FORMAT FOR APR COMMITTEE REPORTS TO THE FACULTY SENATE
1. The Academic Program Review (APR) Committee makes recommendations about each
program that it reviews in written reports to the Faculty Senate. The APR Committee
Report to the Faculty Senate should provide constructive feedback that encourages
program improvement. APR should provide a report to Faculty Senate using the reporting
grid attached to this document. In addition, APR may choose to request a mid-review
period follow-up (3 years) to concerns raised regarding the program.
2. All materials referenced by the APR Committee should be in electronic format and are
received from the Deans’ Office. The following materials comprise the report to APR:
 The APR Self-Study Report provided by the departmental self-study committee
(including the annual reports and other important departmental documents
contained therein);
 the unit data sheet provided by the Office of Institutional Research to the
department under review
 the report of the external consultant(s) or accreditation agency;
 the departmental response to the aforementioned reports; and
 the dean’s summary report, which is prepared by the dean after reviewing the
APR Self-Study Report, the external consultant’s or accreditation agency’s report,
and the departmental response to this report.
Approved by Faculty Senate 9/28/06
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Academic Program Review SUMMARY*
Department under review: Occupational Therapy
Date self-study received in Dean’s office: August 2012
Date of external consultant’s review: June 2008
Date APR received report: October 2012
APR’S summary of self-study (first two boxes must be completed)
APR’s summary of how the academic program attempts to reach its goals and
objectives and the extent to which those goals and objectives have been achieved.
The Occupational Therapy (OT) program began as a bachelor level program in 1993 and
transitioned to a graduate program in 2005. The Accreditation Council for Occupational
Therapy Education (ACOTE) externally accredits the program. The process to meet
accreditation dictates the development of student learning and program objectives as
well as many criteria to ensure the successful preparation of future occupational therapy
professionals. The graduates of the program have successfully completed the National
Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) (99% first time pass rate), been
employed 100% of the time and employers report a 100% satisfaction rate. Most of the
graduates stay in the upper Midwest.
APR’s comments including:
Notable Strengths
1. Program is built on national standards and expectations for entry-level performance
as an occupational therapist. The program is nationally accredited and students do
well on the national exam and employers value the graduates from the program.
2. The program has developed clear program goals that identify student and program
faculty outcomes. Internally created benchmark expectations suggest attainable
objectives to meet their program goals.
3. The program has developed the ability to offer unique educational opportunities
including an international learning experience that focuses on the field of
occupational therapy.
4. The program has developed professional development plans (PDPs) that are used
to ensure faculty competency and current knowledge in the field. These are
institutionalized in the department bylaws and used for merit, retention/tenure,
promotion and career progression reviews.
5. Data is used from the program benchmarks to assess programmatic modifications
to the scope and sequence of the classes to ensure students have entry-level
professional skills.
6. The program has developed a partnership with the Psychology undergraduate
program to offer a dual degree that enables students to complete coursework to
efficiently complete both the undergraduate major in psychology and the master’s
degree in occupational therapy.
Notable Weaknesses
1. There are significant concerns from the program and the committee with the
current and future personnel within the program. All educators are IAS, with the
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exception of the director, and there is a lack of tenure-track lines dedicated to the
program. The program anticipates being out of compliance with accreditation
standards for program faculty with an advanced OT degree and they are hoping for
an extension to 2014 to remedy this. In addition, recruitment of faculty is difficult
due to supply and demand and many faculty, including the program director, are
reaching retirement age. The program’s continued existence depends on
maintaining accreditation.
2. There was a concern on behalf of the APR committee with the administrative
decision to support IAS to complete their doctoral degree with university funds (i.e.,
partially supported through differential tuition fees) and the subsequent reluctance
to convert to tenure track lines without doing a national search. The failure of past
searches, coupled with the difficulty of attracting doctoral level OT’s to La Crosse,
has led the program to develop “home grown” talent to fill this faculty need. It would
seem to the committee that if we were investing in faculty to participate in the
program, then we should create stability within the program with the creation of
tenure track lines.
