success rates seems to mirror the College's dip during the pandemic.

Part 4: Program Learning Outcome Analysis

Learning Outcome	Population or Course(s) Assessed	Description	Summary of Assessment Results
Critical Analysis	POLS 1110, POLS1120
Effective Communication	POLS 1110, POLS1120

Interpretation of Assessment findings
Political Science participates in the general assessment methodology for CHSS as defined by CAT because of its shared program outcomes with the Liberal Arts degree. This method takes a random, stratified sample of course sections; selected sections will have students complete an in-class, timed, writing response to a uniform prompt that will measure: 1) Problem Setting, 2) Evidence Acquisition, 3) Evidence Evaluation, and 4) Drawing Conclusions. Six students with the Political Science major were identified in the sample. For Problem setting, the group scored at a median of 2.5 out of 4, with two students scoring at 4. For the remaining dimensions the group scored at a median of 3, where the median across students in the sample was 3. The samples did not come from Political Science courses, so it's not possible to determine the effect of the curriculum on the skills demonstrated or draw conclusions that might determine changes in curriculum. It appears effective communication was not assessed.

Interpretation of Assessment findings

Political Science participates in the general assessment methodology for CHSS as defined by CAT because of its shared program outcomes with the Liberal Arts degree. This method takes a random, stratified sample of course sections; selected sections will have students complete an in-class, timed, writing response to a uniform prompt that will measure: 1) Problem Setting, 2) Evidence Acquisition, 3) Evidence Evaluation, and 4) Drawing Conclusions. Six students with the Political Science major were identified in the sample. For Problem setting, the group scored at a median of 2.5 out of 4, with two students scoring at 4. For the remaining dimensions the group scored at a median of 3, where the median across students in the sample was 3. The samples did not come from Political Science courses, so it's not possible to determine the effect of the curriculum on the skills demonstrated or draw conclusions that might determine changes in curriculum. It appears effective communication was not assessed.

Part 5: Additional Action Plan in Support of Student Learning (If Appropriate)

Upcoming Year	Changes Planned for the upcoming year	Data Motivating this change
2021-2022	For 21-22, the department will continue to participate in the CAT methodology, but faculty involvement and participation will be emphasized in the target courses (POLS 1110 and 2120) as well as in the program electives during the Spring 22 term. This will provide a source of data about the courses, if not POLS majors, for future comparison.	A lack of apparent participation in the 20-21 sample has provided little to no data useful for program development or changes.
2021-2022
2021-2022

Please select all of the following that characterize the types of changes described in the above action plan

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