Academic Program Review

ACADEMIC YEAR	2014-2015	Basic Skills Transfer Career Technical Education (CTE)
PROGRAM	POLITICAL SCIENCE
DESCRIPTION/PURPOSE	Political Science is the study of the acquisition and use of public power and authority. Politics and government affect everyone’s life and impinge on activities in many fields. The introductory courses are for the student interested in learning about American Government and different political cultures in the world. The political science major is especially desirable for students who might work for civil government at any level, be commissioned as military officers or who intend to become lawyers. A major and/or minor in political science at a four-year institution is useful in such fields as economics, history, journalism and language or for those who hope to become executives in law enforcement or in many types of businesses. The Associate in Arts for Transfer (AA-T) is intended for students who plan to complete a bachelor’s in a similar major at a CSU campus. Students completing this degree (AA-T) are guaranteed admission to the CSU system, but not to a particular campus or major.
DIVISION	Health and Sciences
DEPARTMENT	Behavioral and Social Sciences
SUBMITTED BY:	Kevin White, Chair

INSTITUTIONAL GOAL 1	INSTITUTIONAL GOAL 2	INSTITUTIONAL GOAL 3	INSTITUTIONAL GOAL 4
INSTITUTIONAL MISSION AND EFFECTIVENESS – The College will maintain programs and services that focus on the mission of the College supported by data-driven assessments to measure student learning and student success. 1.1 Develop systems and procedures that establish the mission of the college as the central mechanism for planning and decision making. 1.2 Develop an institutional score card to assess student learning that drives integrated planning and resource allocation. 1.3 Develop systems and procedures to ensure that the college maintains a collegial and self-reflective dialogue that improves effectiveness. 1.4 Develop systems that are inclusive, cyclical, and understood by all stakeholders.	STUDENT LEARNING PROGRAMS AND SERVICES – The College will maintain instructional programs and services which support student success and the attainment of student educational goals. 2.1 Ensure that all instructional programs, regardless of location or means of delivery, address and meet the current and future needs of students. 2.2 Review program learning outcomes annually (or biennially) to assure currency, improve teaching and learning strategies, and raise student success rates. 2.3 Ensure that all Student Services programs, regardless of location or means of delivery, address and meet the current and future needs of students. 2.4 Ensure that all Student Services programs engage in a process of sustainable continuous quality improvement by annual review of Service Area Outcomes, and annual Program Review. 2.5 Ensure that the Library meets as closely as possible that “Standards of Practice for California Community College Library Faculty and Programs” of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges. 2.6 Ensure that instructional labs continue to collaborate in sharing financial and human resources, thus maintaining continuous quality improvement.	RESOURCES – The College will develop and manage human, technological, physical, and financial resources to effectively support the College mission and the campus learning environment. 3.1 Develop and implement a resource allocation plan that leads to fiscal stability. 3.2 Implement a robust technological infrastructure and the enterprise software to support the college process. 3.3 Build new facilities and modernize existing ones as prioritized in the facility master plan. 3.4 Design and commit to a long-term professional development plan. 3.5 Raise the health awareness of faculty, staff, and students.	LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE – The Board of Trustees and the Superintendent/President will establish policies that assure the quality, integrity, and effectiveness of student learning programs and services, and the financial stability of the institution. 4.1 Review all Board policies annually to ensure that they are consistent with the College mission statement, that they address the quality, integrity, and effectiveness of student learning programs and services, and that they guard the financial stability of the institution. 4.2 Maintain a clearly defined Code of Ethics that includes appropriate responses to unprofessional behavior. 4.3 Ensure that the Board of Trustees is informed and involved in the accreditation process. 4.4 Ensure that processes for the evaluation of the Board of Trustees and the Superintendent/President are clearly defined, implemented, and publicized. 4.5 Establish a governance structure, processes, and practices that guarantee that the governing board, administration, faculty, staff, and students will be involved in the decision making process.

I. INSTITUTIONAL GOALS

II. PROGRAM GOALS

PAST – EVALUATION OF PREVIOUS CYCLE OBJECTIVES/PROGRAM GOALS (SET IN PREVIOUS YEAR)

List your previous objectives/goals and associated Institutional Goals. All program goals must address at least one of the institutional goals.

