Lansing Community College s Criminal Justice Program of Study

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1 Lansing Community College s Criminal Justice Program of Study 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? Lansing Community College currently offers a Criminal Justice Program. This program includes a Criminal Justice Associate in Arts degree; a Criminal Justice, Law Enforcement Associate in Applied Science degree; a Criminal Justice, Corrections Associate in Applied Science degree; a Criminal Justice, Juvenile Specialization Associate in Applied Science degree; a Juvenile Justice Certificate of Achievement; and a Correctional Officer Certificate of Completion. For this Program of Study we are concentrating on CIP Code which is the Criminal Justice, Law Enforcement Associate in Applied Science degree. The purpose of this report is to outline the processes and mechanisms whereby Lansing Community College has developed a Program of Study which satisfies the requirements outlined by the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of The following team and resources were used to develop this report. LCC Criminal Justice, Program of Study Team: Kathy Winslow, Program Director, Public Service Careers and Director, Mid- Michigan Police Academy Kathy Shell, Director of Instruction, Technical Careers Division Resource Assistance: Dan Durkee, Criminal Justice Faculty Mark Stevens, Criminal Justice Faculty Toni Glasscoe, Advancement/Ext Affairs Adm Ralph Hansen, Associate Superintendent, Eaton Intermediate School District (EISD) Laura Percival, Principal, EISD Career Preparation Center Gerda Marutiak, EISD Criminal Justice Faculty Maurice Armstrong, EISD Criminal Justice Faculty Chris Daniels, CCRESA Criminal Justice Faculty Jason Mayland, Institutional Effectiveness / Research (IER) 1

2 STEP 1 INTAKE AND ASSESSMENT TO ENTER THE LANSING COMMUNITY COLLEGE CRIMINAL JUSTCE 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 prerequisite knowledge and skills you determined a student must possess prior to entering your program. Lansing Community College requires students to apply to the college and take assessment tests (Accuplacer) to determine appropriate course selection. (This is a requirement for all students, not specific to the Criminal Justice Program) Admission Lansing Community College accepts the following individuals for admission: Adults 18 years of age or older (HS Diploma or GED NOT required for Adults 18 years of age or older.) High school graduates Current high school students in grades 9-12 Current home school students ages International students Guest students from other colleges and universities Individuals can apply to LCC online, through the mail or in person. Once an individual receives an acceptance letter they can go to the LCC Assessment Center for Accuplacer testing or to see if they have other test scores, completed courses, or degrees that may qualify them for a waiver. Starting Summer Semester 2011 all new students must sign-up and attend a Student Orientation session. 1 Assessment Nearly all of Lansing Community College's courses have prerequisite levels. These levels represent the determined basic skills required for the content of the course. Students must take the LCC Accuplacer assessment tests. They come in three categories: Reading, Writing, and Math. The Assessment Center at LCC has skill assessments in each of these categories. 2 If a student has taken any ACT, SAT, AP, TOEFL or CLEP tests, competed previous college courses or have a degree, they may be able to waive these assessment tests

3 Accuplacer Tests (Reading, Math, Writing) 4 Reading Comprehension In an ACCUPLACER placement test, there are 20 questions of two primary types in Reading Comprehension. 1. The first type of question consists of a reading passage followed by a question based on the text. Both short and long passages are provided. The reading passages can also be classified according to the kind of information processing required, including explicit statements related to the main idea, explicit statements related to a secondary idea, application, and inference. 2. The second type of question, sentence relationships, presents two sentences followed by a question about the relationship between these two sentences. The question may ask, for example, if the statement in the second sentence supports that in the first, if it contradicts it, or if it repeats the same information. Writing This test measures your ability to write effectively, which is critical to academic success. Math This test measures your ability to perform basic arithmetic operations and to solve problems that involve fundamental arithmetic concepts. There are 17 questions on the Arithmetic tests, divided into three types. 1. Operations with whole numbers and fractions: Topics included in this category are addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, recognizing equivalent fractions and mixed numbers, and estimating. 2. Operations with decimals and percents: Topics include addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division with decimals. Percent problems, recognition of decimals, fraction and percent equivalencies, and problems involving estimation are also given. 3. Applications and problem solving: Topics include rate, percent, and measurement problems; simple geometry problems; and distribution of a quantity into its fractional parts. These tests are NOT considered pass/fail. Based on your score, you will receive a level which determines which classes you may take. LCC has courses for every skill level. There are "college ready levels" which allow a student to start in classes that will gain credit towards the core requirements of the college. Those levels are: Reading (5), Writing (6), and Math (5) 4 3