APR comments on any/all of the six specific components of the self-study (if
applicable)
Self Study: Purposes
Consistent with programs that seek external accreditation, the program has a clear and
well-defined purpose. The curriculum spans five curricular threads: (a) foundational
science, (b) clinical skills, (c) theory, (d) professional behavior and advocacy, and (e)
evidence-based practices. The program has well-defined goals in recruitment, entry-level
professional skills and behaviors and faculty expectations that lead to the success of the
OT program. Clear and attainable benchmarks are provided to ensure program success.
Self Study: Curriculum
The curriculum is developed with guidance from ACOTE, the NBCOT examination, and
the American Occupational Therapy Association’s Competencies for an Entry Level
Occupational Therapist. Through the various professional standards and competencybased practices, faculty have translated these expectations into a sequenced scope of
core professional skills to promote success at the internship as well as the national
certification exam. While the national standards are the foundation of the program, there is
still the opportunity to fill a unique niche depending on the location and resources. These
unique factors include: a) a strong foundation in basic science knowledge through
required undergraduate and graduate coursework, b) extensive hands-on focus on active
learning through the use of practical experiences in the classroom and with volunteers at
a community clinic under faculty supervision, and c) the opportunity to travel overseas and
have an international learning opportunity devoted to the field of occupational therapy.
The program lists 87 credits that are taken across eight semesters; the last two are clinical
placements. The profession is maintaining entry-level expectations at the master’s level
and there are no plans by the faculty to pursue a clinical doctorate degree at this time.
Given credit and degree creep, as well as national health care standards, this plan may
need to be revisited in future APR reviews.
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There is a dual degree program with Psychology that counts 29 credits of occupational
therapy coursework toward the bachelor’s degree in Psychology. The program views this
arrangement as a successful partnership that allows the program to build a strong
applicant pool.
Self Study: Assessment of Student Learning & Degree of Program Success
Given the requirements to achieve and maintain an externally accredited program, the OT
program has developed 21 student learning outcomes for each of the five curricular
threads and 9 program outcomes. Multiple data points are used for most learning and
program objectives. Over the last four years, most of the student learning objectives
benchmarks were met or exceeded. In the last four years, eight of the nine program
outcomes met or exceeded benchmarks.
To ensure the skills of the students meet the current demands of the profession, the
faculty evaluation process includes professional development plans (PDPs). The intent of
the plans are to ensure currency in content and improving competency in teaching,
scholarship (and/or professional development) and service. These are reviewed by the
program director in the fall and the spring to determine the attainment of each faculty goal.
The larger department of Health Professions had embraced this concept across the
various programs and institutionalized these expectations within the department bylaws.
PDPs are used for decisions of merit, retention/tenure, promotion and career progression
reviews.
The program has demonstrated the ability to use the data to make program modifications.
For example, in the 2008-2010 reporting period, graduate satisfaction with ability to plan
interventions was lower than the benchmark. In response, two patient labs were added to
the curriculum. Results from the first cohort (class of 2011) who has taken these two
courses show a 95% satisfaction rate. The program plans to continue to monitor the
progress of subsequent cohorts to ensure student success.
The program changed curriculum from a format where students could pass the course if
they excelled in either lecture / lab to a redesigned format where lecture and lab are
divided into separate courses.
The program expects its graduates to develop specific professional behaviors consistent
with the entry-level skills of professionals. To accomplish this outcome, the program
invests extensive faculty time and commitment to mentor student development of
professional behaviors crucial to success in the OT profession. Student professional
behavior is evaluated each semester through student professional development plans,
and professional behavior exhibited in the classroom and the field. Students have been
delayed or even dismissed from the program for failing to demonstrate a minimum
standard of professional behavior. National statistics indicate that professional behaviors
rather than clinical skills are the number one reason for failures in clinical internships. The
program is proud of its consistent success with internships and has received extensive
positive feedback from fieldwork supervisors.
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Noteworthy indicators of the program’s success include: 100% completion of level II
fieldwork; 99% first time NBCOT pass rate; 100% employment placement rate, and 100%
employer satisfaction rate.
