Dean Randy Kamphaus

College of Education

Ga.StateUniversity

Atlanta, GA30302

November 30, 2007

Dear Dean Kamphaus:

The Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education (EPSE) has just completed its report for Academic Program Review covering the academic years 2004-2005, 2005-2006, and 2006-2007. The report addresses our effectiveness through a review of academic programs addressing the quality, viability and productivity of our efforts in instruction, scholarship, and service. Our review involved an analysis and unit self-study using both quantitative and qualitative data. As of Fall 2007, the complement of department faculty is 26.2, with 20 tenure-track lines. This is approximately the same number as at the end of the 1970s. However, currently we are a faculty of greater research productivity, diversity, and national recognition.

Data indicate that EPSE is performing at levels commensurate or exceeding peer (University of Oklahoma) and aspiring (Pennsylvania State University; ranked 14th in Educational Psychology and 15th in Special Education in the 2007 U. S. News and World Report)departments across the areas of instruction, research, and service. EPSE1) generates more credit hours of instruction per faculty member and 2) generates more external funding per faculty member than our comparison departments, and 3) is on par in scholarly publications per faculty member with our comparison departments. EPSE faculty members also participate in pivotal leadership roles in the College of Education (COE), Georgia State University (GSU), and state and national organizations.

EPSE prepares master’s students in educational psychology (EPY) and three areas of special education including communication disorders (CD); behavior learning disabilities (BLD); and multiple severe disabilities (MSD) focusing on autism, deaf/hard of hearing, early childhood special education, mental retardation, or physical and health disabilities.EPSE also prepares doctoral students in Educational Psychology and in Exceptional Students. Additionally, EPSE offers certification only programs in special education at a post-baccalaureate level and in 2006, began a new dual certification program in special education/early childhood for undergraduates in the Early Childhood Department. We produce graduates across certification and degree levels who are sought by employers and other universities as well as meet the critical national shortages in special education.

The quality of instruction is exemplary across non-degree and degree programs. EPSE produces outstanding student achievement as evidenced by multiple external measures related to program assessment plans. For example, students across our programs are meeting or exceeding all indicators, targeted outcomes, objectives, and standards of student outcomes (WeaveOnline). On the nationally administered PRAXIS examinations used for teacher certification, in 2004-2005 of the seven disability areas tested, each of our programs had a 100% pass rate; in 2005-2006 six had pass rates of 100% and one of 93%. Students and alumni report that the coursework enables them to excel in their field and directly benefits their constituents; current students show ratings of high levels of satisfaction with the quality of instruction they receive. EPSE programs are accredited by the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CAA) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the National Association for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (PSC).

The quality of research which the faculty conducts and disseminates is exemplary. Over the period of the self-study 14 members of the faculty generated external funds from organizations such as the National Institutes of Health (NICHD and NIDCD), National Institute of Education Sciences (IES), National Institute for Literacy, U.S. Department of Education, Georgia Department of Education, and the Georgia Department of Human Resources. These funds have totaled $1,951,953 for 2005; $3,618,692 for 2006; and $2,758,149 for 2007. Another faculty member secured internal funds for a total of 15 (out of 18.2), or over 80% of the tenure/tenure track faculty, having funding during the study period.Much of the faculty research is interdisciplinary and collaborative within EPSE and GSU or with other universities.

The quality of service provided by EPSE to the community at-large meets the needs of a diverse population across ages, abilities, and activities. Faculty members are prominent in their service involvement; relationships among EPSE faculty and various lay and professional communities are deep and varied. Our faculty held major leadership positions as chairs of five COE standing committees, Chair of the GSU Senate Executive Committee, Chair and two members of the GSU Institutional Review Board, Chair and a member of GSU Americans with Disabilities Act Advisory Committee, and on state and national levels as President or Chair of four national organizations; co-editors of two national journals, and review board members of 30 journals. EPSE faculty members are also active grant proposal reviewers. Our faculty’s relationship with the educational and urban communities of Georgia is exemplified by the numerous workshops, training activities, and consultancies provided.

EPSE is central to the mission of an urban institution like GSU and to the COE. The mission of GSU is to develop, transmit, and utilize knowledge that is responsive to our urban environment and diverse students, creating leaders and global citizens. The mission of the COE is to provide leadership and scholarship for the betterment of education and human development. The programs in EPSE align with both the COE and GSU missions and further support them in the context of our specializations in education and development.Two central themes highlight our centrality. The first is developing knowledge. EPSE has an outstanding record of research productivitydevoted to the betterment of education for individuals with disabilities, our understanding of human development, and knowledge of adult learning. The programs of EPSE make significant contributions to scholarship through the generation of new knowledgeand the application of current knowledge in new ways in the domains of education and human development. Over the three years of this self-study, faculty published 111 refereed articles for an average of 37 per year and 2 per faculty member per year; 18 non-refereed articles for an average of 6 per year and .33 per faculty member per year; five DVDs; 7 books and 54 book chapters; and made 183 conference presentations for an average of 61 per year and 3.4 per faculty member per year.EPSE also does a superior job in transmitting and utilizing knowledge. EPSE students, alumni, and faculty continually contribute to state and national levels in a direct manner. During the review period, doctoral students made outstanding progress in their professional development. In special education they made 104 conference presentations and were authors on 50 journal articles and 16 book chapters. Doctoral students in educational psychology made 74 conference presentations and were authors on 15 journal articles and 4 book chapters. This work is carried out with a strong commitment to urban issues in general, in metro-Atlanta communities, and throughout the state of Georgia. Furthermore, EPSE scholarship integrates instruction, research, and service in context; this is natural since so much of the work focuses on understanding and improving education services, especially for persons with needs or situations that fall outside thetypical range. The greater Atlanta area is a rich classroomand clinic for work in our fields of expertise. In many cases, our urban research sites also serve as our teaching, supervision, and service sites.

