Preparation leads to perfection on national speech pathology exam
Released: October 15, 2007
Few universities in the country can say their students have earned a perfect score on the first attempt of the National Exam in Speech Pathology and Audiology. Even fewer universities can say their students have achieved this several years in a row. University of Wisconsin-Whitewater graduate students in the communication sciences and disorders department can - they've done it for six years running.
The exam is part of the Educational Testing Service, which conducts professional assessment of specialty areas of knowledge referred to as the Praxis series, and in this case it assessed speech pathology and audiology.
A perfect passing rate on this exam does not come easily.
"Preparation is the key," Lona Piber, a current communication sciences and disorders graduate student said. "Study guides, comprehension essays and group studying are all needed to cement the knowledge we learned in undergraduate courses so that we can use them on exam."
The faculty in the communication sciences and disorders department play a large role in the students' success as well.
Faculty are committed to maintaining high standards for themselves, their profession, and the program," said Pat Casey, chairperson of the communication sciences and disorders department. "The faculty represents a team of professionals active as teachers/scholars, all maintaining on-going clinical and research interests."
Since 2001, the program has been extremely successful not only with achieving a 100 percent passing rate each year, but in its job placement capabilities as well.
"One hundred percent of those who graduate the program are placed in a school, clinical, or private practice," said Casey. "We are doing something right in preparing our students."
- Kyle Kopplin,kopplinka01@uww.edu
