Criminal justice assessment: staying ahead of the bullet

Abstract

Demands for accountability in higher education have compelled institutions and programs operating within to engage in some form of outcomes assessment. If not already doing so, criminal justice programs will continue to be asked to demonstrate student learning. This paper begins with a brief description of the results of a national survey conducted to determine how criminal justice programs assess their students. It concludes with a more detailed account of the assessment plan currently being implemented in Virginia Commonwealth University’s criminal justice program. This plan is centered on using holistic rubrics that aim to capture higher‐ordered learning rather than memorization.

Keywords:

• assessment
• criminal justice
• student learning
• outcomes
• rubrics
• accountability