Home » Doctoral Programs » Projects and Opportunities » Doctoral Track in Evidence-Based Language and Literacy
The Departments of Special Education and Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education at Utah State University are pleased to announce a new multidisciplinary doctoral program track in language and literacy. The primary goal of this track is to prepare new PhDs in special education and speech-language pathology who have strong knowledge and experience in evidence-based language and literacy research, and personnel preparation. The new track is supported by grant from the US Department of Education which will provide financial support for doctoral students.
The new multidisciplinary language and literacy program will be part of the Disability Disciplines Doctoral Program in the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services. More about the Disability Disciplines Doctoral program.
This is a multidisciplinary Ph.D. program that brings together faculty and students across disciplinary and departmental lines to explore the interrelated aspects of language and literacy. More about participating faculty.
The program is made up of a blend of coursework, a preliminary exam, internships, professional products, and a dissertation. More about program experiences and requirements.
Beginning in January of 2010, we plan to award at least 5 scholarships to doctoral students from the disciplines of Special Education, Speech-Language Pathology, and/or Applied Behavior Analysis. Doctoral students will receive a stipend of $20,000, health insurance, and support for research and scholarship activities. Since this support comes through a federal grant, students who receive financial support must agree to a service obligation - they are expected to work in the field for which they are being prepared after graduation. More about financial support and service obligation.
We are very excited to be able to offer this unique opportunity for multidisciplinary education in the Disability Disciplines Doctoral Program. Applications will be considered as they are received until all five positions in this cohort are filled with well-qualified students.
Questions about the program, your qualifications, or application process:
This project has been designed and will be implemented by a diverse, cross-departmental group of USU faculty and outside partners. Some of the most central faculty are briefly described below.
Dr. Timothy A. Slocum is the Director of the Disabilities Disciplines Doctoral Program, and the Chair of the Special Education Specialization. Dr. Slocum teaches teacher preparation courses focusing on evidence-based instructional practices for reading and language arts, and graduate courses on research methods, statistics, and cultural and linguistic diversity. Dr. Slocum is a former President of the Board of Directors of the Association for Direct Instruction, and Director of the Direct Instruction Research Consortium. He is a founding member and program chair of the Evidence-Based Practices SIG within the Association for Behavior Analysis. His research focuses on reading instruction, evidence-based practices and effective teacher preparation practices. Dr. Slocum has recently presented several papers on the challenges and complexity of identifying evidence-based practices.
Dr. Ronald B. Gillam is the Ray and Eloise Lillywhite Professor of Communication Disorders and Director of the Doctoral Program in Speech-Language Pathology. He has published two books, two language tests, and more than 95 articles and book chapters in the areas of information processing, language assessment, and evidence-based practices in language intervention. Recently, Dr. Ron Gillam was the PI/Project Director on a multi-site randomized controlled trial, funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders that compared the outcomes of three language intervention programs for children with language-based learning disabilities. Currently, Dr. Gillam is the site PI on a grant to study diagnostic markers of language impairment in bilingual children and is a member of the Advisory Committee for Evidence-Based Practice for the American Speech, Language, and Hearing Association. As the Co-PI on this leadership project, Dr. Gillam will be primarily responsible for overseeing the involvement of faculty and doctoral students in Speech-Language Pathology as well as teaching key courses on evidence-based practices. He will work closely with Dr. Slocum to coordinate faculty and student activities, to evaluate students, and to revise the curriculum, the research experiences, and the supervisory experiences.
Charles Salzberg, Ph.D. Dr. Salzberg has worked with students with a wide variety of disabilities in school, community, employment, and home settings and has conducted research in many areas of Special Education including teacher preparation, instruction, employment preparation, and students with disabilities in higher education. Dr. Salzberg is an accomplished scholar who has authored over 100 articles and book chapters. He is a Past President and current Board member of HECSE. Dr. Salzberg served as a member of the OSEP Blue Ribbon Committee for Leadership Training and the Advisory Board for COPSSE. He is currently a member of the Advisory Board for the IRIS Center. In these roles, he is current in developments in effective practices in teacher preparation and with the shortages of faculty who are well versed in evidence-based practices, teacher preparation, policy, and cultural and linguistic diversity.
