Michigan s Postsecondary Programs of Study REPORT OUT 2011 Montcalm Community College Criminal Justice/General and Corrections

Transcription

1 Michigan s Postsecondary Programs of Study REPORT OUT 2011 Montcalm Community College Criminal Justice/General and Corrections INTRODUCTION: Identify your program, team make-up, those who served as resources. Did you have any secondary partners, members of your advisory committee or individuals from adult service agencies as members of your team? Contributors to the MCC Criminal Justice Programs of study included: Jim Peacock, MCC Criminal Justice Faculty Dan Snook, MCC Developmental Faculty Michelle Gibson, MCC Biology Faculty Maria Suchowski, MCC Director of Assessment and Institutional Research Amyee Carson, MCC Director of Community Outreach Additional Resource Assistance: Celena Mills, MACC Assistant Principal/Curriculum Specialist STEP 1 INTAKE AND ASSESSMENT TO ENTER A PROGRAM Describe which standards you reviewed. What correlation did you find of the entry assessment tools used by your college to the occupational content in your program? Describe/ identify the pre-requisite knowledge and skills you determined a student must possess prior to entering your program. Admission Montcalm Community College requires that students wanting to attend apply to the college and take the COMPASS or ACT to determine appropriate course selection. These are requirements for all students, not specific to Criminal Justice. There are no specified academic requirements for the Criminal Justice students entering MCC ( Started/GuideToGettingStarted aspx). Assessment Academic assessment using COMPASS or ACT testing is required for all students pursuing a program of study at MCC or who wish to enroll in a course with a test score listed as a prerequisite ( Students exempt from testing are those who have preciously complete the COMPASS test or attained the required ACT scores (18 or above on individual test modules MCC.aspx ), have earned a bachelor s degree, are age 60 or older, audit classes or obtain Page 1 of 6

2 a waiver from the instructor. Only COMPASS scores are accepted as placement scores for MATH prefix courses, ACT math scores cannot be used. COMPASS test COMPASS is an untimed, computerized test that helps the college evaluate the student s skills, and place them into the appropriate courses. COMPASS offers tests in Reading, Math, and English. The COMPASS test is not a pass fail test. The results will assist the student and academic advisor/counselor to develop an appropriate academic plan at MCC and will determine what classes best fit the student and their academic needs. STEP 2 ACADEMIC STANDARDS Share the academic entry standards and assessments you reviewed and why. Describe the academic entry requirements you determined a student must possess prior to entering your program. Does your program require separate or different entry requirements than the college requirements? If so, are these still appropriate based on your analysis? The academic entry requirements for the Criminal Justice/General of the Criminal Justice/Corrections associate degree programs are the same as the general education entry level requirements. STEP 3 OCCUPATIONAL/TECHNICAL STANDARDS Share any occupational or technical standards you reviewed and why. What did you learn from this review? Describe the occupational skill entry requirements you determined a student must possess prior to entering your program, if any. If not, should there be such a requirement for program entry? The Criminal Justice Programs do not currently require any additional occupational or technical standards for entry. This is to allow the greatest amount of access by our student both secondary and adult student populations. MCOTC and MCOLES standards are reviewed and used in course development because they are what drive employability for the criminal justice fields in Michigan. Articulation MCC currently holds articulation agreements with several secondary schools. The schools are listed below along with the courses approved for articulation. The successful completion of the below identified courses at the designated sites can be articulated with MCC and reduce the amount of course work required to complete the Criminal Justice Programs. Montcalm Area Career Center (MACC): Criminal Justice/General CRIM 100, Introduction to Criminal Justice Page 2 of 6

3 CRIM 130, Criminal Investigation CRIM 210, American Criminal Law CRIM 230, Juvenile Delinquency CRIM 290, Criminal Justice Practicum. Montcalm Area Career Center (MACC): Criminal Justice/Corrections CRIM100 Introduction to Criminal Justice Heartlands Institute of Technology CRIM 100, Introduction to Criminal Justice CRIM110 Introduction to Corrections Articulation Conditions and Requirements 1. Student must complete the high school/career center course as listed with a B or better final grade and a competent rating. 2. Student must complete a Montcalm Community College application for admission. 3. Student must complete MCC Articulation Application Request Form with their secondary school counselor and send it to MCC with their application for admission along with an official high school transcript. 4. Student must meet MCC performance objectives with a rating of competent or higher. 5. Student must enroll at MCC within 26 months after high school graduation or articulated credit does not apply. 6. Articulated credits will be added to the student s MCC transcript with no grade assigned, no tuition charged and no effect on GPA. Credits will be used to satisfy program/certificate/degree requirements. 7. MCC credit for articulated courses is limited by specific program agreements. 8. Articulation agreements and 2+2 aligned program curriculum (where appropriate) will be reviewed, updated, signed and dated annually. The majority of students who articulate Criminal Justice courses with MCC are from the MACC. There is limited availability to determine how many students articulate Criminal Justice courses. This area would be prime for continued exploration and documentation for the second year of the POS. Background Check: Candidates having good ethical and moral base and a personal history that supports the professional standards of law enforcement, are ideal. Due to how criminal convictions will impact their ability to secure a job in the criminal justice system, it is continually discussed within courses. Page 3 of 6

