Narrowing the Practice Gap: Sending MPA Students into the Field

Abstract

The existence of a gap between theory and practice in the educational experience of public administration graduate students is well established. This article describes a classroom activity that can be used in a required public personnel management class and is designed to bridge that gap by sending students into the field. The students' assignment is to produce either a personnel policy manual or a performance appraisal system for a governmental unit that agrees to participate in the project, then to provide written and oral briefings on the project. The briefings focus on problems identified in the preparation of the manual or the appraisal system and how solutions were developed for those problems. The authors have evaluated the project and have concluded that advantages such as skill development, knowledge integration, and service to the community outweigh disadvantages such as the risk associated with inexperience, the time demanded for the project, and even the development of the habit of relying on work already done by others.