Assessment for Academic Programs

The ACJS Assessment Committee developed this section of the website to provide ACJS members with information on Program Assessment. The section is divided into two parts.  The first part provides a wealth of resources regarding assessment. Although the information is not exhaustive, it is designed to give a good foundation for use at any stage in the assessment process. The second part is the assessment forum. The forum contains scholarly peer reviewed articles related to assessment of criminal justice programs.

The resources web pages were developed by members of the ACJS 2007-2008 Ad Hoc Committee on Assessment (Barbara Peat, chair; Doug Davenport, Kathy Johnson, and Pamela Tontodonato), with the assistance of Reid Toth who joined the new Standing Assessment Committee for 2008-2009. We welcome your comments and suggestions for improvement of these pages and submission of any resources you would like to contribute.  Please send all comments and contributions to info@acjs.org.

The material on assessment is divided into seven sections. To learn more, click on the link to each topic below.     

What is Assessment? What isn’t Assessment?

Why do Assessment? What are the benefits?

What to Assess

Developing Program Assessment Plans

Course-Embedded Assessment

ACJS Certification Standards and Assessment 

Assessment Resources

How can I get involved with the ACJS Assessment Committee? 
 

FORUM: The Assessment Forum is a collection of peer reviewed articles about a variety of assessment topics. Of particular focus is the use of assessment techniques in criminal justice, criminology, and closely related programs.  The forum is intended to reflect national and international projects, methods, and concerns.

The goal of the Assessment Forum is to provide a scholarly, peer reviewed, and meaningful outlet for academic publication of assessment of academic programs.

Please direct all inquiries to Barbara Peat (bpeat@iun.edu) or Kathy Johnson (kjohnson@uwf.edu).

“Using a Self-Report Survey to Understand How Undergraduate Criminal Justice Students Approach Their Education” by Michael P. Brown and Gregory B. Morrison, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Ball State University. 

“Assessing Activity-Based Learning in Criminal Law:  A New Model and Novel Game Based on Metacognitive Theory” by Katherine Pang, Department of Social Sciences, University of Texas at Tyler.

“Decoding the Complexities of Assessment Strategies in Criminal Justice Education” by Diana Bruns, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Savannah State University and Jeff Bruns, Division of Business, Bacone College.
 

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