1	PAST PROGRAM GOAL #1	INSTITUTIONAL GOAL(S) (Select one primary goal.)
Identify Program Goal and Budget request, if any, from the Program Review completed in 2013-2014 (Section II C): Facilitate the continuing high demand for political science courses, by hiring a full-time, tenured track faculty member.	1 Mission & Effectiveness 1.1 1.3 1.2 1.4 2 Student Learning Outcomes 2.1 2.4 2.2 2.5 2.3 2.6 3 Resources 3.1 3.4 3.2 3.5 3.3 4 Leadership & Governance 4.1 4.4 4.2 4.5 4.3
Met	Partially Met	Not Met
Describe how this program goal increased student achievement and/or program effectiveness in 2014-2015: Due to financial conditions, a full-time, tenured track faculty member was not hired. A faculty member who taught both History and Political Science agreed to move over to Political Science full-time. The Department was able to recruit two part-time instructors to fill in the gap. Despite these changes the demand for classes remains high and can easily accommodate a full-time instructor.

2	PAST PROGRAM GOAL #2	INSTITUTIONAL GOAL(S) (Select one primary goal.)
Identify Program Goal and Budget request, if any, from the Program Review completed in 2013-2014 (Section II C): Expand the pool of Part-time faculty to meet the high demand for political science by hiring 2-3 part-time instructors.	1 Mission & Effectiveness 1.1 1.3 1.2 1.4 2 Student Learning Outcomes 2.1 2.4 2.2 2.5 2.3 2.6 3 Resources 3.1 3.4 3.2 3.5 3.3 4 Leadership & Governance 4.1 4.4 4.2 4.5 4.3
Met	Partially Met	Not Met
Describe how this program goal increased student achievement and/or program effectiveness in 2014-2015: Hired two part-time instructors which better allowed the Department to provide for the high demand PS 102 classes.

3	PAST PROGRAM GOAL #3	INSTITUTIONAL GOAL(S) (Select one primary goal.)
Identify Program Goal and Budget request, if any, from the Program Review completed in 2013-2014 (Section II C): Increase student awareness for the political science major and provide a clear path to success, by working with Counseling, Academic Services, and Admissions and Records to post the political science Program Pathways in the College catalog.	1 Mission & Effectiveness 1.1 1.3 1.2 1.4 2 Student Learning Outcomes 2.1 2.4 2.2 2.5 2.3 2.6 3 Resources 3.1 3.4 3.2 3.5 3.3 4 Leadership & Governance 4.1 4.4 4.2 4.5 4.3
Met	Partially Met	Not Met
Describe how this program goal increased student achievement and/or program effectiveness in 2014-2015: The new Associate of Arts degree for Transfer (AA-T) was recently approved for IVC. The Program Pathway was completed but is awaiting incorporation into the new catalog.

PRESENT – DATA ANALYSIS AND PROGRAM HEALTH – ACCREDITATION

Summarize and analyze all disaggregated data by day, evening, gender, ethnicity, and distance education. Narrative only. Submit electronic excel file with graphs or trend data.

Enrollment and Fill Rates

Discuss the trends in enrollment and fill rate for each program by day and evening at the program level.

Enrollment: Varied over the semesters analyzed depending on the amount of sections offered. No clear pattern discernible. Sections varied from a high of 13 to a low of 9 over the period.

Fill-Rates: For Day courses remain excellent. Throughout the period the average was 104% with the range from 106 to 101 percent. The Evening rates were less with an average of 95% which is still high. It ranged from a high of 105 down to 78 percent.

Online: Classes were offered during the first two semesters: Fall-2011 and Spring-2012 with average enrollment and fill-rates. Then the class came back online last Spring (2014) with a fill-rate of 95 percent.

Productivity

What are the trends in productivity?

The trend in productivity is very promising. The average for the period is 632 which is well above the state standard of 525. The rates ranged from a low of 575 to a high of 727 which was achieved last Spring (2014). Quite an achievement.

Success and Retention

Discuss the success and retention rates by day, evening (extended day), and online classes in each program and identify gaps.

Success: Day rates averaged 65 percent with a range extending from 56 to 75 percent. Evening rates averages 62 percent ranging from 54 to 66 percent. The rates were close between Day and Evening classes during the period.

Retention: Day rates continued to be higher than Evening. Day rate average was 90% compared to Evening at 84 percent. Online rates averaged 62 percent which was the same as the Evening rate. Retention for Online classes averaged 81 percent. With the resumption of online classes in Spring 2014 the retention was a remarkable 91 percent.

