Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

School of Medicine

Department

Communication Sciences and Disorders

Committee Chair

Jayne Brandel

Committee Co-Chair

Jayne Brandel

Committee Member

Jayne Brandel

Committee Member

Michelle Moore

Committee Member

Alexandra Hollo

Abstract

Educational goals can control critical aspects of intervention and progress monitoring for students with disabilities and as such are a central feature of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). Despite its importance, school staff frequently report not receiving enough training or support on IEP documentation. Rosborough and Brandel (2020) investigated the quality of IEP goals written in the state of West Virginia. Findings indicated that professional development activities needed to be designed and analyzed related to immediate and long-term efficacy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a self-paced, online training for goal writing. Participants were recruited by word of mouth to partake in the study. A total of 16 speech-language pathologists responded and began the training. By the end of the study, five individuals completed the surveys and training in full, which included a demographic survey, pre-assessment, seven learning modules, and a post-assessment. Each participant was evaluated on their performance on a knowledge assessment, their ability to evaluate language goals using a rubric for which they completed training on how to use, as well as their ability to compose IEP goals. Results indicated that foundational knowledge, on average, increased by 14% after the training modules were completed. Overall, the ability to rate components of goals was mixed from the pre-assessment (mean = 50%) to the post-assessment as evidenced by a post-assessment mean score of 43% (SD: 18.7). Outcomes also suggested that the majority of participants were able to effectively include more short-term goal components within self-generated IEP goals. Patterns in the data regarding ratings for each short-term goal component supported previous research findings (Farquharson et al., 2014; Rosborough & Brandel, 2020). Additional research is needed to further establish the reliability and efficacy of the online training.

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