According to the most recent Career and Further Education Study, conducted by the Office of Institutional Research, BSS graduates reported high levels of satisfaction with their employment and the preparation they received. Their earnings on average were greater than those holding other Ohio University bachelors degrees.

Because each BSS degree is individualized and self-designed (and therefore different), universal assessment tools are not easily applied. Assessing outcomes inevitably depends on measuring individual student competency and skill attainment not according to externally set norms but rather according to needs and objectives set by students themselves. Assessment consists of the following: (1) intake assessment using a questionnaire (attached); (2) formulative evaluation of advising toward BSS program plans;

(3) ongoing advising; and (4) exit interviews (attached). Portfolio presentations have been discussed as a further way of assessing the individualized nature of BSS degrees. Responsibility for BSS assessment and follow up is borne jointly by BSS Advisory Committee and the University College Assessment Committee.

Using entrance and exit questionnaires, we conducted the second assessment of the BSS program on the Athens campus during winter quarter 1997. This provides a determination of student backgrounds and needs at the time of application and skills achievement and satisfaction at completion of the program. Because each BSS program is distinctive, skills and goals set by each applicant must be the basis of assessment of the success of each degree. A common check-list of skills and goals, from which BSS students select, was prepared by college staff. Preliminary results of this assessment instrument were reported in 1996. A second look both at the entrance and exit documents appears below, though again, results should be considered preliminary because they are a small sample of the whole population and they are not longitudinal (i.e., entrance data and exit data were drawn from different student populations).

In the entrance responses applicants most often identified interpersonal skills and human relations/advising as the most often mentioned skills they hoped to acquire; less frequently mentioned skills included learning/retention, problem solving/analytical, business communication, advertising/public relations, foreign language proficiency, marketing, public speaking and group relations/presentations. Students’ choice of interpersonal and human relations skills as significant represents a change over the primary skills identified by applicants in 1996 who listed creativity, leadership, and group dynamics as higher order priorities.

Goals students identified as targets of their BSS programs included earning a degree, allowing synthesis or integration of knowledge from two or more fields, improving choices for employment, increasing self-confidence, and enhancing knowledge of specific disciplines. These goals are similar to those identified by the pilot assessment of BSS applicants in 1996. Half the applicants also listed preparation for graduate and professional schools (law, hearing and speech science, social work, history and political science) as goals of their BSS programs.

The exit instrument tries to capture the degree to which the BSS degree adds value to the applicant’s career at Ohio University; the degree to which he/she has met competency and skill goals; and the student’s evaluation of faculty and staff. Using a 5-point scale, 77 percent of the respondents indicated a high degree of satisfaction with their ability to achieve their goals in comparison to a traditional degree; 85 percent indicated a similar level of satisfaction with the degree of flexibility in their curriculum; and 71 percent acknowledged satisfaction regarding knowledge of the disciplines forming the core of their degree and their ability to study at least one of these disciplines in depth. The overall academic experience of the BSS degree was given the highest rating by 37 percent, next highest by an additional 37 percent. Thus, about three- quarters of the students in this survey were well satisfied with the academic value added by their BSS degrees.

Similar percentages of satisfaction obtain for consulting faculty (76 %), general faculty (73%), and advisors (72%). A list of evaluative comments is appended along with suggestions for improvement of the BSS degree.

Of the skills most valued at the end of their degrees, students listed business communication, technical writing, public speaking, interpersonal communication, and problem solving/analytical skills.

Fifteen of the thirty-five respondents were already employed at the time of the survey. Others seeking employment were searching in social services, environmental management, the clergy, paralegal affairs, psychology, counseling, video production, marketing, computer science, public relations, energy management, and the Federal Aviation Agency---an array as broad as the interests and talents of a typical cross-section of BSS students.

