(Rockville, MD-March 8, 2006) Collaboration on the design and development of a higher education data system (HES) was announced between the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CAPCSD). A formal letter of agreement outlining the specific responsibilities of both parties in the development of this system was signed by ASHA Executive Director Arlene Pietranton and CAPCSD President Richard Hurtig on December 30, 2005.
"This system will be immensely beneficial to higher education programs, students, and the entire discipline of communication sciences and disorders (CSD), and could serve as a model of how academic programs and a professional association can team up to meet the data collection and dissemination needs of one discipline," ASHA President Alex Johnson says. "Through EdFind- the online, customized search engine for CSD programs - users will be able to find and compare academic programs on specific criteria that are of importance to them."
The goals for HES include easing the burden on academic programs in survey completion for ASHA and CAPCSD and reporting requirements for the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CAA), along with providing discipline-specific benchmark data for trend analysis by both groups. The concept for a joint data collection and reporting system originated when the amount of overlap between surveys and reports generated by all of these groups was discovered.
ASHA and CAA representatives are excited to see the efforts of the past two years come together in this joint initiative, and are thrilled to work with CAPCSD on this important project. A systems application development vendor was selected last year to design and build the system, according to specifications set by representatives of these organizations. The first survey to be managed and fielded through the new HES is scheduled to launch late summer/early fall 2006.
ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 120,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists. Audiologists specialize in preventing and assessing hearing disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists identify, assess, and treat speech and language problems including swallowing disorders. For more information about noise, hearing loss, and noise prevention, go to www.asha.org or 1-800-638-Talk.
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