Sandra Gillam, Ph.D. Dr. Sandra Gillam is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Disorders and Deaf Education. She has published extensively on the relations between language and literacy, and evidence-based practices for children with language impairments. She is currently the PI on a research grant to assess the efficacy of a functional language training program in English Language Learners. Dr. Gillam will advise doctoral students, provide research opportunities, and co-teach a seminar on evidence-based language and literacy interventions for students with mild/moderate disabilities.
Julie Wolter, Ph.D. Dr. Wolter is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Disorders and Deaf Education where she teaches courses on language development and disorders in children. Dr. Wolter's research interests include preschool and school-age language and literacy development for children with and without language-based literacy disorders, evidence-based practice, RTI, and the scholarship of teaching and training. Dr. Wolter will co-teach the Multidisciplinary Seminar on Language and Literacy and offer research opportunities to doctoral students wishing to research multiple-linguistic influences (i.e., phonological awareness, morphology, orthographic knowledge) on literacy development.
Donna Gilbertson, Ph.D. Dr. Gilbertson is a member of the Department of Psychology who specializes in implementing evidence-based practices and RTI in schools with special focus on culturally and linguistically diverse learners. She will teach a seminar on RTI as a framework for implementing evidence-based practices. The seminar includes collaboration among general education teachers, special education teachers and school psychologists.
Benjamin Lignugaris/Kraft, Ph.D. Dr. Lignugaris/Kraft is Head of the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation. He is currently on the HECSE Board and a member of several state policy groups including the USOE Special Education Legislative Coalition and the USOE Critical Teacher Shortages Committee. He will provide coordination and support between the department and the project, help facilitate internships with policy groups at the state level, teach at least one journal reading group, and advise students.
Ray Reutzel, Ph.D. Dr. Ray Reutzel is the Jones Distinguished Professor and Endowed Chair of Early Childhood Education at Utah State University. Dr. Reutzel has published more than 165 refereed reports, articles, books, book chapters and monographs. Dr. Reutzel was the Editor of Reading Research and Instruction and The Reading Teacher and is currently serving as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association. Dr. Reutzel will co-teach a multidisciplinary doctoral seminar on language and literacy and a doctoral seminar on evidence-based literacy instruction for English Language Learners.
Robert Morgan, Ph.D. Dr. Morgan has conducted research on effective practices for students with severe disabilities, teacher and paraeducator training, and technology in instructional design. He currently directs a federal grant to implement hybrid systems (integration of live and online instruction) to improve preservice preparation of teachers of students with severe disabilities. He will also advise students and provide internship opportunities in teacher preparation.
Nancy Glomb, Ph.D. Dr. Glomb's focus is on special education personnel preparation with special emphasis on the challenges of rural areas and systems for high-quality supervision of practicum students at a distance. She currently directs the Department's distance education certification program and a federally funded personnel preparation grant that features extensive hybrid coursework and innovative supervision systems. Dr. Glomb will provide personnel preparation internship sites, advise students, and contribute to seminars on personnel preparation.
Thomas Higbee, Ph.D. Dr. Thomas S. Higbee is an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Special Education and Rehabilitation. He is the found and Director of the Autism Support Services: Education, Research, and Training (ASSERT) program. He has published research on topics related to behavioral assessment and intervention strategies for individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities. He is on the board of editors of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and Behavior Analysis in Practice.
Sarah Bloom, Ph.D. Dr. Bloom recently joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation. She will co-teach the Language and Literacy Evidence-Based Practices for Children with Severe Disabilities course. Her research areas are functional analysis and treatment of problem behavior and verbal behavior, including functional communication training.
The new strand will build upon the structure of the existing Disability Disciplines Doctoral program, add new coursework, develop new field experiences, and focus many of the internships and professional products on evidence-based language and literacy practices.