The program is most proud of the fact of its ability to develop skilled, scholarly
Occupational Therapists. The program is repeatedly told by clinicians that their students
are desired over those of other schools because they are skilled, mature, and eager to
learn.
Self Study: Previous Academic Program Review and New Program Initiatives
Due to the emergence of this program and the transition to a graduate degree there was
no previous APR. The program is under preparation for the external site visit during the
2014-15 school year.
The program identified two major concerns that will result in careful thinking and
deliberate planning in the near future and both center on personnel. The program would
like to transition IAS positions to tenure track positions to create stability within the
program and encourage faculty to develop their areas of scholarship to involve students.
The second has to do with succession planning that involves a number of the faculty
nearing retirement age with a critical need of finding a director in times of limited salaries
and limited prospects.
There are three current goals for the program: maintain the quality of the current program,
support faculty as they become credentialed, and maintain the program accreditation.
Since a number of faculty are completing advanced degrees in OT to meet accreditation
standards, the program has been focused on these needs in comparison to programmatic
changes.
The program has grown over the last few years since the transition to a Master’s degree.
Currently the program accepts 26 students and tends to graduate a cohort group of 24.
Self Study: Personnel
As a condition of accreditation by ACOTE, program faculty are required to maintain state
licensure and professional credentials. This requires a minimum of 12 hours of annual
professional development. Each faculty develops an annual professional development
plan (PDP) and the program only supports professional development activities if they
meet an individual or programmatic goal.
The program is only supported through a tenure-track line for the program director and the
rest of the program faculty are instructional academic staff appointments. The retention of
the three current IAS once they complete UW-L funded OT-advanced degree programs is
necessary to help the program meet accreditation standards by July 2013. Four of the six
program faculty don’t possess an earned doctorate and this is a major issue and will be
found out of compliance for accreditation standards. The program is anticipating an
extension of one year to move back into compliance.
The program expects retirement of over half of the faculty within the next five to eight
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years. The program will be unable to function even if one faculty member leaves
unexpectedly as each faculty has their own content area of expertise. ACOTE has also
imposed strict guidelines on acceptable program directors (e.g., managerial experience,
supervision experience, etc.) such that it will not be a simple transition of faculty similar to
other programs on campus. Given the national shortage of qualified candidates, a
successful search for a new qualified program director upon the retirement of the current
director is a major challenge.
Self Study: Support for Achieving Academic Program Goals (Resources)
The program is currently housed in the Health Sciences Center (HSC) that has full
teaching stations with internet and AV capacity. The classrooms are sufficient to meet the
program’s current needs. The students pay differential tuition and therefore the program
has resources to meet the programmatic needs. The program noted that there is no
external funding.
The program shares 3.92 (4 people) program assistants across the 5 programs in Health
Professions. This is considered adequate.
External Reviewer Recommendations
APR’s Comments on External Reviewer (if applicable)
Like most external accreditation site visits, this review was comprehensive. It included
interviews with several individuals as well as students. The report contained the 211
standards of the association. The program was considered compliant in 208 standards.
The program was commended for the following strengths: a) administrator’s commitment
to the program, b) program director’s collaborative efforts with faculty and dedication to
students, c) academic fieldwork coordinator for curricular planning, d) OT faculty for efforts
and vision in curricular planning, e) clinical fieldwork educators for the collaborative
relationship with the program, f) students for enthusiasm, initiative and motivation, and g)
the innovations that the program has undertaken.
Of the 3 points that the program did not successfully attain the standard, there were four
recommendations made by the reviewer. First, the program has to have the majority of
faculty with doctoral degrees by 2012. Second, there needs to be the development of a
comprehensive and consistent system for documenting advisement. Third, the program
director needs to be assigned to the program full time. And finally, there needs to be
outreach activities embedded into course objectives and/or learning activities.