Success and Retention by Ethnicity

Discuss the success and retention rates by demographic diversity of students.

Success: The percentages are skewed by the low numbers of some groups. The ranges for groups were as follows: African Americans – 11; Hispanics – 4,344; White – 46; Other – 11; and Unknown – 409. As one can see eleven for African American and Other is low and Unknown is 409 which is second only to Hispanic. However, which students are included in the Other categorical is anybody’s guess—which compounds the problem of addressing these students’ needs if they cannot be identified beyond being “other.”

Retention: Retention among all groups listed was high, ranging from 81 percent for African Americans to 100 percent for Other. The rate for Hispanics was 88%; while Unknown and White were at 89 percent.

Overall: The retention rates were very close.

Degrees and Certificates

Discuss the trends in the number of degrees and/or certificates awarded.

No degrees were awarded as this is a new degree program.

Program Changes

What program changes, if any, do you expect to have a positive effect on students?

The resumptions of online classes have been popular with students as we added two classes to the schedule in Fall 2014 due to demand. The new degree takes effect Fall 2014, so it will take some time to see if it becomes a popular choice. The high demand for PS classes is directly tied to the College’s graduation requirements and this should continue to ensure high demand. And, the addition of a dedicated full-time faculty and two part-time instructors has strengthened the program and its ability to meet student demand and foster student success.

Summarize revisions, additions, deletions, and alternate delivery methods to courses and/or program based on the last program review.

As stated above, Online courses are being offered again across the campus. In addition there has been some progress in developing new online courses for Political Science, including PS 100 (Introduction to PS – a “core” class for the degree program). PS 104 – Comparative Politics and PS 106 – International Relations are under consideration for online development. A change/revision was made to update the common text book used by most of our faculty for PS 120. And, we are experimenting with offering back-to-back, PS 102 Short Term classes in a semester. If there is demand and if it is successful, we may begin to offer more per semester.

Evaluate the program’s viability by addressing program completion, size (FTES), projections (growing/stable/declining), and quality of outcomes.

Political Science remains one of the strongest programs in the Behavioral and Social Sciences Department. The numbers are up, the success and retention are high and the demand has often outstripped our ability to meet demand. We need another full-time, tenured track instructor to continue the growth of the program. We added two part-time instructors to the faculty pool which was very much needed. Resuming online offerings provides students with an alternate delivery method as well as experimenting with two back-to-back, Short Term classes.
Overall, the Political Science program a vibrant, growing program.
C. FUTURE – LIST OF “SMART” (SPECIFIC MEASURABLE ATTAINABLE RELEVANT TIME-LIMITED) PROGRAM OBJECTIVES FOR NEXT ACADEMIC YEAR TO ADDRESS PROGRAM IMPROVEMENT, GROWTH, OR UNMET NEEDS/GOALS. ALL PROGRAM GOALS MUST ADDRESS AT LEAST ONE OF THE INSTITUTIONAL GOALS.