The programs in EPSE are also viable. Viability is measured with respect to enrollments and graduates. In our master’s programs, there was an average of 275 majors per year, with an average of 78 degrees awarded each year. In our doctoral program, average annual enrollment was 60 students, with 6 doctoral graduates per year. In addition to degree programs,EPSE offers non-degree programs in which students who already have a bachelors’ degree enroll for certification-only in the various teachercertification categories in special education. Our BLD certification program has a three year average enrollment of 93 students with 70 completers while the MSD program has a three year average enrollment of 28 with 10 completers.In addition to our own students,service courses offered by EPSE across GSU reached an average of 579 students per year in EXC 2010; an average of 472 students per year in EPY 2050, and an average of 320 students per year enrolled in EPY 7080. The total credit hours generated per year averaged 12,425. There has been a small decline over the three years, largely due to a decline in undergraduate credit hours and the elimination of the Ed.S. program but our credit hour production is still beyond that of our comparison departments.

In summary, EPSE has made strong progress since the last APR report in 1999. Almost all the goals were met, with the exception of several that were no longer applicable and one which remains a current challenge, infrastructure support for research efforts. Another challenge is office space, particularly for data storage and Graduate Research Assistants. There are also extensive concerns over technological resources, particularly in the area of instruction.

Current problems (e.g., inability of faculty to access class materials from on- and off-campus sites, insufficient on-line resources for instruction, no technical support after business hours) hinder delivery of course content. In addition, EPSE’s website needs regular updating to provide relevant, timely, and adequate instructional information to students and to present our programs to alumni, prospective students and the community at- large. Another concern is that EPSE is not adequately meeting the increased student demand for the autism, birth-through-five (to begin Fall 2008), or dual Early Childhood/Special Education programs, and as such, needs to dedicate a full-time tenure-track faculty member to each of these programs. In terms of research, infrastructure limitations of administrative support, availability of statistical software,and advanced technological supports are beginning to have a limiting effect on our ability to expand research efforts. While the EPSE department is held in high regard in Georgia, we lack national visibility. Lack of strategic marketing as well as infrastructure issues remain challenges that need to be addressed.

EPSE’s recommended goals and objectives are aligned with the strategic focus of GSU and the COE to become one of the nation’s premier research universities located in an urban setting.

University Goal 4 concerns interdisciplinary programs and programs that meet emerging needs. Instruction Goal 1 of EPSE contains objectives for joint programs with the Department of Early Childhood Education concerning teachers for children birth to five, and a dual certification program. It also adjusts the commitment of a faculty member to the emerging knowledge and needs in the area of Autism. University Goal 5 concerning individual student learning styles is addressed through Instruction Goal 3 concerning instructional technology support for the faculty in order to better individualize and deepen instructional experiences; and an objective to continue to provided individualized advisement to each student from a faculty member, and devise a better system for certification only students.University Goal 9 for development of a dynamic, intellectual environment that stimulates scholarly activity is addressed by EPSE Research Goal 1. Improvement of grants management will allow the faculty to maintain and extend levels of external funding and thereby vary the research-based intellectual activities within EPSE; and Research Goal 3 which will enhance the dynamic nature of the intellectual environment by bringing in distinguished professors for periods of time, and allow faculty to spend time in other research-active departments across the country. University Goal 3 concerning graduate and research programs with national recognition that benefit the interests of the state is also addressed by the Research Goals as they will provide stable and continued funding and will enhance the national visibility of EPSE's research activities. Also Research Goal 2 focuses on recruiting doctoral students of high quality by increasing the visibility and recognition of our doctoral programs and increasing funding opportunities for our students which will enhance both the quality of the research done here and the educational experience of our doctoral students. Finally, University Goal 10 concerning the provision of service activities as a resource to local, state, and federal entities is addressedin Service Goal 2 by ensuring the continuance and reward for professional and community service activities that balance the research and teaching of the faculty, and will continue to grow the national profile of the department.

All EPSE faculty members were extensively involved in the development of the report and approved it unanimously at our faculty meeting on November 2, 2007. We look forward to the completion of the process with our external and internal reviewers and GSU administrative reviews recommendations and action plans. Please let me know if there are questions.

Sincerely,

Peggy A. Gallagher, Ph.D.

Professor and Chair

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