Program Review-Trial Councelors-YP

AP Full Official:Certificate of Achievement in Trial Counselors-YC

Campus: Yap Campus

Completed by: Joy Guarin

AP Review Submission Date:March 31, 2014

AR Review Cycle: 2012-2013

Program Goals

At the completion of Secretarial Certificate the student will be able to::
1. Have a working knowledge of the major techniques of legal research and writing.
2. Describe how the FSM and state rules of criminal interpreted and applied.
3. Describe the law of torts and basic principles of admiralty law.
4. Understand the concept of dispute resolution techniques including, but not limited to, mediation, arbitration, and community resolution procedures.
5. Understand the law of contracts and general business law.
6. Describe the processes of comprehensive examination of problems of proof and the rules of evidence.
7. Understand the constitution of the FSM, its states and municipalities.
8. Describe the FSM and State rules of the appellate and civil procedure.
9. Describe and explain the FSM and State real property laws.
10. Practice actual supervised pre-trial and trial skills in civil and criminal cases.
Program History

In 1996,Certificate of achievement program for trial counselors is approved for implementation pending availability of funding. The program started with 1 student in fall of 2010 at Yap campus.
Program Descriptions

This certificate program provides training opportunities for current as well as aspiring and upcoming trial counselors to improve their skills and competency and to prepare them to be effective decision makers in their respective courts, It also provides for networking and sharing among trial counselors.
Program Admission Requirements

High School graduates and General Educational Development (GED) certificate holders who are not accepted into or are not interested in a degree program may apply for admission into an entry level certificate of achievement program.

Applicants with significantly low scores are ineligible for admission. Other certificates of achievement program are offered when criteria for offering the program are met. Admissions requirements vary with the program. Application forms are available at Yap campus.
Program Certificate/Degree Requirements

The following are the major requirements:
Program Requirements

Major Requirements:....................31 credits

Law 200 Legal Research and Writing (3)
Law 210 Criminal Procedure (3)
Law 215 Criminal Law (3)
Law 220 Torts (3)
Law 224 Contracts (3)
Law 228Evidence (3)
Law 232 Constitutional Law (3)
Law 236 Appellate and Civil Procedure/Jurisdiction (4)
Law 238 Real Property (3)
Law 240 Trial Practice Internship (3)
Program Courses and Enrollment
Program Enrollment

Spring 2011 Fall 2011 Spring 2012 Fall 2012 Spring 2013 Fall 2013 Total

12/td> 8 8 5 0 0 33

Spring 2012 Fall 2012 Spring 2013 Fall 2013 Total

8 5 0 0 13

Number of Sections, Course enrollment

Courses Number Number of section Course Enrollment Semester

Law 210 1 9 Spring 2012

Law< 232/td> 1 9 Spring 2012

Law 228 1 5 Fall 2012

Law 240 1 4 2012

Program Faculty

Name of Faculty	FullTime/Parttime	Degrees Held	Rank
Jeremiah Luther	Part time	Doctor of Jurisprudence	Instructor
Matthew Mannisto	Part time	JD. Litigation	Instructor
JD. Litigation	Part time	BA, JD,LLM	Instructor	Major courses

Faculty student ratio for the program For 2012-2013

Name of Faculty	Number of Students	Faculty Student Ratio
3	13	1:4

Program Indicators

1. Assessment of course student learning outcomes of program courses

Table 1.Fall 2012

Course No.	Instructor Name	No. of Students Enrolled	No. of stu-dents with "W"	No. of Students Successful of SLO 1	SLO 2	SLO 3	SLO 4	SLO 5	SLO 6
Law 228	Douglas Jennings	5	0	5	5	5	5	5
Law 240	Jeremiah Luther	4	0	4

Note: Used the old course outline using general objectives:

2.Assessment of program student learning outcomes

PSLO Assessment Report Summary (PAS of Trial Counselors Program, 2012-2013)

What we looked at:
The Trial Counseling certificate, assessment focused on PSLOs 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, and 10. Listed below are the results for each of the PSLOs.

