NAU SPEECH QUARTERLY REPORT
Quarter Date: January 15, 2012
The 2011 admissions data are provided in the table below.
Number of students in the program. / 162 Summers Only52 Full Time
Number of students admitted into the program. / 62 Summers Only 2011
23 Full Time Fall 2011
Number of students denied admittance. / 17 Summers Only
175 Full Time
Number of students with diversities and/or disabilities admitted into the program. / 9 Summer 2009
21 Summer 2010
15 Summer 2011
Number of students graduating. / 14 Fall 2011 (5 Summers Only)
Number of students employed by Arizona schools/districts. / 96 total
28 Summer 2011
Number of Arizona schools/districts employing Summers Only students. / 25
Number of special education directors and SLP coordinators receiving information pertaining to the Summers Only program’s recruitment of SLPs with diverse backgrounds. / Summer: 25 flyers sent to SLP supervisors
Fall: 7 AZ special ed directors/SLP coordinators with oversight of 82 SLTs received information regarding recruitment of SLPs with diverse backgrounds
NAU SPEECH QUARTERLY REPORT
Quarter Date: January 15, 2012
Additional Information:Additional Information:
SPDG Quarterly Report: October 15, 2011
Purpose: Recruit, Prepare, and Retain Sufficient numbers of diverse, fully certified speech-language pathologists to meet the needs of Arizona’s growing special education population of students with disabilities.
Specific Aim 1: to increase the number of highly qualified, master’s degree-level speech-language pathologists working in Arizona schools.
Progress: The Summers Only program at Northern Arizona University allows bachelor’s level speech-language personnel to keep their school-based jobs during the academic year and attend the summer master’s degree program at Northern Arizona University (NAU). Students complete 12 courses during three summers at the NAU mountain campus in Flagstaff, and three additional online classes during the academic year. Following summer 3, students complete two semesters of practicum at their work site followed by an externship in summer 4. The program is completed in 39 months.
Admissions 2011. Funding from the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG) has allowed NAU to expand its Summers Only program and support many more students from Arizona. In Summer of 2011, 62 new students were admitted to the Summers Only program. Thirty-seven (60%) of the students are Arizona residents.
2011 Admissions
AZ Residents / Diversity Status (Total) / Serving AZ Schools
Full-Time / 13/23 / 3/23 / N/A
Summers-Only / 37/62 / 15/62 / 37/62
Total / 50 / 18 / 37
Admissions 2012.The Arizona Department of Education’scontinued support through the 2012 admissions cycle allowed NAU to accept 49 new students into the Summers Only program. This number of new students exceeds the standard entering class size of 30 by 19. Twenty-six (53%) of these students are Arizona residents.
Specific Aim 2: to recruit and prepare ethnically diverse speech-language pathologists working in Arizona schools.
Progress: In 2011, NAU admitted 37 Arizona residents into the Summers Only master’s degree program. Three (8%) of the Arizona residents were diverse and most of the diverse students were fluent speakers of Spanish. Nonetheless, NAU targeted increased diversity in their admitted students. As a result, in 2012, NAU admitted 7 Arizona resident students (27%) with diversities or disabilities. The actual number of 7 may be an underestimate as it includes only those students in the category of diversity. NAU is proud of the number of diverse Arizona students as many of them are fluent Spanish speakers, a clinical skill which is very valuable to many speech and language clients and families in Arizona.
As a diversity recruitment effort, NAU distributed a flyer from July to September to 25 Arizona speech-language pathology supervisors announcing NAU’s interest in recruiting applicants who are fluent speakers of Spanish, Navajo, Hopi and Apache. During the current quarter, an additional seven special education directors and SLP coordinators with oversight of 82 Speech-Language Technicians in Arizona received the information flyer regarding recruitment of SLPs with diversities. During the 2011 admissions process, NAU continued its admissions weighting priority for students who demonstrate fluency in one of the regionally important languages. This admissions practice serves to increase the cultural and linguistic diversity of applicants. NAU admitted 15 students out of 62 with ethnic diversities in summer 2011.
Recruitment efforts for the Summers Only track included securing a Graduate Student Fair table at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association annual convention in San Diego. Specific Summers Only and Full Time recruitment materials were distributed. In addition, the NAU Graduate College Director distributed CSD Summers Only brochures and rack cards at three Graduate Student recruitment fairs across the state.
As a result of the Arizona Department of Education support, NAU offered a 2 hour workshop on July 25, 2011 on Phonological Assessment and Treatment of Bilingual Spanish-English children. The workshop presenter was Dr. Leah Fabiano-Smith from the University of Arizona. Given the high numbers of Spanish-English speakers in Arizona this is a topic of great interest to speech-language pathologists. The workshop was well received with 180 students and 8 faculty attending the workshop.
SO Admits by Year / AZ Residents / % of AZ students with diversities/disabilities / Non-AZ resident admits by Year / % of Non-AZ residents with diversities/disabilities / % of admits with diversities/disabilities
2009 / 20 74% / 8 40% / 7 26% / n/a / n/a
2010 / 18 51% / 6 32% / 20 53% / 8 44% / 38%
2011 / 37 60% / 3 8% / 25 40% / 9 36% / 20%
2012 / 26 53% / 7 27% / 23 47% / 8 35% / 31%
Total: 101/57% / Total: 18% 2- year average / Total: 24% 2- year average / Total: 36% 2- year average / Total: 26%
2-year average
* n/a: not available
Specific Aim 3: to monitor student progress through the master’s degree program and provide guidance relative to Arizona school district work settings.
Progress: The Arizona Department of Education State Personnel Development Grant has provided the support needed for Northern Arizona University to accept 63 Arizona resident students into the Summers Only Track during the 2011 and 2012 admissions cycles and to support an additional 38 Arizona residents in their third and fourth years of the master’s degree program.
Every summer individual advising sessions are held with all of the Summers Only students. Record updates are obtained for both students and their supervisors at this time. Notations are made in each student’s file relative to contact information, licensing status, and supervisor certification. Each student updates the Knowledge and Skills Acquisition form and the Program of Study.
Other events:
The Arizona Department of Education partnered with Northern Arizona University and the Arizona Speech-Language-Hearing Association to sponsor a workshop for the supervisors and students of the Summers Only program. This workshop was entitled: Through the Leadership Lens: Charting a Course for Clinical Excellence! which was presented by Wayne Secord, PhD and Mike Towey, MA, both experts in the areas of leadership and telepractice. The workshop was attended by 80 students, 25 supervisors and four faculty.
Regular communication was maintained with all Summers Only students through email distribution of the Summers Only Newsletter. From July through September, eleven issues were distributed providing news, requirement updates, deadlines and an important events calendar for the Summers Only students. From October 15 through January 15, an additional 9 Newsletters were sent out. The Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders received recognition from the Council on Academic Accreditation in Speech-Language Pathology for this enhanced communication with students. (Appendix A: July 15, 2011 Summers Only Newsletter.)
Summary: The Arizona Department of Education State Personnel Development Grant support has allowed NAU Summers Only program to impact the number of qualified speech and language pathologists training and working in Arizona schools. As these students are employed in Arizona schools throughout their graduate school training, we expect that they will remain in their positions upon graduation and will create a lasting effect on the quality of speech and language services provided in Arizona schools.