Needs Assessment Cycle Graduate and Professional Studies ... · Graduate and Professional Studies Institute (GPSI) Graduate and Professional Studies Institute (GPSI) is a proposal

Graduate and Professional Studies Institute 1

Needs Assessment Cycle

Graduate and Professional Studies Institute (GPSI)

Lynn E. Black

CUR528

March 21, 2016

Laura Armer


Graduate and Professional Studies Institute (GPSI)

Graduate and Professional Studies Institute (GPSI) is a proposal for a

graduate/professional program in business and education to be established at the American

University of the Caribbean in Les Cayes, Haiti. Les Cayes is a major city in the southwestern

region of Haiti and is comprised of a population of approximately 90,000 inhabitants. The

impetus for the GPSI program/school is to address the need for an American-style graduate and

professional school based on an empirical model of learning and on the American college credit

system. A program description and application can be found in the appendices. (See Appendix B

and C respectively)

In the Les Cayes region, there currently exist several undergraduate schools/programs

offering bachelor's degrees or the Haitian license equivalent; however, there does not exist any

graduate/professional programs in the region. There are currently 25 graduate or professional

programs that exist in Haiti and only 1 program outside of Port-au-Prince (University Directory

Worldwide, n.d.). Students outside of Port-au-Prince who have completed their undergraduate

studies have no option available to continue their educational career without relocating to Port-

au-Prince or traveling abroad. For many graduates, the associated costs are prohibitive.

The purpose of this assessment is to evaluate the admissions process. This would involve

multiple stages of implementation. First stage would be to poll the interest level of the Les Cayes

community and Haitian college graduates throughout the country for an American-style graduate

and professional level program. The next stage of the implementation would involve identifying

and certifying current interested bachelor’s degree holders or the Haitian license equivalent and

surveying seniors at existing undergraduate schools. Finally, at the end of the admissions

process, to evaluate the level of efficiency/effectiveness of the admissions process.


The needs assessment will be conducted over a 4 month period. No statistical data on

Haitian higher education could be found on the Internet. Therefore, step one of the needs

assessment will be to contact the Ministry of Education in Port-au-Prince to obtain statistical data

on recent college graduates (within 5 years). This statistical information on recent college

graduates will aid in knowing the possible demand for a new program especially if the

information is categorized by region. Step two of the needs assessment will be to conduct

information meetings at strategic schools throughout the country. The purpose of the information

meetings is to talk with parents, graduates, and seniors about their future intentions, program

options, program requirements, and distribute interest cards (see Appendix A). The third and

final step of the needs assessment is to solicit applications and to perform a skills assessment.

The Cambridge Thinking Skills Assessment will be administered to all applicants as an

evaluation for admissions. All materials and publications will be translated into French and

Haitian Creole.

The budget of the needs assessment will cover radio advertisements for 2 months in each

of the educational centers to be visited, travel expenses to major educational centers (Cap

Haitian, Gonaives, Port-au-Prince, Les Cayes is the home city) to conduct information meetings.

Also three (3) assistants will be hired to help with the production and translation of materials,

with data collection and analysis, and managing telephone calls. Assistants will be employed on

a part-time, temporary basis. Also, the budget will include funds for advertisement, printing, and

telephones and monthly Internet service. (See Appendix D for a synopsis of the budget.) The

application deadline is May 31, 2016. (See Appendix C)

Eligibility for the program will be determined by the individual’s competence in their

domain as indicated by their GPA (3.0 or higher), a demonstration of adequate thinking skills on


the Cambridge Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA - a score 80 percent or better, (see Appendix

E), a score of 550 or higher on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the

equivalent score on the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC), evaluation of

two writing samples (a personal statement and academic writing), and a personal interview. Each

indicator will be assigned a weight. It is not possible to provide a sample version of the Test of

English due to the proprietary nature of the exams. The total score of each applicant will be

ranked with all other applicants. A scoresheet will be maintained on each applicant that will

consist of a score in each of the aforementioned categories (see Appendix F).

Recommendations/References are of a precarious nature and are not requested for this

application process. Students with the best all-around scores will be invited for an interview. A

triage will be performed to ascertain the most qualified students. Students whose dossiers are

incomplete will be immediately removed from consideration. Stage one of the assessment will

evaluate the applicant’s academic file, which includes their transcript and English language

scores. The students who score above 90% at this level will continue to stage two. Stage two of

the Assessment will be the evaluation of the applicants’ writing samples. A rubric will be used to

evaluate the applicants’ writing samples. (See Appendix G-A).

