Three-Year Program Evaluation of a University-Public School Collaborative Partnership

Area of Science:

• Speech-Language Pathology
• Educational Psychology
• Program Evaluation

Background:

• The need for accessible speech-language therapy in schools.
• The challenge of securing adequate clinical placements for graduate students in speech-language pathology.
• The importance of innovative service delivery models in pediatric healthcare and education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate an innovative program providing classroom-based speech and language services.
• To assess the program's effectiveness in meeting the needs of school children and graduate student interns.
• To examine the utility of a logic model in program development and implementation.

Main Methods:

• A partnership between a university speech-language pathology program and a school district.
• Supervision of graduate student interns by certified speech-language pathologists in school settings.
• Data collection through child-level data, teacher surveys, and interviews.

Main Results:

• Positive feedback from all stakeholders, including students, supervisors, and administrators.
• Favorable teacher ratings and an increase in classroom-based intervention hours.
• Achievement of short-, medium-, and long-term outcomes as defined by the program's logic model.

Conclusions:

• The program demonstrated a successful model for collaborative, classroom-based speech-language services.
• The findings support the need for innovative approaches in school-based speech-language pathology.
• The logic model proved effective in guiding program development and evaluation.