4 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 any of Lansing Community College s Criminal Justice Program degrees or certificates are the same as the general education entry level requirements. In the Criminal Justice program a student must attain an Accuplacer Reading Level 5 and an Accuplacer Writing Level 4 in order to register for one of three gateway courses: CJUS 101, CJUS 106, or CJUS 131. There are different avenues for entry into Lansing Community College s (LCC) Criminal Justice Program. Eaton Intermediate School District and Clinton County Regional Educational Service Agency Lansing Community College has a partnership with the Eaton Intermediate School District (EISD) and Clinton County Regional Educational Service Agency (CCRESA). High school juniors and seniors are dual enrolled and can receive direct credit in LCC programs. The Criminal Justice Program is one of the EISD and CCRESA programs. High school students who enroll in the Criminal Justice Program are required to follow the Public Safety/Protective Services - Law Enforcement (2010) curricula outlined by the Michigan Center for Career and Technical Education (MCCTE) located at Ferris State University. High school students currently take the following LCC Criminal Justice courses during an academic school year: CJUS Intro to Criminal Justice A survey course designed to provide students with a current, coordinated, and comprehensive overview of criminal justice as an institution and as a system. Emphasizes historical, philosophical, constitutional, and organizational perspectives. CJUS Intro to Juvenile Justice This course emphasizes the legal foundation, as defined by Michigan law, upon which the criminal justice practitioner must rely in dealing with the juvenile 4

5 offender and the juvenile victim. In addition, this course will introduce the student to the juvenile offender. CJUS Introduction to Corrections Introduction to agencies and processes within the correctional system. An examination of correctional officer behavior, corrections legislation, the courts, correctional institutions and their operation, and administration. Includes overview of history sentencing, probation, parole, and community corrections. This course is required for the corrections officer vocational certificate. If an EISD student meets the course requirements of CJUS 101, CJUS 106 and/or CJUS 131 with a 2.0 or better they receive LCC credit. EISD and CCRESA students take the Accuplacer Reading, Writing and Math placement exams after they are admitted to the Criminal Justice curricula. However, students are not required to meet the Reading Level 5 and Writing Level 4 to gain entry to the Criminal Justice courses. Throughout the academic school year, EISD students work with EISD lab coordinators on reading, writing, and math skills during Career Prep days. In May, EISD students retake the Accuplacer exams. CCRESA students use Work Keys during the academic school year to improve their reading, writing and math skills. At this time Accuplacer scores are not contingent on receiving college credit. After checking Accuplacer scores and students receiving LCC credit in CJUS 101, CJUS 106, and CJUS 131 we found little correlation between and Accuplacer scores and success rates in the EISD/CCRESA Criminal Justice courses. Even students with a Reading Level 1 and Writing Level 2 were passing the courses some with 3.5 and 4.0. Some students with Reading Level 5 and Writing Level 4 received grades below 2.0. There was a slight correlation between EISD students with higher Reading and Writing scores being more successful, but not a significant difference. In and , the following EISD/CCRESA students received LCC credit: CJ Course EISD CCRESA EISD CCRESA CJUS out of out of out of out of 21 CJUS out of out of out of out of 21 CJUS out of out of out of out of 21 The high success rate may be attributed to numerous factors including: EISD/CCRESA students being exposed to twice as much class time in CJUS 101, CJUS 106, and CJUS 131 as regular LCC students taking the same courses. The high success rate and retention at CCRESA can be due to the 5

6 fact that the CCRESA environment is more structured and disciplined and the courses are run more as an academy i.e. uniforms, inspections, drills, more hands-on training, and physical training. Great instructors, grade inflation, and accurate basic skill level prerequisites also need to be considered. For EISD/CCRESA students not receiving LCC credit, the following possible reasons were given: low test scores, apathy, absences, and/or withdrawal from program. In the and school years the CCRESA Criminal Justice Program offered high school seniors the opportunity to take a second year of LCC Criminal Justice courses. These courses included: CJUS 103-Criminal Law, CJUS 245-Report Writing/Criminal Justice, CJUS 255 Human Relations/Criminal Justice. The students were admitted to the courses without taking the Accuplacer basis skill tests. College credit was awarded to students who received a 2.0 or better in A change was made in the school year, whereas only students who attained the Reading Level 5 and Writing Level 4 basic skill level in addition to a 2.0 or better in each course were awarded college credit. Another change has been implemented for the school year. Any senior wishing to enroll in the second year CCRESA CJ curriculum must achieve the Accuplacer Reading 5 and Writing 4 basic skill levels. To date not enough high school students have met this requirement to run the second year for A gap exists whereas an EISD/CCRESA student can get LCC credit for CJUS 101, CJUS 106 and/or CJUS 131 and then continue to take many other Criminal Justice courses including CJUS 103, 126, 133, 134, 135, 201, 203, 205, 250, 251 without ever having to take the Accuplacer Reading and Writing assessment tests. LCC Registration - Adults When a student registers at LCC for CJUS 101, CJUS 106 or CJUS 131, they are required to take the Accuplacer basic skill assessment tests and meet the following prerequisites: Reading Level 5 and Writing Level 4 before they are admitted to the course. These three courses are gateway courses to many of the other Criminal Justice courses. If the prerequisites for any of these courses is waived, the student will be able to take many other Criminal Justice courses including CJUS 103, 126, 133, 134, 135, 201, 203, 205, 250, 251 without ever having to take the Reading and Writing assessment tests. 6

