Peralta Community College District

Annual Program Update Template 2010-2011

Each discipline will complete this form to update program reviews developed in 2009-2010. These will be reviewed at the college level and then forwarded to the district-wide planning and budgeting process. The information on this form is required for all resource requests – including faculty staffing requests – for the 2011-12 budget year.

I.  Overview

Date Submitted: / 10/18/10 / Dean: / Stacy Thompson
BI Download: / 10/07/2010 / Dept. Chair: / Margaret Dixon
Discipline: / PARLG
Campus: / Merritt
Mission / The Paralegal Studies program, previously known as legal assisting, was first offered at Merritt College in 1974. The paralegal performs various administrative tasks and provides staff support for attorneys in a law office. The mission of the Paralegal Studies program is to:
-Provide students with the education, skills, knowledge and training to enable the students to perform as top level Paralegals in the legal community
-Educate and train students to draft legal documents, conduct legal research and perform other legal tasks
-Prepare students for the law office work environment and how to effectively communicate and interact with attorneys
-Provide students with a basic understanding of law and the legal profession, the state and federal court structures and the justice system
-Educate students in areas of substantive law, including Family Law, Criminal
Law, Estate Planning and Probate Procedures, Tort, Legal Research and Business Law

II.  Student Data

A.  Enrollment / Fall 2008 / Fall 2009 / Fall 2010
Census Enrollment (duplicated) / 340.0 / 327.0 / 430.0
Sections (master sections) / 11.0 / 10.0 / 10.0
Total FTES / 32.47 / 30.63 / 41.77
Total FTEF / 2.09 / 1.8 / 1.89
FTES/FTEF / 15.51 / 17.02 / 22.06
B.  Retention
Enrolled / 329.0 / 311.0 / N/A
Retained / 245.0 / 256.0 / N/A
% Retained / 74.0 / 82.0 / N/A
C.  Success
Total Graded / 329.0 / 311.0 / N/A
Success / 179.0 / 193.0 / N/A
% Success / 54.0 / 62.0 / N/A
Withdraw / 84.0 / 55.0 / N/A
% Withdraw / 25.0 / 17.0 / N/A
III.  Faculty Data (ZZ assignments excluded)
Fall 2010
Contract FTEF / 1.4
Hourly FTEF / 0.49
Extra Service FTEF / 0.0
Total FTEF / 1.89
% Contract/Total / 73.94

IV.  Faculty Data Comparables F2010 (ZZ assignments excluded) (Z assignments excluded)

Alameda / Berkeley / Laney / Merritt
Contract FTEF / 0.0 / 0.0 / 0.0 / 1.4
Hourly FTEF / 0.0 / 0.0 / 0.0 / 0.49
Extra Service FTEF / 0.0 / 0.0 / 0.0 / 0.0
Total FTEF / 0.0 / 0.0 / 0.0 / 1.89
% Contract/Total / 0.0 / 0.0 / 0.0 / 73.95

V.  Qualitative Assessments

CTE and Vocational: Community and labor market relevance. Present evidence of community need based on Advisory Committee input, industry need data, McIntyre Environmental Scan, McKinsey Economic Report, licensure and job placement rates, etc. / There is a growing need for trained paralegals. Paralegals services are very instrumental in the success of many law firms. California labor market information indicates that there will be approximately 970 annual openings throughout California until 2016.
Transfer and Basic Skills: Describe how your course offerings address transfer, basic skills, and program completion. / Paralegal students can receive a degree and certificate in the Paralegal Department. All Paralegal classes are offered in the evening. This allows students to work while enrolled in the program. The course offering time has been beneficial for the students in the program.
Students are being prepared to leave the Paralegal program being able to perform effective legal analysis and communicate legal analysis through written documents. Basic skills in English and writing is imparitive for a career as a Paralegal. All instructors address this need by including different writing assignments in the curriculum and using rubrics and checklists to assest the students' various abilities/skills.