The new strand focuses squarely on evidence-based language and literacy practices. A list of program requirements for special education and speech-language pathology with an evidence-based language and literacy focus is provided in appendix A. The activities associated with this strand include coursework, internships, and professional products. Course content and student products will integrate information and experiences related to policy, cultural and linguistic diversity, and research methods. Coursework will include two required courses that provide a broad basis for more specialized study and three electives (selected from six options) that allow students to focus their study of evidence-based language and literacy practice on specific populations and issues. The required courses are:
(1) SPED 7810: Seminar on Evidence-Based Practices. This course explores current trends in EBP in education, speech/language pathology and other fields. It focuses on the conceptual and methodological issues of indentifying evidence-based practices including (a) the variety of current approaches to EBP, (b) developing standards of evidence, (c) systematically reviewing evidence, (d) deriving practice guidelines, and (e) EBP, clinical judgment, and implementation issues.
(2) SPED 7815: English Language Learners and Literacy. This new course will focus on the challenges of identifying EBP and providing effective literacy instruction to students who are English Language Learners. It will explore methodological issues such as the challenges of conducting research in this area and identifying evidence-based practices in areas that lack an extensive research base, as well as substantive issues of identifying the best-supported practices for promoting literacy for English Language Learners.
In addition, students participating in this strand will select at least two courses from the following list of more specialized courses:
ELED 6230. Multidisciplinary Seminar on Language and Literacy
SPED 7830. Evidence-Based Lang. & Lit Pract. for Children with Mild/Mod. Dis..
SPED 7840. Language and Literacy Interventions for Indiv. w/ Severe Disabilities.
PSYC 6345 Response to Intervention and Evidence Based Practices.
SPED 7820 Seminar: Language Development.
SPED 7820 Seminar: Autism Spectrum Disorders
All Disability Disciplines doctoral students complete a preliminary exam and internships in college teaching, supervision, and research. In addition, they develop products designed to refine and assess skills related to conference presentations, writing for publication, critical analysis of research literature, and grant writing. The preliminary examination and the internships and products will focus on evidence-based language and literacy practices. For example, students will document teaching competence by teaching a faculty-supervised pre-professional course that features evidence-based practices. To demonstrate supervision competency, students will work with preservice teachers or speech language pathologists to implement evidence-based language and literacy practices in practica and clinics. In the area of writing for publication, a student might write a publishable manuscript on some aspect of evidence-based language instruction. Finally, students will be required to conduct dissertation research that relates to evidence-based language and literacy practices.
Each activity and product is evaluated by at least two doctoral level faculty. Successful completion of preliminary exams, internships, products, and a dissertation provides a strong basis to assert that students can communicate information about evidence-based language and literacy practices to others, apply evidence-based language and literacy practices in the field, and critically analyze and develop research on evidence-based language and literacy practices.
While student's primary area of study will be in evidence-based language and literacy practice, they will also develop knowledge in policy implementation, personnel preparation, and cultural linguistic diversity. It is critical that doctoral students demonstrate knowledge and application of evidence-based language and literacy practices within the context of policy implementation and personnel preparation. In addition, students must understand how culture and language affect all aspects of education including identification and implementation of evidence-based practices.
Policy implementation includes understanding the relationship between classroom and clinical practices and federal, state, and LEA policies, as well as understanding strategies for implementing policies and practices at the local level. Personnel preparation includes planning, teaching, and evaluating college-level teacher preparation courses that include evidence-based practices in traditional face-to-face, technology-enhanced and distance education modalities; planning, implementing, and evaluating supervision of teaching; and planning and developing teacher and SLP preparation programs that reflect federal and professional standards (e.g., provisions of NCLB and IDEIA that require that teachers be highly qualified and promote collaboration with general education), evidence-based practices, and issues of cultural and linguistic diversity.
These competencies are developed through a course in policy and implementation (SPED 7850), a course in personnel preparation (SPED 7830), a mentored internship in teaching (SPED 7340), and an internship in supervision (SPED 7330). The policy and implementation course will draw an important connection between national policy, evidence-based practice, and the practical issues of implementation in classrooms and clinics. The courses and internships on personnel preparation will provide students with skills necessary to disseminate evidence-based practices in pre-service and in-service contexts. The teaching and supervision internships feature collaboration with a mentor in multiple experiences with increasing levels of responsibility that culminate in proficient independent teaching and supervision skills. Students will teach courses that feature evidence-based language and literacy practices. Their tasks will include updating and enhancing this aspect of the courses. In supervision internships, students will deal directly with the challenges of supporting high-fidelity implementation of these evidence-based practices.