FUTURE PROGRAM GOALS (Describe future program goals. List in order of budget priority.) You are not required to list 3 goals. Only list/identify goals that are viable in one year’s time or can be carried over a number of program cycles.	INSTITUTIONAL GOAL(S) (Select one primary institutional goal)
1	2015-2016 PROGRAM GOAL #1 Budget Priority #1	INSTITUTIONAL GOAL(S)
Identify Future Global Goal: Provide more Political Science classes to accommodate student demand.	1 Mission & Effectiveness 1.1 1.3 1.2 1.4 2 Student Learning Outcomes 2.1 2.4 2.2 2.5 2.3 2.6 3 Resources 3.1 3.4 3.2 3.5 3.3 4 Leadership & Governance 4.1 4.4 4.2 4.5 4.3
Objective: Meet high demand for the “core” Political Science (PS 102) course that is needed for graduation.
RESOURCE PLAN (Check all that apply.)
Facilities Marketing Technology Professional Development Staffing
Task(s)
Hire a full-time, tenured track instructor
Timeline: December 2015
Expense Type	Funding Type	Budget Request
One-Time Recurring	General District Categorical (Specify)	$__80,000_________
Timeline:
Expense Type	Funding Type	Budget Request
One-Time Recurring	General District Categorical (Specify)	$________________
C.
Timeline:
Expense Type	Funding Type	Budget Request
One-Time Recurring	General District Categorical (Specify)	$________________
How will this objective be measured? By the ability to offer more throughout the day schedule of classes.
How will the completion of tasks identified improve student/program success? Provide students with more access to needed course work.
Who are the responsible party(ies) and assigned user(s)? Human Resources and Academic Services.
FUTURE PROGRAM GOALS (Describe future program goals. List in order of budget priority.) You are not required to list 3 goals. Only list/identify goals that are viable in one year’s time or can be carried over a number of program cycles.	INSTITUTIONAL GOAL(S) (Select one primary institutional goal)
2	2015-2016 PROGRAM GOAL #2 Budget Priority #1	INSTITUTIONAL GOAL(S)
Identify Future Global Goal: Increase Distance Education offerings in the Department.	1 Mission & Effectiveness 1.1 1.3 1.2 1.4 2 Student Learning Outcomes 2.1 2.4 2.2 2.5 2.3 2.6 3 Resources 3.1 3.4 3.2 3.5 3.3 4 Leadership & Governance 4.1 4.4 4.2 4.5 4.3
Objective: Provide more online classes for students
RESOURCE PLAN (Check all that apply.)
Facilities Marketing Technology Professional Development Staffing
Task(s)
Develop online alternative classes for PS 100 (Intro); PS 104 (Comparative Politics); and PS 106 (international Relations)
Timeline: December 2015
Expense Type	Funding Type	Budget Request
One-Time Recurring	General District Categorical (Specify)	$__0______________
Timeline:
Expense Type	Funding Type	Budget Request
One-Time Recurring	General District Categorical (Specify)	$________________
C.
Timeline:
Expense Type	Funding Type	Budget Request
One-Time Recurring	General District Categorical (Specify)	$________________
How will this objective be measured? By providing students with additional options for instruction.
How will the completion of tasks identified improve student/program success? It will accommodate students who prefer distance education and provide options for non-traditional students.
Who are the responsible party(ies) and assigned user(s)? Kevin White, Chair and faculty interested in developing the courses.
FUTURE PROGRAM GOALS (Describe future program goals. List in order of budget priority.) You are not required to list 3 goals. Only list/identify goals that are viable in one year’s time or can be carried over a number of program cycles.	INSTITUTIONAL GOAL(S) (Select one primary institutional goal)
3	2015-2016 PROGRAM GOAL #3 Budget Priority #1	INSTITUTIONAL GOAL(S)
Identify Future Global Goal: Promote Fast Track Political Science courses as part of the Political Science Program Pathways.	1 Mission & Effectiveness 1.1 1.3 1.2 1.4 2 Student Learning Outcomes 2.1 2.4 2.2 2.5 2.3 2.6 3 Resources 3.1 3.4 3.2 3.5 3.3 4 Leadership & Governance 4.1 4.4 4.2 4.5 4.3
Objective: Increase student awareness of Fast Track PS courses (more than two per semester).
RESOURCE PLAN (Check all that apply.)
Facilities Marketing Technology Professional Development Staffing
Task(s)
Develop separate Fast Track PS website listing benefits of Fast Track courses.
Timeline: December 2015
Expense Type	Funding Type	Budget Request
One-Time Recurring	General District Categorical (Specify)	$____________
B. Work with Counseling, Academic Services, and Admissions and Records to expand student awareness of eight (8) week fast track courses for Political Science 102. Will need promotional materials – brochures, fliers, and use of campus marque.
Timeline: December 2015
Expense Type	Funding Type	Budget Request
One-Time Recurring	General District Categorical (Specify)	$__1,000______________
Timeline:
Expense Type	Funding Type	Budget Request
One-Time Recurring	General District Categorical (Specify)	$________________
How will this objective be measured? By the increased utilization of the Fast Track system.
How will the completion of tasks identified improve student/program success? Provide students with more course delivery choices.
Who are the responsible party(ies) and assigned user(s)? Political Science faculty and BSS Chair.

(WSCH/FTEF) The goal is 525 as per state guidelines. A low number means that we are below target levels for productivity. For example, in a small class that has a mandated cap of 15 students, the fill rate may be 100% but the productivity number (WSCH/FTEF) will be very low. A class with a cap of 40 students with a 100% fill rate will have a productivity number close to or above 525.