VI.  Strategic Planning Goals

Check all that apply.
Advance Student Access, Success & Equity
Engage our Communities & Partners
Build Programs of Distinction
Create a Culture of Innovation & Collaboration
Develop Resources to Advance & Sustain Mission / Describe how goal applies to your program.
The Paralegal Program is the only Paralegal program in the district. We are striving to make this program at Merritt the center for those seeking a Paralegal career, and build the program as a Program of Distinction that is known to produce well educated and trained indivisuals ready to work.
The Parlegal Program has a wide range of subject areas that can be explored, so collaborating with other departments is a natural next step in the program. Currently, Paralegal is in the process of collaborating with the Administration of Justice Program, and the Cooperative Education Department. Paralegal would also like to collaborate with the English Department to create a learning community which will help the students with their basic skills. By collaborating with other diciplines, our students become aware of the links between diciplines and learn that Paralegal is not an isolated program.

VII.  College Strategic Plan Relevance

Check all that apply
New program under development
Program that is integral to your college’s overall strategy
Program that is essential for transfer
Program that serves a community niche
Programs where student enrollment or success has been demonstrably affected by extraordinary external factors, such as barriers due to housing, employment, childcare etc.
Other

VIII.  Action Plan

Please describe your plan for responding to the above data. Consider curriculum, pedagogy/instructional, scheduling, and marketing strategies. Also, please reference any cross district collaboration with the same discipline at other Peralta colleges.
Include overall plans/goals and specific action steps.
q  1. Marketing/Increase enrollment – need marketing tools – website, brochures, participate in job fairs and career fairs etc., train all Peralta Counselors re Paralegal program
q  2. Continued assessment of the program, student learning outcomes, so that students can continue to be successful and instruction is improved
q  3. Technology – improve computers in classrooms, increase use of computers/technology in all classes, purchase more legal programs related to calendaring, billing, research, legal document programs etc.
q  5. Improve Community involvement in the Paralegal program –
q  o create advisory board
q  o Develop partnerships in the legal community
q  o better determine the legal community’s needs and make sure Merritt College Paralegal
q  Department can serve those needs
6. Increase/Improve Internship Program – continue to increace enrollment; increase employers participating in program; improve placement of Paralegals in positions upon completion of certificate

IX.  Needs

Please describe and prioritize any faculty, classified, and student assistant needs.
1 - Part-time Instructor
Please describe and prioritize any equipment, material, and supply needs.
Laptop
LexusNexus Computer Software
Miscellaneous: computer paper and ink, pens, legal pads, flashdrives, whiteboard markers and erasers
Please describe and prioritize any facilities needs.
Continued contract with the Law Library - Approx. $300 a year
Computer Lab with current Paralegal software available on all computers, i.e., calandaring, billing, legal research programs.

X.  Course SLOs and Assessment

Fall 2010
Number of active courses in your discipline / 11
Number with SLOs / 11
% SLOs/Active Courses / 100%
Number of courses with SLOs that have been assessed / 11
% Assessed/SLOs / 100%
Describe types of assessment methods you are using
Exams, Research paper, quizzes
Describe results of your SLO assessment progress
Paralegal has completed 100% of the programs SLOs. The following describes our assesmet results:
It is helpful to have periodic meetings to discuss issues.
Because of the wide range of skill levels, it is challenging to teach and to grade writing assignments because of their [students] varying needs
Students could use improvement of their analytical abilities as it relates to written and oral communication of that legal analysis.
Using a rubric is helpful.
Provide students with more feedback by giving more feedback on assignments

XI.  Program Learning Outcomes and Assessment

Fall 2010
Number of degrees and certificates in your discipline / 2
Number with Program Learning Outcomes / 2
Number assessed / 0
% Assessed / 0%
Describe assessment methods you are using
Review Success percentages; Review assessment results from SLO review
Describe results of assessment
We are in the process of asessing during the Fall 2010 Semester. Assessment results will be available Spring 2011

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