Addressing the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse learners is a critical mandate of the entire education system. University faculty must be prepared to help new teachers understand and negotiate the complexity of offering an effective, individualized, and culturally responsive education to diverse populations of students. To be effective, faculty must understand the historical, social, and economic context of cultural and linguistic diversity and the issues of schooling for culturally and linguistically diverse students within larger social contexts including social attitudes, federal and state laws, regulations, and programs, district and school level policies and classroom practices. They must also understand the variety of factors that interact to produce disproportional representation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education and low achievement. Most importantly, future faculty must understand the research base (including areas that support strong conclusions, areas that support only weak conclusions, and gaps in the research) related to school and classroom practices that can prevent or reduce the educational impact of disabilities for culturally and linguistically diverse students.
Students will develop this knowledge base through a combination of coursework and direct applied experience. All students will take SPED 7400: Cultural and Linguistic Diversity and Disability and SPED 7815: English Language Learners and Literacy, a required course in the evidence-based language and literacy strand. The first course will build a conceptual understanding of the complex issues of social construction of ethnicity/race and disability, explore social factors that contribute to disproportional achievement and representation in special education, and examine the research base on effective educational practices for culturally and linguistically diverse students. The second course will focus specifically on the challenges of indentifying evidence-based practices for this population (see the syllabus for these courses in Appendix B for the research base that supports this content). In this course, students will acquire an understanding of the challenges of identifying and implementing evidence-based practices with diverse groups of students. In addition, the coursework on evidence-based language and literacy practices will emphasize the importance and challenges of identifying practices for clearly defined populations. In addition to coursework, all students will devote one or more of their internships/products to issues of cultural diversity and evidence-based practices. Policy and personnel preparation competencies and applied knowledge of cultural and linguistic diversity are evaluated through course grades, and faculty evaluation of student's internship performance and products. As part of this evaluation, students must document how their personnel preparation activities relate to the research on implementation of language and literacy practices, how they and the preservice trainees they supervise are responsive to cultural and linguistic diversity. In addition, students will be encouraged to undertake additional internships/products that focus on diverse learners and include diverse learners in their dissertation research.
It is important to note that appropriate internships sites are available in local schools. Northern Utah is rapidly becoming more diverse in terms of both culture and language. The Ogden school district has a large student population that is culturally and linguistically diverse. For example, more than 25% of the students in 9 of the 12 schools in the district are Hispanic. In many schools, Hispanic students make up 50-88% of the school population.
Leaders in evidence-based language and literacy practice must have broad knowledge and application of evidence-based language and literacy practices as well as the ability to critically analyze research and design new research that builds the empirical support for promising language and literacy practices. Students prepared with an evidence-based language and literacy focus will develop specific competencies in (1) identifying research topics that are most relevant to improving student outcomes, (2) systematically reviewing literature (including EBP reviews), (3) using single subject research methods, (4) conducing group research methods and statistics, (5) disseminating research results to technical audiences, and (6) disseminating research results and syntheses of bodies of research to non-technical audiences.
The research competencies are developed through a series of courses and internships that involve extensive collaboration with faculty. The coursework includes a professional seminar that introduces students to reading and reviewing research (SPED 7920), a course in single subject research methods (SPED 7700), and a two-course series on group research methods (EDUC 6570 & 6600). The coursework on evidence-based practices is also an important part of this area - it provides instruction and application on evidence-based practice review methods and extensive practice in reading and critiquing research. Research and scholarship competencies are shaped through collaboration with faculty on multiple research projects including a required research internship and other internships/products. These formally required experiences are a minimum expectation; most students engage in research projects, coursework, and journal reading groups in excess of these requirements.
Research competencies are evaluated through completion of coursework, satisfactory performance on a preliminary exam, and faculty assessment of professional products and internship performance. The research section of the preliminary exam includes design of an experimental study (8 hours) and critique of a research manuscript (8 hours). Each professional product - the systematic literature review, publishable paper and national conference presentation - will integrate topics of evidence-based language and literacy practice. The dissertation is the culminating learning experience in a doctoral program. It is the summative evaluation point for the research competencies and will reflect the student's skill applying their knowledge of evidence-based language and literacy practices within schools that feature a diverse student body.