4 Background checks are completed on all students in CRIM120. Background checks are necessary, due to the prison tours that take place. Those with certain felony convictions, or who are on some sort of probation or parole, cannot tour the facilities. STEP 4 CURRICULUM CROSSWALK Share what you discovered as you cross referenced the academic and occupational knowledge and skills necessary for students to enter your program. What is the necessary reading level for students to be successful in your program? Reading Levels The text books used for courses at the Montcalm Area Career Center and at MCC are the same. The text books were reviewed for reading level. Using the Flesch-Kincaid Readability Score, the texts are as follows: CRIM , CRIM , CRIM , CRIM , and CRIM The grade level of reading has not been identified as an issue for students at either the Career Center or MCC levels. When working to determine if there was a recommended reading level for students to be successful in the program it was discovered that success was not consistently determined by reading level. Anecdotally, there seemed to be a pattern of success saw with those students who attended MACC and successfully completed articulated courses. Hypothetically, it was assumed that the soft skills taught, learned and demonstrated to be successful in the MACC articulated courses increased the student s ability to benefit while attending MCC in the criminal justice program. A logical second year investigation would be to learn more about the success of those students who participated in the Criminal Justice programs at the secondary level. This would involve tracking students from the secondary level to the post-secondary level to determine rates of success. The recommendation of this team would be that the second year of this study be focused on finding a way to track the identified students who entered MCC with articulated credits in Criminal Justice. To then follow up and determine if a successful profile can be established. STEP 5 ALIGN STANDARDS TO COLLEGE COURSEWORK. By completing the curriculum crosswalk or gap analysis is there course alignment, duplication or a gap? Are there opportunities for dual enrollment or articulated courses for high school students? If not, why? The courses that are available for articulated credit that are taught at Montcalm Area Career Center (MACC) have been created by Jim Peacock, MCC Criminal Justice faculty. The courses were fashioned to mirror those courses taught on campus. This includes using the same syllabi and text books. The articulated courses were generated in this manner to ensure that courses being articulated were not creating duplications or gaps. Page 4 of 6

5 Gap Analysis The gap analysis was received late from MACC in this procedure, and an analysis was not completed. This was not a high priority for the team due to the level of consistency between the articulated courses and the courses held on campus. However, completing the gap analysis and pairing MACC s information with MCC s would be a logical next step. Dual enrollment is not an option for any local ISD s for those courses that are offered at the MACC or another secondary program. STEP 6 PROGRAM OF STUDY Share your program of study. Does it specify the prerequisite knowledge, skills and abilities student need prior to entering your program? How do you plan for students to use this program of study? Include your Program of Study as an attachment or separate document or web site link. There are several documents that would need to be used with students dependent upon their experiences and prior course completions upon entry into MCC s Criminal Justice program. An adult student POS; for those students that have not participated in secondary Criminal Justice courses. There would be a POS for the Criminal Justice/Corrections program and for the Criminal Justice/General program. A POS customized for those students completing secondary coursework and receiving the following articulated options. 1. Criminal Justice/Corrections Program CRIM Criminal Justice/General Program CRIM100 CRIM130 CRIM230 CRIM240 CRIM290 Programs of Study can be used by MCC counselors, MACC counselors, potential secondary students, current post-secondary students and parents for academic success in the field of criminal justice at MCC. While these programs are accepted in baccalaureate programs at many Michigan public and private colleges and universities, students should prepare individual programs of study based on their choice of transfer institution, and should meet with advisors at both MCC and the transfer institution of choice. STEP 7- EXTERNAL CERTIFICATIONS EARNED. Page 5 of 6

6 At the completion of your program are there external certifications students may earn? If so, describe the assessments you use to verify attainment of these standards. Does completion of your program result in a terminal degree and/or transfer opportunities? MCC s Criminal Justice Program is set up to be a feeder to four-year programs such as those at Michigan State, Ferris State, Grand Valley, etc. The goal of the program is to be diversified enough for students and to not rely on one hiring avenue such as the State Police Academy. MCC does not have an academy; so we prepare students to qualify for application to those community colleges with academy programs, such as LCC, GRCC, KVCC, etc. We do not have a large enough student population to support the tremendous expense of an academy or the requisite shooting range, driving range, and the attendant liability insurance. CONCLUSION Describe your next steps to include sharing your work both internally and externally. Describe your plan for ongoing review of your program of study to include incorporating the optional elements outlined in the Faculty Resource Guide. The next step on this process will be to share this information with faculty and staff in the Criminal Justice department, the advisory board, secondary program instructors, MCC counselors, secondary program counselors and advisors and the Trends Conference. The team would like to complete the gap analysis to synthesize both the MACC course skills and the MCC course skills. At the conclusion of the MACC gap analysis process the other secondary programs would be evaluated. In addition, there should be continued assessment in the area of determining possible attributes of successful completers of the program. Page 6 of 6