Review Assessment Report

Part 1: Contact & Program Identification

Report Year and Contact Information
Academic Year	Modified By	Date Modified
2020-2021	[email protected]	2021-11-20T00:54:59.070Z

School	Name of Program	Courses
CHSS	Sociology AA Degree	BCIS 1110,ENGL 1120,ENGL 1110,SOCI 1110

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
In fall 2020 and spring 2021 the department initiated the Sociology Speaker Series where sociologists from various schools did a short presentation of their research and talk with students via Zoom. The topics included: Bending the Binary, The Lived Experiences of Intersex People, Blue Humor: On the Cultural Violence of Racist Police Jokes, Beyond the Risk Narrative, Rethinking Reproduction of Poverty. In spring semester 2021 the department hosted a virtual “Meet the Advisors” event for students. Advisors from different 4-year schools across the state were invited to share suggestions and answer questions about transfers. In May 2021 the department invited CNM alumni to share their experiences in a virtual meeting. The department debuted an online Introduction to Sociology class offered in Spanish and revised/rebuilt three different Online College courses to ensure the classes meet QM standards and we had a successful search for a full-time criminologist.

Provide a high level review of the program to include highlights, successes, challenges, significant changes, and significant resources needed to support the program

In fall 2020 and spring 2021 the department initiated the Sociology Speaker Series where sociologists from various schools did a short presentation of their research and talk with students via Zoom. The topics included: Bending the Binary, The Lived Experiences of Intersex People, Blue Humor: On the Cultural Violence of Racist Police Jokes, Beyond the Risk Narrative, Rethinking Reproduction of Poverty. In spring semester 2021 the department hosted a virtual “Meet the Advisors” event for students. Advisors from different 4-year schools across the state were invited to share suggestions and answer questions about transfers. In May 2021 the department invited CNM alumni to share their experiences in a virtual meeting. The department debuted an online Introduction to Sociology class offered in Spanish and revised/rebuilt three different Online College courses to ensure the classes meet QM standards and we had a successful search for a full-time criminologist.

Part 3: Data Review

	2018-2019	2019-2020	2020-2021
Annual number of graduate awards is greater than 10	96	116	107
Number of declared majors	233	205	193
Average Class Size	21.8	21.3	20
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%	71%	67%
Average class fill rate at 60% or above capacity within a term or over a year	85%	85%	82%
Graduate Transfer to 4-year Schools	38%	47%	n/a
Full-time Faculty Coverage by Section	38%	37%	39%

Summarize how your program met or did not meet the target measures based on the data above
The target measures are met for 2020-21. We note a slight decrease in the C-pass rate, from 74% in 2018-2019 to 67% in 2020-2021. The decline is perhaps related to the shift to more online sections. Notably, the number of declared majors declined by 17% between 2018-19 and 2020-21. We urge the Office of Data Strategy to look into the 0% transfer for 2019-20; it is a puzzle.

Part 4: Program Learning Outcome Analysis

Learning Outcome	Population or Course(s) Assessed	Description	Summary of Assessment Results
CRITICAL ANALYSIS	SOCI 2999	Homework Assignments Paper	The critical analysis outcome includes 3 dimensions: identify and critically consider the main issues, concepts, problems, and/or techniques; include appropriate supporting evidence; and demonstrate mastery by evaluating, analyzing, interpreting and/or synthesizing. Students (n=21) are especially strong in expressing the main theme in the analysis—71% met the developing or proficient criteria (rubric scores of 3 or 4). About 50% of the majors achieved the developing or proficiency criteria for the dimensions of supporting evidence and demonstrating mastery in the analysis. But scores for critical analysis show a weak correlation with students’ GPA, ranging from -.14 to .09.
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION	SOCI 2999	Homework Assignments Paper	The communication rubric includes three dimensions: demonstrate organization and/or coherence of ideas, content, and/or formulas; produce communication appropriate to audience, situation, venue, and/or context; and demonstrate written communication mechanics, e.g., grammar, citations. Students exhibited competency with the communication dimensions of organization and appropriate to audience; an estimated 76-85% met the developing or proficient criteria. Sixty-two percent scored a 3 or 4 for written communication mechanics; the lower percentage often reflects the lack of an appropriate citation for the article. As with critical analysis, GPA has a weak correlation with communication skills with correlations ranging from .01 to .19.

Interpretation of Assessment findings
The scores for the three rubric dimensions were summed to produce a total score for critical analysis and effective communication. Slightly more than 50 percent of sociology majors attained proficiency (with total scores of at least 9) for critical analysis and effective communication. As expected, given the lack of correlation between GPA and the distinct rubric dimensions, students’ total scores are not related to grades at CNM. The data suggest that sociology majors have satisfactory critical analysis and communication skills. The more sophisticated rubric dimensions for critical analysis--supporting evidence and mastery--are less robust than the simpler dimension of identify issues. Students continue to struggle with citations, including the failure to include citations but also with documentation of the source.

Interpretation of Assessment findings

The scores for the three rubric dimensions were summed to produce a total score for critical analysis and effective communication. Slightly more than 50 percent of sociology majors attained proficiency (with total scores of at least 9) for critical analysis and effective communication. As expected, given the lack of correlation between GPA and the distinct rubric dimensions, students’ total scores are not related to grades at CNM. The data suggest that sociology majors have satisfactory critical analysis and communication skills. The more sophisticated rubric dimensions for critical analysis--supporting evidence and mastery--are less robust than the simpler dimension of identify issues. Students continue to struggle with citations, including the failure to include citations but also with documentation of the source.

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	The department will continue to work with students on critical thinking skills, especially the evaluation and mastery dimension. But the capstone assignment is limited. We will retain the capstone assessment; it offers good information about student skills but we cannot gain insight into students’ progress in the program with a one-shot assessment. As such, the department will implement an assignment in SOCI 1110, Introduction to Sociology, and selected 2000-level courses to measure critical analysis and communication. The assignment allows us to build a synthetic cohort where we can look at scores for the initial entre into sociology (with SOCI 1110) and review the results vis-à-vis capstone scores as students exit the program. The new assessment, an analysis of an 4-7 page article that summarizes sociological research, is not as rigorous as the journal article assignment from the capstone class but we can make rough appraisals about students’ progress. A pre-test was conducted in fall 2021.	The lack of data for the starting point for our students is the impetus for the revision.
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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