Disabilities Disciplines Doctoral Program
Special Education Specialization Requirements Checklist
General Requirements
EDUC 6570 Introduction to Educational & Psychological Research (3 cr.)
EDUC 6600 Measurement, Design & Analysis I (3 cr.)
SPED 7920 Doctoral Program Professional Seminar (3 cr.)
SPED 7400 Cultural & Linguistic Diversity and Disability (3 cr.)
EDUC 7700 Single Subject Research Methods (3 cr.)
SPED 7720 Advanced Behavior Analysis (3 cr.)
Additional Research Methods (3)
Specific Requirements for Evidence-Based Language and Literacy Practices Strand
SPED 7810 Seminar on Evidence-Based Practices (3 cr.)
COMD 6850 English Language Learners and Literacy (3 cr.)
SPED 7830 Personnel Preparation (3 cr.)
SPED 7850 Policy and Implementation in Special Education (3 cr.)
Three of the following:
ELED 6230 Multidisciplinary Seminar on Language and Literacy (3 cr.)
SPED 7860. Evidence-Based Language and Literacy Practices for Children with Mild/Moderate Disabilities (3 cr.)
SPED 7840. Language and Literacy Interventions for Individuals with Severe Disabilities (3 cr.)
PSYC 6345 Response to Intervention (3 cr.)
SPED 7820 Language Development (3 cr.)
Preliminary Examination
SPED 7300: Preliminary Exams (1 cr.)
a. Evidence-Based Practices for special education
b. Experimental design
c. Journal article critique
Portfolio Products and Experiences
SPED 7060 Research Internship (1 cr.)
SPED 7350 Conference Presentation (1 cr.)
SPED 7310 Publication (1 cr.)
SPED 7320 Review of Literature (1 cr.)
SPED 7070 Grant Writing (1 cr.)
SPED 7340 College Teaching Internship (1 cr.)
SPED 7330 Supervision Internship (1 cr.)
Dissertation
SPED 7970: Dissertation (12 to 18 cr.)
Disabilities Disciplines Doctoral Program
Speech/Language Pathology Requirements Checklist
General Requirements
EDUC 6570 Introduction to Educational & Psychological Research (3 cr.)
EDUC 6600 Measurement, Design & Analysis I (3 cr.)
SPED 7920 Doctoral Program Professional Seminar (3 cr.)
SPED 7400 Cultural & Linguistic Diversity and Disability (3 cr.)
COMD 6020 Language Diagnosis/Intervention School-age or equivalent (3 cr.)
COMD 6900 Advanced Topics in Speech and Language Disorders (3 cr.)
Additional Research Methods (6)
Specific Requirements for Evidence-Based Language and Literacy Practices Strand
SPED 7810 Seminar on Evidence-Based Practices (3 cr.)
SPED 7815 English Language Learners and Literacy (3 cr.)
SPED 7830 Personnel Preparation (3 cr.)
SPED 7850 Policy and Implementation in Special Education (3 cr.)
Three of the following:
ELED 6230 Multidisciplinary Seminar on Language and Literacy (3 cr.)
SPED 7860. Evidence-Based Language and Literacy Practices for Children with Mild/Moderate Disabilities (3 cr.)
SPED 7840. Language and Literacy Interventions for Individuals with Severe Disabilities (3 cr.)
PSYC 6345 Response to Intervention (3 cr.)
SPED 7820 Language Development (3 cr.)
Preliminary Examination
SPED 7300: Preliminary Exams (1 cr.)
a. Evidence-Based Practices for speech and language pathology
b. Experimental design
c. Journal article critique
Portfolio Products and Experiences
SPED 7060 Research Internship (1 cr.)
SPED 7350 Conference Presentation (1 cr.)
SPED 7310 Publication (1 cr.)
SPED 7320 Review of Literature (1 cr.)
SPED 7070 Grant Writing (1 cr.)
SPED 7340 College Teaching Internship (1 cr.)
SPED 7330 Supervision Internship (1 cr.)
Dissertation
SPED 7970: Dissertation (12 to 18 cr.)