7 It should be mentioned in this section that in 2005 Dr. Katherine Manley from Ferris State University was hired by the Criminal Justice Program to do a DACUM (Design a Curriculum) on all the Criminal Justice curricula. The purpose of the DACUM was to perform a comprehensive job and task analysis to accurately establish baseline data to improve both the process and the product or service produced on the job through constant and continuous improvement. A follow-up was done in 2008 for CJUS 101 addressing the fact that all Criminal Justice instructors teaching CJUS 101 were not teaching to the established course syllabus outcomes. A CJUS 101 departmental final was developed by Dan Durkee, Bob Baldwin, Edward Thomas, and James Bender and given by Dan Durkee and James Bender as an experiment students did not do well. Dan Durkee uses the questions on the final as quiz questions throughout his CJUS 101 course. Nothing more has been done with the final. Part of the ongoing review of the Criminal Justice Program should be to revisit CJUS 101, meet with instructors who teach the course and affirm that they are indeed teaching the course outcomes in the master syllabus. The departmental final should also be discussed and possibly implemented. 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 Program does not currently require any additional occupational or technical standards for entry. This is to allow the greatest amount of access by both secondary and adult student populations. 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? In the Criminal Justice program, a student must attain an Accuplacer Reading Level 5 and a Writing Level 4 in order to register for one of three gateway courses: CJUS 101, CJUS 106, CJUS 131. Reading Levels The text books used for Criminal Justice courses (CJUS 101, 106, 131) at the EISD/CCRESA and at LCC are the same. The text books were reviewed for reading levels. Using the Flesch-Kincaid Readability Score, the texts are 7

8 as follows: CJUS grade level, CJUS grade level and CJUS grade level these scores all indicate that a Reading Level 5 would be the accurate reading level for students to be successful in these courses. Data indicates that reading grade level has not been identified as a success indicator for students in either the EISD or CCRESA Criminal Justice curricula. (see information in Step 2 above). 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. Since a Reading Level 5 is required for those students entering outside the EISD or CCRESA programs, data is not available to support whether or not the reading grade level can be identified as a success indicator. We attempted to gather information from Criminal Justice instructors on the success and retention rate of EISD/CRRESA students who continue taking Criminal Justice courses at LCC. A result of a short survey given to LCC Criminal Justice faculty indicated a possible pattern of success with those students who successfully complete the EISD/CCRESA courses and then register for other Criminal Justice courses after high school graduation. It appears that these students may be better prepared in the following areas: attendance, participation, writing ability, leadership, and team work. There also appears to be a lower drop-out rate of EISD/CCRESA students who continue with their Criminal Justice courses. Hypothetically, it was assumed that the soft skills taught, learned and demonstrated to be successful in the EISD/CCRESA courses increased the student s ability to benefit while attending LCC in the courses in the Criminal Justice program. A follow-up study/survey should be conducted to learn more about the success of those students who participated in the Criminal Justice programs at the secondary level. This would also 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 LCC with EISD/CCRESA credits in Criminal Justice. To then follow up and determine if a successful profile can be established. 8

9 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 Criminal Justice courses taught in the EISD/CCRESA curricula were created using the same syllabi as those courses taught to a regular LCC student. This includes the same course description, student learning outcomes, textbooks, etc. The EISD/CCRESA students do attend almost twice the number of hours as an LCC student. After speaking to the EISD/CCRESA instructors, we learned that the high school students go through the material at a slower pace and they are given more quizzes and exams. In addition to the dual enrollment/direct credit with EISD and CCRESA, LCC has an articulation agreement with Heartlands Institute for CJUS 101-Intro to Criminal Justice. We are also in the process of developing an articulation agreement with the Ingham Intermediate School District for CJUS 104- Theory of Patrol. Gap Analysis There are gaps in the EISD Criminal Justice curricula (no gap analysis was done for CCRESA) and what is required by the Public Safety/Protective Services - Law Enforcement (2010) curricula outlined by the Michigan Center for Career and Technical Education (MCCTE). The gaps exist in the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES) area. They include: INVESTIGATION Intro to Investigation not exposed 1/1 tasks Investigation Not exposed to 1/4 tasks Crime Scene Process Not exposed to the 4/4 tasks Special Investigation Not exposed to 2/3 task Investigation of Domestic Violence Not exposed to 3/3 tasks PATROL PROCEDURES Patrol Operation - Not exposed to 3/3 tasks Patrol Techniques Not exposed to 4/4 tasks DETENTION AND PROSECUTION Case Prosecution Not exposed to 3/4 tasks POLICE SKILLS First Aid Not exposed to 8/8 tasks Firm Arms Not exposed to 4/4 tasks Fitness and Wellness Not exposed to 2/2 tasks 9