The academic writing sample will be evaluated on its scholarship e.g., form, clarity of

ideas, and originality. Personal essays will attempt to identify the individual’s readiness for

graduate-level study as identified by clearly defined career goals, a strong work ethic, and clearly

defined problem-solving skills. The structure of the personal essay will consist of a series of

three (3) questions related to the aforementioned qualities (see Appendix G-B, C). Each essay

will be evaluated by a staff member. Essays that pass the initial evaluation will be evaluated by

the administrator, the administrative assistant, and the data specialist.


The final component of the admissions process is the interview. Students will be asked to

verify information on their application to ensure that they are the ones who completed the

application and its components, and to verify if the picture of the student that arose from the

assessments was accurate. The interviews will be conducted in an informal manner and will

comprise only simple notetaking on the part of the interviewer. Applicants will be assigned a

score for their interview performance based on timeliness, appearance, communication skill, and

pleasantness/politeness. Five (5) points are allotted for each category. The Cambridge Thinking

Skills Test will be administered when the applicant is invited for the interview.

To conclude the admissions process, an evaluation of the entire process will be

conducted. (See Appendix H) The students who were selected for the interview will be asked to

complete an evaluation form rating the efficiency and effectiveness of the process. Also an

informal briefing with the staff will be conducted to review the candidates’ evaluations of the

admissions process and to discuss observations that were made to improve the admissions

process and to celebrate completion. Formal evaluations will be administered to staff at the

debriefing session.

An action program logic model (see Appendix I) reveals some of the underlying

assumptions and obstacles to the success of the program process. For instance, the program

assumes that not only will there be adequate interests for the program, but that a number of key

qualities will be present in target population. One of the assumptions underlying the program is

that candidates will possess prerequisite thinking and language skills necessary for independent,

empirical study at the graduate level. It will be interesting to see how well the admissions

process is able to capture these qualities. Another inherent assumption is that the general

population will prefer international education compared to local, indigenous learning systems.


This is a relatively safe assumption given that many Haitian students prefer to study at

international schools or to study abroad. Haiti Libre, a national Haitian newspaper (2015)

reported that more than 12,000 Haitian students were studying in the Dominican Republic in

2015. Dumay (2012) suggests that Haitian higher education is lacking funding due to

deficiencies in academic vision and systemic coordination. When national officials were asked

by the World Bank to provide a systematic plan for the development of higher education in Haiti,

they were unable to offer anything substantial in the way of academic vision or promise (p. 33).

These two indicators suggests a lack of confidence in the Haitian higher education on the part of

all stakeholders.

One of the obstacles or threats to the success of the overall process lies in the program’s

ability or lack thereof to secure qualified professors and garner public confidence. This will be a

formidable challenge without significant financial resources. It is impossible for the program to

achieve the educational outcomes without long-term, full-time faculty (Dumay, p. 33). Another

threat to the overall success of the program is competition. As with any market, once people

recognize a successful idea, everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon. Haïti is no different. The

business climate in Haiti is rife with corruption and people would just as soon steal other’s ideas

than develop their own. Klitgaard (2010) reaffirmed Haiti’s status as one of the world’s most

corrupt societies. Naturally, monopolistic and oligarchist tendencies abound. Government forces

may also be party to such activities. Finally, international funding for such a project can prove to

be unnerving. Student tuition would not be sufficient alone to sustain a program of this nature.

Poor funding can also wreak havoc on public confidence and discourage student participation.

Immediate program objectives/goals would be to obtain an adequate number (100 or

more per program) of applications from interested students, invitations from 4 other cities or


educational centers demonstrating public support for the program, and processing and selection

of qualified candidates. A major outcome of the program would be 50 high-quality candidates

per program. The ultimate impact of the admissions program would be the initiation of high-

quality graduate students and research assistants, higher-quality community service projects

conducted in the community by the graduate students, high graduation rates, astute, savvy

business and educational managers, and ultimately the establishment of an international graduate

school in southern Haiti.

Due to the nature and size of the operation, recordkeeping will be the primary way that

we will track program progress during the admissions process. Records will be maintained on all

application documents and fees received and inquiries made by candidates and interested parties.

Summary reports (see Appendix L) will be submitted weekly to the administrator identifying the

number of applicants to date, all documents received, calls received from candidates and

interested parties. This reporting involves simply a transmittal of the Progress Report (see

Appendix J) and Call Log spreadsheets (see Appendix K). This data will be collected to track

applicant difficulties, document reception, fees paid, and public interest level. These indicators

along with candidate and staff evaluations will be used to identify problems and determine the

efficacy of the admissions process.


Methodology

The methodology of the GPSI admissions process is to evaluate applicants’ abilities and

level of responsibility by having the applicants submit required documents and undergo certain

assessments namely an evaluation of the applicants’ thinking, writing, and interviewing skills.

The evaluations are weighted: GPA (5 points), TOEFL (5 points), writing samples (15 points

each), Cambridge Thinking Skills Assessment (5 points), and the personal interview (20 points).

