Georgia State University:PhD in Exceptional

Students- Concentration in Sensory Impairments

Susan R. Easterbrooks

Introduction

GSU is located in the heart of Atlanta, the major economic, political, social, and cultural hub of the southeast.

www.gsu.edu

The College of Education has been preparing deaf educators since 1965.

http://education.gsu.edu

PhD program is housed within the Educational Psychology and Special Education Department

http://education.gsu.edu/epse

The focus of the program is to prepare education researchers; we encourage those interested in administration or curriculum to apply for PhD programs in the curriculum and administration departments.

We have MEd, MAT, and certification-only programs.

We do not have an EdS program.

The minimum requirements for consideration of acceptance into the Ph. D. program include:

1. GRE scores posted within the last five years with a minimum score of 1000 (minimum 500 verbal/500 quantitative).

2. A graduate degree in special education or a related field with a graduate GPA of at least 3.3 from a college or university that has regional accreditation

3. A graduate level teaching certificate (or equivalent) in the concentration area.

4. Three years of classroom teaching.

Demographic Information 6 students have attempted to go through the program

1 male from an Eastern European country 1 deaf female 1 African American female 3 Caucasian females

All had master’s degrees in deaf education, one from a university in Eastern Europe

Attrition Deaf female left due to family issues (non-funded) Male left due to health issues (funded by a grant from his country) Caucasian female left as she decided that research was “not her

thing” and she could get a PhD faster online (non-funded)

The remaining three are fully funded: two by the IES literacy grant, one by the college to provide training and support to all faculty on addressing inclusion in all COE courses.

Recruitment

We have a 6 student cap on numbers of doc students a faculty member may mentor.

Recruitment is by word of mouth; I have 3 active students and am about to interview 2 more.

Current Program Design:Doctor of Philosophy in Education of Students with Exceptionalities

A. Core Area (18)Social foundations core (3), Psych core (3), research foundations core (6), research track (6)

B. Major Area (27-36)Required (15):EXC 8010 Advanced Study of Exceptional Students (3)EXC 8961 Professional Development Seminar in Special Education (4)EXC 9910 Research Seminar in Learning Disabilities (3)EXC 9920 Research Seminar in Behavior Disorders (3)EXC 9930 Research Seminar in Mental Retardation (3)

Select (12-21): Students complete additional semester hours of coursework depending on their background and career goals approved by the student’s Doctoral Advisory Committee.

C. Cognate (18)Required (6):EPY 9000 Facilitating College Teaching (3)EXC 9660 Internship in Special Education I (3)The remaining 4 cognate courses must be taken outside student’s major field of study. (I have special approval to make ASL a cognate for students who do not have ASL skills.)

D. Dissertation (9)Required (9):EXC 9990 Dissertation (9)

Program total: minimum of 72 semester hours

Residency Requirements

Existing faculty expertise Research courses from the faculty in Educational

Research Social foundation course from faculty in Educational

Policy and Social Foundation 5 major area courses from faculty in Educational

Psychology and Special Education Selected hours from Dr. E: (Directed Readings:

Language, Literacy, Learning Theory) Cognate courses from various programs around the

university.

Research Interests

Susan R. Easterbrooks (Deaf Ed) Literacy Language Learning

Amy Lederberg (Ed Psych) Literacy Language Learning

Recent PubsBooks

Easterbrooks, S.R., & Estes, E. (2007). Helping Children with Hearing Loss Develop Spoken Communication. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.

Easterbrooks, S.R. & Baker, S. (2002). Language instruction of students who are deaf and hard of hearing: Multiple pathways. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Chapters Heller, K.W., Easterbrooks, S., Swinehart-Jones, D. & McJannet, D. (in press).

Vision Loss, hearing loss, and deaf-blindness. In K. W. Heller, P. Forney, P. Alberto, S. Best, & M. Schwartzman (Eds.) Understanding physical, health, & multiple disabilities, 2nd Ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Merrill.

Easterbrooks, S., & Parker, T. (in press). Communication development. In W. Umansky & S. Hooper (Eds.), Young children with special needs. 5th ed. Columbus: Pearson Education, Inc.

Juried Articles

Easterbrooks, S., & Huston, S. (2007). Visual reading fluency in signing deaf children. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 13(1), pages not yet assigned.

Easterbrooks, S., and Stephenson, B. (2006). An examination of twenty literacy, science, and mathematics practices used to educate students who are deaf or hard of hearing. American Annals of the Deaf, 151(4), 385-397.

Easterbrooks, S., Stephenson, B., & Mertens, D. (2006). Master teacher responses to twenty literacy and science/math practices in deaf education. American Annals of the Deaf, 151(4), 398-409.

Stoner, M., & Easterbrooks, S. (2006). Using a visual tool to increase adjectives in the written language of students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 27(2), 95-109.

Thompson, S., & Easterbrooks, S. (2006). Employment and quality of life in adults who are deaf. Journal of the American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association,39(2), .

Gallagher, P.A., Easterbrooks, S. R., & Malone, D.G. (2006). Universal newborn hearing screening and intervention: Assessing the current collaborative environment in service provision to infants with hearing loss. Infants and Young Children, 19(1), 59-71.

Existing & emerging technologies that can be used for facilitate collaborative work and course offerings

Videocam of interpreter

Possible areas of collaboration

Shared CourseworkAdvanced Seminar in Learning TheoryAdvanced Seminar in Language IssuesAdvanced Seminar in Literacy Issues Cognate in ASL

Other: external expertise on doctoral committees

multi-state research

Needed administrative and technological support to establish/sustain a collaborative effort

Lessons learned the hard way

Students need financial support (they don’t stay if they are also having to work in the schools)

Students need tech support Tech support needs to be in real time, not through

a queue line Upper level administrator buy-in (at Dean and

Provost levels)