Year 1
| Fall | Spring | Summer |
| SPED 7920 Doctoral Program Professional Seminar (3 cr.) | SPED 7810 Seminar on Evidence-Based Practices (3 cr.) | SPED 7300: Preliminary Exams (1 cr.) a. Evidence-Based Practices for special education b. Experimental design c. Journal article critique |
| ELED 6230 Multidisciplinary Seminar on Language and Literacy (3 cr.) | SPED 7400 Cultural & Linguistic Diversity and Disability (3 cr.) | |
| EDUC 6570 Introduction to Educational & Psychological Research (3 cr.) | EDUC 6600 Measure, Design & Analysis I (3 cr.) | SPED 7060 Research Internship (1 cr.)
|
Year 2
| Fall | Spring | Summer |
| COMD 6850 Eng. Lang Lrners & Literacy (3 cr.) | SPED 7830 Personnel Preparation (3 cr.) | SPED 7350 Conference Presentation (1 cr.) |
| EDUC 7700 Single Subject Research Mthds (3 cr.) | SPED 7860. Evidence-Based Lang & Lit Practices for Children with Mild/Moderate Disabilities (3 cr.) | SPED 7320 Review of Literature (1 cr.) |
| SPED 7310 Publication (1 cr.) | SPED 7330 Supervision Internship (1 cr.) |
|
Year 3
| Fall | Spring | Summer |
| SPED 7850 Policy and Implementation in Special Education (3 cr.) | SPED 7720 Advanced Behavior Analysis (3 cr.) | SPED 7970: Dissertation (3 cr.) |
| PSYC 6345 Response to Intervention (3 cr.) | EDUC 7610 Measure, Design & Analysis II (3 cr.) |
|
| SPED 7340 College Teaching Internship (1 cr.) | SPED 7070 Grant Writing (1 cr.) |
|
Year 4
| Fall | Spring | Summer |
| SPED 7970: Dissertation (6) | SPED 7970: Dissertation (6) |
|
Year 1
| Fall | Spring | Summer |
| SPED 7920 Doctoral Program Professional Seminar (3 cr.) | SPED 7810 Seminar on Evidence-Based Practices (3 cr.) | SPED 7300: Preliminary Exams (1 cr.) a. Evidence-Based Practices for Speech/Lang Path b. Experimental design c. Journal article critique |
| ELED 6230 Multidisciplinary Seminar on Language and Literacy (3 cr.) | SPED 7400 Cultural & Linguistic Diversity and Disability (3 cr.) | |
| EDUC 6570 Introduction to Educational & Psychological Research (3 cr.) | EDUC 6600 Measure, Design & Analysis I (3 cr.) | SPED 7060 Research Internship (1 cr.)
|
Year 2
| Fall | Spring | Summer |
| COMD 6850 Eng. Lang Lrners & Literacy (3 cr.) | SPED 7830 Personnel Preparation (3 cr.) | SPED 7350 Conference Presentation (1 cr.) |
| COMD 6020 Language Diagnosis/Intervention School-age (3 cr.) | SPED 7840 Language and Literacy Interventions for Individuals with Severe Disabilities (3 cr.) | SPED 7320 Review of Literature (1 cr.) |
| SPED 7310 Publication (1 cr.) | SPED 7330 Supervision Internship (1 cr.) |
|
Year 3
| Fall | Spring | Summer |
| SPED 7850 Policy and Implementation in Special Education (3 cr.) | COMD 6900 Advanced Topics in Speech and Language Disorders (3 cr.) | SPED 7970: Dissertation (3 cr.) |
| SPED 7820 Language Development (3 cr.) | EDUC 7610 Measure, Design & Analysis II (3 cr.) |
|
| SPED 7340 College Teaching Internship (1 cr.) | SPED 7070 Grant Writing (1 cr.) |
|
Year 4
| Fall | Spring | Summer |
| SPED 7970: Dissertation (6) | SPED 7970: Dissertation (6) |
|
Financial support for students participating in this program includes the following:
In addition, office space, computers, and software are provided.
Individuals who receive financial assistance under this project will be required to subsequently perform work related to this preparation for a period of two years for every year of assistance or repay all or part of the cost of that assistance. All students who receive financial support from this project are required to sign a letter of understanding agreeing to this service obligation.
Site
Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation
2865 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322-2865
Phone: (435) 797-3243 Fax: (435) 797-3572