The GPA and the TOEFL are pass or fail. If the applicant meets the 3.0 GPA and a score of 550

on the TOEFL, then full points will be awarded. If the applicant has/does not achieve the

required score, 0 points will be awarded. Incomplete dossiers will not be eligible for review.

An applicant must have submitted all required documentation and a passing score of 90

to be admitted to a program. Applicants who achieve 80 or higher will be on standby until all

applicants with a passing score are admitted after which remaining spaces will be assigned.

Applicants who fail to achieve .80 will be ineligible for study. It is important that we admit

students of the highest level of intellectual ability and moral/ethical character into the programs.

The writing samples and the interview were heavily weighted. The philosophy being that we are

looking for individuals who not only have knowledge, but who also have an expert ability to

communicate their vision and ideals. It is our hope that we will be able to produce a cadre of

social technicians with the ability to reconstruct Haitian society for a better, brighter future.

Data Analysis

The scoresheet reveals that 45% of the applicants were ineligible due to incomplete

dossiers or poor performance on the assessments. (See Appendix L) The largest majority of

applicants were from the Les Cayes region (55%). The next largest group of applicants were


from Port-au-Prince (24%) and Gonaives and Cap Haitian, (21%) and (7%) respectively. The

applicants from Cap Haitian is the farthest from the Les Cayes region and is considered the

intellectual capital of Haiti. It also has well-established universities in its area; hence, the reason

for the small number of applicants. See Appendix M for a full breakdown of interests by region

and major.

The scoresheet also reveals that 29% of applicants did not possess a high enough TOEFL

score for admission into the program. This calculation does not include applicants who did not

submit their scores. The averages for the personal and academic writing samples were 12.5% and

11% respectively. Of the 29 students who did not possess an adequate TOEFL score, 24 of the

29 scored 10 or below on the academic writing and 22 of the 29 scored 10 or less on the personal

essay. The interview average was extremely low, 12/20 because of a 9 individuals who scored 15

or below on the interview.

The ratio of females to males that applied for admissions was 1 to 1.2. There were 56

male applicants and 44 female applicants. Of the 55 applicants that succeeded in the application

process, 29 were male and 26 were female. Therefore, 59% of females were successful compared

to 51% of males. Applications who matriculated into the business program were equally divided

between males and females. Three (3) more males than females matriculated into the education

program.

The applicant reviews of the admissions process indicated that 45% of the applicants

rated certain aspects of the admissions process below 80%. (See Appendix N) The low ratings

were in a lack of orderliness in the information meetings, poor audience responses observed at

the information meetings, the aesthetics/ambiance of the environment at the information

meetings, and poor records management. The records management is of great concern. A better


recordkeeping/document storing system needs to be installed. A couple of staff members rated

the information meetings disorderly indicating that a better locale could have been chosen.

Apart from the aforementioned concerns, the staff felt that the admissions process was fairly well

managed given the low staffing.


Appendix A: Interest Card


Appendix B – Program Description


Appendix C – Application

Note: Entire document can be viewed by double-clicking the image.


Appendix D - Admissions Budget


Appendix E - Cambridge Thinking Skills Assessment



Appendix F – Applicant Score Sheet



Appendix G – Writing Sample Rubrics



Appendix H – Overall Program Evaluations



Appendix I – Action Program Logic Model


Appendix J – Applicant Process Report



Appendix K – Call Log



Appendix L – Applicant Scoresheet



Appendix M – Interest Data and Graphs



Appendix N – Applicant and Staff Reviews




References

Cambridge Admissions Testing Service. (2015, September). Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA):

Test Specification. Retrieved from

http://www.admissionstestingservice.org/images/47832-tsa-test-specification.pdf.

Dumay, H. (2012, Spring). Haitian higher education, funding, and. Haïti perspectives, 1(1), 29-

35. Retrieved from http://www.haiti-perspectives.com/pdf/1.1-haitian.pdf.

Haiti Libre. (2015, November 7). Haiti - Education: More than 12,000 Haitian students in

Dominican universities. Retrieved from http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-14488-haiti-

education-more-than-12-000-haitian-students-in-dominican-universities.html.

Klitgaard, R. (2010). Tackling corruption in Haiti is possible. Here’s how. Retrieved from

http://journal.probeinternational.org/2010/03/30/tackling-corruption-haiti-possible-

here%E2%80%99s-how/.

University Directory Worldwide. (n.d.). Graduate programs in Haiti. Retrieved from

http://www.university-directory.eu/Haiti/Graduate-Programs-in-Haiti.html.

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Needs Assessment Cycle Graduate and Professional Studies ... · Graduate and Professional Studies Institute (GPSI) Graduate and Professional Studies Institute (GPSI) is a proposal