10 TRAFFIC Motor Vehicle Law Not exposed to 4/4 tasks Traffic Control and Enforcement - Not exposed to 2/2 tasks Operating While Intoxicated - Not exposed to 3/4 tasks Motor Vehicle Traffic Crash Investigation - Not exposed to 8/8 tasks SPECIAL OPERATIONS Emergency Preparedness/Disaster Control - Not exposed to 2/2 tasks Civil Disorder - Not exposed to 2/2 tasks Tactical Operations - Not exposed to 1/1 tasks Environmental Crimes - Not exposed to 1/1 tasks Terrorism Awareness - Not exposed to 2/3 tasks To fill these gaps, the EISD high school program will be adding an additional Law Enforcement curriculum in the school year. This curriculum better aligns with the MCCTE. The EISD/CCRESA high school curricula will include: Public Safety Criminal Justice Law Enforcement, AA CJUS 101 Intro to Criminal Justice 3 CJUS 106 Intro to Juvenile Justice 3 CJUS 131 Intro to Corrections 3 NEW Law Enforcement Criminal Justice Law Enforcement, AAS CJUS 101 Intro to Criminal Justice 3 CJUS 104 Theory of Patrol 3 CJUS 205 Community Policing 3 * EMSB 102 CPR for Health Care Professionals.25 * Prerequisite: minimum 2.0 in CJUS 101 in order to earn college credit for CJUS 205 A gap also exists whereas an EISD/CCRESA student can get LCC credit for CJUS 101, CJUS 106 and/or CJUS 131 and then continue to take many other Criminal Justice courses including CJUS 103, 126, 133, 134, 135, 201, 203, 205, 250, 251 without ever having to take the Accuplacer Reading and Writing assessment tests. If the prerequisite for CJUS 101, CJUS 106 and/or CJUS 131 is waived for a regular LCC student the same gap exists. 10

11 STEP 7 EXTERNAL CERTIFICATIONS There are two subchoices for the Law Enforcement curriculum. Students completing Subchoice 2A-Mid-Michigan Police Academy must successfully pass the MCOLES (Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards) Licensing exam at the completion of the academy. The completion of the Criminal Justice degree results in an associate degree in applied science which can transfer or articulate to the following colleges or universities: Ferris State University Siena Heights University Olivet College STEP 8 SHARE WORK Results of this Program of Study for the LCC Criminal Justice Program will be shared with the following: LCC Technical Careers Dean Criminal Justice faculty LCC Criminal Justice Curriculum Committee LCC Criminal Justice Advisory Committee Toni Glasscoe, Advancement/Ext Affairs Adm Ralph Hansen, Associate Superintendent, Eaton Intermediate School District (EISD) Laura Percival, Principal, EISD Career Preparation Center Patricia Jackson, Director of Career and Technical Education, CCRESA STEP 9 ONGOING REVIEW Based on the results of this Program of Study meetings will be held with the above LCC, EISD/CCRESA personnel to discuss what changes need to be made to satisfy the academic and occupational gap analyses, including a discussion concerning basic skill prerequisite requirements before college credit is earned. The information from this study will be presented to the Criminal Justice Advisory Committee for their recommendations for needed changes to satisfy any gaps. 11

12 A follow-up study/survey should be conducted with Criminal Justice faculty to learn more about the success of students who participate in the Criminal Justice programs at the secondary level. This would also involve tracking students from the secondary level to the post-secondary level to determine rates of success. Track identified students who entered LCC with EISD/CCRESA credits in Criminal Justice. Follow up and determine if a successful profile can be established. Suggested changes will be incorporated into the LCC s Criminal Justice Program Review process. There appears to be no reason to meet with transfer institutions. STEP 10 - IN THE FUTURE A review should take place annually to assess the status of the recommendations and to make sure students are more successful in LCC s Criminal Justice Program. A Program of Study needs to be created for each high school articulation. 12