What we found:

PSLO #1: This PLO was assessed Fall 2012, using the Legal research class. Assessment as identified under strategies and the overall performance was at 90%.
PSLO #2: The PLO was assessed in Fall 2012, using Law 215 or Criminal law and the pass rate, based on assessment strategies resulted in a 83% pass rate.
PSLO #6: The outcome was assessed using Law 228 or Evidence during Spring 2013. A total of 15 students enrolled and 14 (93%) students completed and passed the course.
PLSO #7: This outcome was assessed during Spring of 2013, using course (Law 232) Constitutional Law. The assessed using tools identified under assessment strategies. A total of 19 students enrolled and 17 students completed and passed the course.
PSLO #9: The outcome was assessed in Spring 2013, using (Law 238) Real Property. A total of 20 students enrolled in the course and they were assessed, using the tools indicated as assessment strategies. Out the 20m students, 18 students passed and completed the course.
PSLO #10: Summer 2012-Nine (9) students enrolled and 7 students completed the course with a 78% pass rate. Summer 2013-Fourteen (14) students enrolled and all completed the course at a 100% pass rate. Students were assessed for both Summers 2012 and 2013. Results indicated about 75% passing rate. The target is met but has the lowest passing rate compared to the other outcomes.

What we are planning to work on:

recommendation by the instructor is to have two semesters of legal research class instead of one, prior to taking this course. An additional recommendation is to purchase a package through CALL.org, a computer-assistant learning program used by nearly every law school in the United States. The package costs around $250.00/year.

The course currently does not have a textbook. There is no recommendation for a textbook at the moment. Part of the reason why no recommendation has been made can be attributed to the fact that the course is taught by a different instructor every semester. Thus, there has not been any consensus to a specific textbook. a recommendation can be made to address the need for a regular law instructor who can also serve as the coordinator for the program.
Offer the course during a regular semester or have students take only one course, which is this course.

Recommendations for students:

Students planning to enroll into the program can follow the proposed schedule of courses (per College catalog) to begin taking introductory law courses.
Students planning to get into the course are recommended to have good research and writing, analytical and critical thinking skills.
Recommended for in service legal staff or someone interested in the legal field.

3.Program enrollment (historical enrollment patterns, student credits by major)

Table 1. Enrollment patterns by major

Term	No.of Enrolled Students(Yap)	Overall number of students enrolled (Chuuk,Pohnpei and Yap)	Percentage(%)
Spring 2011	12	26	46.2%
Fall 2011	8	35	23%
Spring 2012	8	36	22.2%
Fall 2012	5	24	20.8%
Spring 2013	0	15	0%
Fall 2013	0	23	%

Table 2 Credits by major

Term	No.of Enrolled Students(Yap)	Total enrollment of YAP campus	Percentage(%)
Spring 2011	75	222	34%
Fall 2011	54	372	15%
Spring 2012	54	422	13%
Fall 2012	27	237	11%
Spring 2013	0	290	0%
Fall 2013	0	207	0%
Total	210

4.Average Class Size

Table 1 Average class size

Term	Section	Enroll/Max	Enrollment	EnrollRatio(3/2)	AvgClassSize(3/1)
Spring 2012	2	40	18	45%	9
Fall 2012	2	40	9	22.5%	5
Spring 2013
Fall 2013
Average					7

5.Course completion rate

Table 1. Spring 2012 Completion Rate per Course

Course No.	Instructor Name	No.of Students Enrolled	No.of Students with "W"	Number of Students with a grade of F	Number of students completed the course	Completion rate(6/3)
Law 210	Jeremiah Luther	9	0	1	8	89%
Law 232	Matthew Mannisto	9	0	0	9	100%
Total Average Rate		18	0	1	17	94.5%

Table 2. Fall 2012 Completion Rate per Course

Course No.	Instructor Name	No.of Students Enrolled	No.of Students with "W"	Number of Students with a grade of F	Number of students completed the course	Completion rate(6/3)
Law 228							Douglas Jennings	5	0	0	5	100%
Law 240							Jeremiah Luther	4	0	0	4	100%
Total/Average Rate								9	0	0	9	100%

Rate of students with W- 3.7%; Rate of students with a grade of F- 0%; General completion rate- 97.25%

6. Student persistence rate (semester to semester)

Persistence rate is based on Fall new students (full time) cohorts who return the following spring semester.

