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Three ASHA members who have conducted site visits for CAA share their thoughts on the increased visibility and use of practitioners in the academic accreditation process.
Why would someone who directly provides services be desirable as an evaluator of a graduate program?
"Practitioner members - who truly are actively in practice - are really aware of what is going on out in the real world, regardless of their specific area of practice" says Jaynee Handelsman, Assistant Director of the Vestibular Testing Center at the University of Michigan. As a member of a site visit team, practitioners can provide a perspective from the professional community when addressing specific program issues, including giving realistic input on how the skills a student learns during clinical practicum will translate into the future employment setting (e.g., succinct report-writing skills for client documentation and record-keeping needs).
What do programs gain from practitioner's participation in site visits?
"Having practitioners on the site visit team has helped the universities focus more on the ultimate outcome of their program, placing competent students in the professions," observes Sandra Turek, Assistant Chair of the Audiology & Speech Pathology Department at the Veteran's Administration Medical Center in Phoenix, AZ. "The universities have welcomed the practitioners to the team and I think they have benefited from the practitioners' viewpoint and experience."
Increasingly over the past decade, audiology and speech-language pathology practitioners' participation has been a critical factor in clinical and academic curriculum development, delivery, and assessment. Educational expectations have shifted from "inputs" of counting credit hours and clinical clock hours to "outcomes" of the development and honing of the knowledge and skills needed for professional practice.
The CAA has contributed to broadening the use of practitioners' experiences in preparing future professionals and evaluating graduate education programs by expanding the number of practitioners on the council from 1 in 1995 to 4 in 2003. Further, in 2002 the CAA began a 3-year phase-in to integrate practitioners on every site visit team. The current site visitor pool includes 34 trained, active practitioners.
"I think the practitioners have definitely added a much needed value to the academic accreditation process. Having the practitioner perspective has made it easier to review the clinical portion of the programs and has also done a lot to make the clinic supervisors and director be more relaxed during the visit and feel that their needs are being addressed as well," states Ellayne Ganzfried, an independent consultant in New York who is serves on the CAA as one of two practitioner members in speech-language pathology.
So, how do site visitors benefit from these experiences?
Although all admitted that site visits require a great deal of work, they also feel rewarded personally and energized professionally to be part of the process. Turek admits being "thrilled" when the CAA site visits were opened to practitioners. "Despite the amount of work, I still find [site visits] to be an important part of our profession and the experience is very gratifying. I know I have learned something on every site visit I have been a part of in the last three years."
Audiology programs, in addition to moving towards outcomes assessment, also have been transitioning to offering clinical doctoral programs. "Personally, because I care about audiology as a profession, and I care about the move to the doctoral level, [site visits have] provided an opportunity for me to be involved in this process and this transition, and to give useful feedback to the programs that are training the future of the profession," states Handelsman. "Serving as a site visitor also provides me with current information on what's happening at ASHA from a certification/accreditation point of view that I can pass onto my colleagues, so that I serve as a conduit of accurate information to the audiologists in my work setting."
The bottom line?
Ganzfried suggests "it has made the CAA stronger as a council and much more well-rounded. I think we sometimes forget that we are not only SLPs, audiologists, and speech scientists but within each group we have so many different work sites and experiences that should be shared." Turek believes that, "prior to 2002, I think we viewed academia and working in the CSD professions as two separate entities. I think having practitioners on the team has made us realize that working in the profession is just a continuum of the academic experience."
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