SACSCOC Fifth Year Interim Report
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Assessment : 2012 - 2013 : Educational Programs :
Special Education MA/MED (Low Incidence Disabilities And Autism)
Special Education MA/MED (Low Incidence Disabilities And Autism)
2 Goals 2 Objectives 2 Indicators 2 Criteria 2 Findings 2 Actions
| GOAL: Mastery Of Council For Exceptional Children (CEC) Knowledge And Skills |
| Objective |
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Candidates will demonstrate mastery of knowledge and skills on comprehensive examinations referenced to the standards set forth by the Behavior Analysis Certification Board. |
| Indicator |
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Faculty-developed rubric scored by two independent faculty members following standards of the Behavior Analysis Certification Board Task List. |
| Criterion |
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90% of candidates will score 80% or better on the rubric (see attached). Particular areas of emphasis include data analysis and improvement, behavioral support plan development, and application of ethical principles. Since we had 100% of candidates passed the comprehensive exam in 2011-2012, we have raised the criterion to 90% of students will reach at least 80% on the rubric. The domain identified to improve is the area of research design. We have set in motion some interventions for this area. |
| Finding |
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| Seventy percent of the students scored 80% (40 out of 50) or better upon the initial testing. However, because the remaining three students were within 10% of the passing criteria (5 points), the faculty decided to bring the students back into the room and probe for additional information on questions upon which they had performed poorly. Therefore, with additional prompting, all students achieved a passing grade (see the attached score sheet for initial and final scores). The average of all initial scores was 42.05 and the average of all final scores was 42.65 out of 50. Interrater reliability was very high across all students with an overall average of 92.44 and a range of 60-100 on individual questions. |
Actions for Objective:
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Cirriculum changes are being made to focus more heavily on the task list created by the Behavior Analaysis Certification Board. Furthermore, all classes in the future will be taught by Board Certified Behavior Analysts or individuals with a strong background in behavior analysis only. In addition, we will be transitioning to written comprehensive exams in order to more fully capture the extent of a student's knowledge, and not their nerves at having to perform in person. Thus, this year, we will give students a choice of oral or written examinations as we make the transitions. Therefore, our scores may be higher than usual for this reason in the following year. |
| GOAL: Production Of Reports On Scholarly Research |
| Objective |
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| Candidates will develop a high-quality research proposal in SPED 6314. |
| Indicator |
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| The research proposal will be scored by instructors of SPED 6314. |
| Criterion |
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80% of the candidates will score 80% or better on the rubric (attached) to evaluate the research proposal in SPED 6314. We just missed the 80% criterion last year, so it will be used again this year. The area identified last year to improve was clarity of written description of procedure on the research proposal. |
| Finding |
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| Candidates submit a research proposal at the end of the semester. The proposals are scored with the attached rubric that looks at competency domains such as "Providing Background Information”, "Literature Review", and "Description of Procedure." Students' performance (n = 12) on the 100 point rubric averaged 77.2%. Range of performance was 64-90%. The lowest domain of candidate performance was in the area of results, especially considering that one student (04) failed to indclude a results section completely. Candidates performed strongly on providing background information on subject selection, identification of target skill, etc. |
Actions for Objective:
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Students will begin working on their reserch proposals much earlier in their academic careers (Spring semester of their first year). Students will be introduced to a wider variety of resarch throughout all of their classes. Students will receive increased emphasis on written description of procedures - clarity and conciseness - in the early portion of the course. Students will be afforded opportunities to submit drafts of the proposal prior to the final submission at the end of the course. The accuracy criterion of 80% of candidates was not obtained - 77.2% was the average performance. Thus, 80% will remain the criterion level of accuracy for the research proposal. However, a new rubric will be used in the coming year that more closely matches the actual criteria for a research manuscript. |
| Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
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The two objectives for the Low Incidence Disabilities and Autism (LIDA) program involve performance on Comprehensive Examinations and the quality of the Research Proposal submitted in SPED 6314. Improvement of candidate performance will take place through increased emphasis on identifying research designs connected to the process of professional writing and publishing. Further emphasis on candidates knowledge and application of research procedures will take place in SPED 6303 - Measurement and Assessment of Behavior and SPED 6306 - Single Subject Design in Research. Professional Standards for Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) will continue to be analyzed for those critical domains involving research design and proposal creation. Elements of CEC Knowledge and Skills and the BCBA Task List are being addressed in coursework and quizzes in the LIDA program.
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| Update on Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
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The previous year's Plan for Continuous Improvement was not implemented as intended due mostly to a deficit in faculty. The program has almost always been short faculty, and therefore has been reliant on adjuct faculty who are not well-trained in Behavior Analytic methods and research. Therefore, we will finally be able to address our goals this year due to being fully staffed.
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| Plan for Continuous Improvement |
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This year, we have already made many changes and plan to continue to do so. We began getting the 2013-2014 students focused on their research projects in Spring of 2013. We have had the students read more research than previous years. We are working to change the course sequence towards both of the aforementioned goals as well. We are having the students conduct small research projects in classes early on to prepare them for their larger research project. We have changed the way that practicum is conducted so that they are receiving maximum experience in the field, if possible. We have changed the curriculum in several classes to focus more strongly on the Behavior Analysis Certification Board Task List in order to prepare them for both comprehensive exams and the BCBA exam. Overall, we are making any change necessary to improve the intensity of the cirricular and research focus for the student.
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