Number of New students , Full time for Fall 2012	Same students, Spring 2013	Persistence Rate(%)
None

7. Student retention rate (Fall-to-Fall for two-year programs; Fall-to-Spring for one-year programs)

Retention rate is based on Fall new students (full time) cohorts who return the following the spring semester

Number of New students , Full time for Fall 2012	Same students, Fall 2013	Retention Rate(%)
None

8. Success rates on licensing or certification exams (CTE, TP, Nursing, etc)

N/A

9. Graduation rate based on yearly number

Term	Number of Graduates
Spring 2012	0
Fall 2012	5
Spring 2013	0
Fall 2013	0
Total	5

10.Students seat cost

At the present tuition rate of $105 per credit the total seat cost per student completing this program is $3,255 The table below shows detailed information.

Classes	Credits	CPC	CPS
Law 200	3	$105	$315
Law 210	3	$105	$315
Law 215	3	$105	$315
Law 220	3	$105	$315
Law 224	3	$105	$315
Law 228	3	$105	$315
Law 232	3	$105	$315
Law 236	4	$105	$420
Law 238	3	$105	$315
Law 240	3	$105	$315
Total	34		$3,255/b>

CPC- Cost Per Credit; CPS- Cost Per Student

11. Cost of duplicate or redundant courses, programs or services

None

12. Students' satisfaction rate

A survey was conducted on selected behaviors of instructors for each class at the end of every semester. There were 15 items in the survey and students were asked to rate each class according to these items on a scale of 1 to 5; 1 being never , 2 is rarely, 3 as sometimes, 4 is usually and 5 being always.

The following are the items used in the survey
1-Keeps regular schedule every class day. 2-Shows interest in the subject. 3-Gives individual help as needed 4-Avails self for student conference.5- Welcomes questions, suggestions, and discussions from students 6- Shows interest and respect for students.7- Helps the students in meeting individual learning needs.8- Uses classroom/lab time fully 9-Provides clear directions for assignments and instruction. 10-Grades fairly.11- Makes the purpose of the course clear. 12-Talks clearly and at an easy-to-follow speed.13- Paces the lessons well with activity as well as lecture. 14 Makes the course interesting.15- Textbook was appropriate and helpful. Students' Satisfaction Survey Results(Weighted Means) Legend:

N-Number of students; AWM Average Weighted Mean; D-Descriptive Equivalent; U-Usually; A-Always

The table below shows detailed information on the students’ satisfaction survey during Fall 2012.

Spring 2013

Courses	N	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	AWM	D
Law 228	5	4.8	4.6	4.7	4.7	4.8	4.8	4.6	4.6	4.6	4.7	4.4	4.4	4.5	4.9		4.7	A
Law 240	4	4	4.3	4.8	4.3	4.3	3.5	3.8	4	4.3	4	4.3	4.3	4.5	4.5		4.2	A

General Weighted Mean 4.45
Descriptive Equivalent Always

13. Alumni data

1 graduate at National Campus from Yap.

14. Employment data and employer feedback (employer survey)

Graduate Number	Working?	Locaiton	In School?	Locaiton
1	Yes	AYUW Comm.	No
2	No		Yes	BA, FIji
3	No		Yes	USP, Law Fiji
4	Yes	COM-FSM	No
5	Yes	Yap Social Security	No

15.Program added or cancelled at nearby regional institutions (PCC, GCC, Hawaii schools, UOG, CMI, NMC)

N/A

16. Transfer Rate

None

Analysis and Recommendation

Finding
This section provides discussion of information discovered as a result of the evaluation such as problems or concerns with the program and what part of the program is working well and meeting expectation.
1. No enrollment during Spring 2013 and Fall 2013. This affected persistence rate and the retention rate of the program.
2. Faculty student ratio is 1:4.
3. Course Level Assessment was completed using the old course outline.
4. Major courses offered each semester is 1 section.
5. Average class size is 7.
6. Rate of students with W- 3.7%; Rate of students with a grade of F- 0%; General completion rate- 97.25%.
7. During Fall 2012, Instructors were rated “Always” in the Students Evaluation of Teachers Behaviors.
8. Graduates are produced only in Fall 2012. Two of the graduates during Fall 2012 pursued degree courses related to Law in Fiji.
Recommendation:

This section provides recommendations from the program on what to do to improve or enhance the quality of program and course learning outcomes as well as program goals and objectives. This section should also include suggestions that describe how the program might be able to create opportunities for a better program in the future. Some examples are exploring alternate delivery mechanisms, forming external partnerships, or realigning with other programs.
1. Increase enrollment by developing recruitment strategies.
2. All faculty should complete course level assessment every semester.
3. Course outline should be written in the new format.
4. Improve data collection and management.

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