It is obvious that more data must be collected before assessment can lead directly to program enhancement. Beginning in September 1997, the entrance questionnaire will be required of every applicant and the exit assessment of every graduate applicant. As our assessment instruments yield richer, longitudinal data, we will have a clearer sense not only of how this individualized degree can be enriched and improved but also how each graduate has met the competency and skill goals he/she set at the onset of the program. University College will pilot a capstone seminar for a small group of Athens campus BSS students in spring quarter 1998. We will use this seminar as a focus group to probe degree satisfaction and achievement in greater depth. A portfolio will be a requirement of each student in this seminar which will, if successful, become another assessment tool.

Among the suggestions worthy of further discussion by the BSS Advisory Committee (culled from the open-ended segment of the exit assessment) are more intensive writing instruction; listing BSS program title on the diploma; simplifying the application process; offering a wider range of upper level courses via microwave and other distance learning systems; and including courses in ethics and social responsibility in all programs.

Once our BSS assessment process has a track record of at least three years and is fine-tuned for the Athens Campus, it will be taken to the regional campuses where the majority of students in the program pursue their degrees.

1. Goals

The guiding premise of the BCJ program is that the criminal justice system can be improved by providing high-quality liberal education to men and women who already have earned an associate's degree in a related field. It targets employment opportunities in law enforcement agencies, government departments, and juristic and correctional agencies on local, state, and federal levels, or in the private sector. Increasingly, employers seek applicants with at least a bachelors degree to fill entry-level positions. The BCJ Steering Committee oversees the program.

According to the Office of Institutional Research's follow-up study of 1995 criminal justice majors with bachelor's degrees, 11 percent were employed in government; 44 percent in business; 44 percent in social work and health care fields. Twenty-two percent were pursuing full or part-time graduate study . There has been a downward trend in government employment for BCJ graduates since 1992 and, conversely, an upward trend in the private sector, reflecting changes in the criminal justice labor market nationwide.

In 1995, according to the same survey of graduates, 80 percent of the graduates were somewhat satisfied or very satisfied with their major courses and 64 percent were very satisfied with Ohio University preparation for their careers.

Based on the telephone survey of currently enrolled students, the majority of students chose the program either because of convenience (proximity to home) or because criminal justice is their career choice. Strengths, as assessed by these students, vary with instructors and courses; weaknesses cluster around difficulty in meeting general education requirements and scheduling core courses (a major problem for regional campus BCJ students). At least one-third of the respondents expressed some confusion or concern about advising, suggesting this as an area for improvement, particularly in the regional campus setting. These concerns also emerged in our focus group interview.

Of the 21 respondents, 19 indicated that they are pleased with their degree choice and 18 said they would recommend the BCJ to others; only one would not recommend the degree to others. About half (10/21) indicate that they are planning to apply for graduate school; 13 are presently employed (11 of whom are in some criminal justice related field). Fifty-seven percent of the respondents believe that the BCJ curriculum provides adequate preparation for the profession, whereas 24 percent do not. Suggestions for improvement are below.

Suggestions for improvements from the telephone surveys and the focus interview included giving the curriculum a stronger criminal justice focus; providing information on practica and internships (or requiring same); and offering more core courses in the daytime and more often on regional campuses. Several respondents also mentioned a need for more faculty with immediate professional experience.

The Bachelor of Criminal Justice program, which literally has no home base, has a relatively small number of students and depends upon departments and faculty from across the university. Course scheduling and access is clearly a problem on the regional campuses. Lack of practical credit-bearing opportunities seems a weakness both in Athens and on regional campuses as is the faculty who apparently have little recent experience in actual criminal justice fields.

Further, deeper assessment of the BCJ is needed. The greatest potential for systematic improvement of the degree seems to be interviews with major employers of BCJ graduates: the correctional system, law enforcement agencies, the courts, government, and the security industry. Once these have been conducted, students’ skills and knowledge targeted in the program can be evaluated and adjustments to the curriculum and its content can be suggested to the BCJ steering committee and faculty. The difficulty with a small interdisciplinary program such as this will then be encouraging departments to alter priorities to favor the few BCJ students who pass through their classes.