SLP Outreach Policies

Late Acceptance Policy

The deadline for admission into the Outreach Master Program in Speech-Language Pathology in The Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education (COMD) is no later than the first day of classes during the first semester of the program.

Exceptions: In the event that a student seeks admission beyond the admission deadline, he/she will be considered for admission ONLY under the following circumstances:

  1. The student meets or surpasses all admission standards set by the Department.
  2. There are student openings available in the outreach graduate program.
  3. The student acknowledges in writing that he/she understands the following:
    1. In the event that he/she has not already satisfactorily completed those graduate classes missed as a result of entering the graduate program after the deadline, he/she will have to complete part of his/her graduate program as part of the next cohort in the Outreach Master Program, unless other opportunities for completing those classes are available. If such classes are available, they must be approved by the COMD Speech-Language Pathology Committee.
    2. Because the Outreach Master Program is funded through the Utah State Office of Education on a year to year basis, there is always a possibility that this program might NOT be funded in the future. If that were to happen, and if the student had not yet completed his/her graduate program, he/she would have to complete his/her degree in some other way, possibly through our on-campus graduate program or through some other university. He/she would not hold COMD or Utah State University liable in such a circumstance.
    3. He/she must meet all the other requirements and complete all admission paperwork required by COMD and the College of Education during his/her first semester of the graduate program.

Class Attendance Policy

Each session of the Outreach Program includes a large portion of the total material for that class. For that reason, students are required to attend all classes on all scheduled dates. The only exception will be serious medical problems or the loss of a family member. It is the student's responsibility to notify faculty members immediately in an exceptional situation and to remain responsible for material, projects, and exams covered. Students must make arrangements through classmates to acquire the material covered during the absence. The student's grade will drop 1/8 of a grade for every hour (50 minutes) of instruction missed.

Clinical Grade Policy

If a student is not meeting the expectations of the clinic supervisor in the district, the clinic supervisor and the district clinic coordinator will provide written feedback to the Outreach clinic coordinator, and the student clinic grade given by the USU Outreach clinic coordinator will reflect the student's performance.

If a student clinic grade for a semester is lower than B-, he/she will be reviewed by the USU Outreach clinic coordinator and the district clinical coordinator and the student clinical supervisor. The student will be given written feedback regarding specific changes that must occur. If the student receives another grade lower than B-, he/she will be dismissed from the graduate program.

 

Outreach Grading Policy

A midterm clinic evaluation will be completed using the online grading form. District supervisors will discuss the midterm grade using a printed copy of the online grading form with each Outreach student within the week of midterms. This evaluation is completed to identify strengths and areas that need improvement and is not reflected in the final grade. The student will then have the duration of the semester to work on identified areas of need.
At the end of each semester grading procedures will be as follows:

  • Each district supervisor will complete the USU online grading form at comdlabserver@comd.usu.edu for Outreach students’ clinical performance.
  • The USU regional directors will complete a USU online grading form for the clinical performance of each Outreach student in their region at comdlabserver@comd.usu.edu.
  • The USU regional directors will complete the USU online grading form for each student’s clinical report that is assigned each semester.
  • The grades from each supervisor will then be averaged together and a final percentage figured. The following grading guidelines will be used to obtain a letter grade:
    UNIVERSITY GRADING CRITERIA (from TOTAL percentage at bottom of grading form)
    93-100% = A
    90-92% = A-
    87-89% = B+
    83-86% = B
    80-82% = B-
    Below 80% = Fail
    77-79% = C+
    73-76% = C
    70-72% = C-
  • The USU Outreach Clinical Director will enter the final grade based on the average percentage figured in previous step.
  • This policy reflects a change from previous grading, and alignment with on-campus grading policy for all speech-language pathology graduate students in the Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education.

    District Supervisor Grading Responsibilities:

    1) Complete midterm online evaluation
    2) Discuss midterm evaluation with student during midterm week
    3) Complete final online evaluation
    4) Discuss final evaluation with student during finals week

    USU Regional Directors Grading Responsibilities for each student in region:

    1) Complete final online evaluation
    2) Discuss final evaluation with student during finals week
    3) Complete online evaluation of clinical report
    4) Enter district supervisor percentage to conversion formula
    5) Enter own percentage to conversion formula

    USU Outreach Clinical Director Grading Responsibilities:

    1) Enter all converted scores into final grading formula
    2) Assign a letter grade based on University Grading Criteria
    3) Enter all final letter grades

 

Change of Site Policy

Clinical assignments and sites are chosen to ensure the Outreach students receive quality clinical training and a variety of clinical experiences where students can achieve the clinical competencies in Speech-Language Pathology required by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) for certification purposes. If it is determined at any time by the USU clinical coordinator and/or regional supervisor that additional experiences are needed through other clinical sites, the student will be required to find a new site within the timeframe set by the USU Clinical Coordinator that facilitates achievement of the competencies that are required by USU COMD department and ASHA.