Department’s response to the Reviewer Recommendations
APR’s Comments on the Department’s Response (if applicable)
The OT program was required to submit a plan of correction within 30 days for any area
that is deemed out of compliance. If accepted by the ACOTE board, the program
maintains the accreditation. If not accepted, the program loses the accreditation standard
and students are no longer eligible to sit for the NBCOT examination. Therefore
maintaining accreditation is critical for the program to exist. The first change was easy and
almost immediately acceptable to ACOTE. The second change was more difficult and
time consuming to bring the program into compliance.
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The program reviewed the report and identified two broad areas that needed a plan of
correction. First, the citation for Standard B.9.3 (promotion of occupational therapy) was
simply a case of lack of documentation. The standard was being addressed in six classes
and syllabi were modified to reflect this and accepted by the ACOTE board.
The second concern was with faculty assigned to the program and more difficult to
remediate. ACOTE required a full time director or sufficient faculty to adequately fulfill the
course array. Since the director was the chair of the Health Professions, the university
supplied an additional position. There were delays in hiring an individual due to a failed
search and the program was placed on probation for 6 months. Failure to correct the
situation by the end of probation would mean a loss of accreditation. The program has
since corrected the problem with a signed contract of an additional faculty member. This
has resulted in re-accreditation of the program for 7 years (due 2014).
Dean’s Letter
APR’s Comments on Dean’s Letter (if applicable)
The Dean was complimentary as to the successful nature of the program and the ability of
the faculty to develop skilled Occupational Therapists. He noted that the strengths of the
program far outweigh the weaknesses. Specifically he noted (a) the success of the
program in developing skilled clinicians, (b) the program and the students bring
recognition to the university because they are meeting student learning and program
outcomes, and (c) there is a dual degree with psychology that allows students to work
towards both their undergraduate and graduate degrees in a time efficient manner.
The Dean identified the concerns with the staffing and cited specifically the lack of tenure
track positions within the program. The university has supported the current IAS to pursue
their advanced OT degrees through funding agreements. The Dean was not supportive of
converting any IAS positions to a tenure-track position without a national search. In
addition, the concerns for scholarship and service to the program/department/university
could be completed through a reallocation of existing IAS workload provisions with the
support of the Dean. This was seen by the Dean as a preferable way to address the
heavy IAS allotment to the program rather than instituting a conversion of an IAS position.
The APR committee is concerned with a couple of factors. First, this is a unique situation
with university resources going to educate IAS and that the conversation in this instance
makes sense to avoid an added expense of a national search. Second, there is the
implicit expectation that IAS will take on tenure-track duties to carry the program with
diminished status and compensation.
APR’s Recommendations (must be completed)
Recommendations:
1. The program has done well to align the program standards and expectations with the
national standards and field expectations. It should continue providing a quality
education to the graduate students.
2. The program has committed and passionate people that contribute to the education of
the students. There are expectations from the accrediting body that need to be
continually addressed to maintain accreditation, which is seen as critical for the
programs existence. While the program has addressed a number of important points,
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3.
4.
5.
6.
the faculty needing doctoral degrees and a succession plan in place to address the
pending retirements appear to be two areas that the program needs to immediately
address.
To ensure retention of current IAS members once they complete their OT- advanced
degrees with partial UW-L funding through partial differential tuition paid by the
graduate students in the program, we recommend considering a service obligation
contract be put into place. Otherwise, the program may still be unable to meet
accreditation standards despite having invested significant funds to help current IAS
earn their OT-advanced degrees. A service contract has been attempted in the past
and was not supported by the Dean. If future needs arise, a proposal for a service
contract should be re-considered.
To ensure retention of current IAS members once they complete their OT- advanced
degrees with significant UW-L funding, we recommend the creation of a sufficient
number of tenure-track positions.
We recommend the program to implement a comprehensive and consistent system to
document student advising to meet ACOTE accreditation standards.
The program is encouraged to be mindful of the national health policies that may
impact professional standards of practice. While the program is not pursuing a
professional doctoral degree at this time, outside forces may necessitate this change
whether the faculty agree with it or not.
X No serious areas to address – review in next regularly scheduled cycle.
□ Some areas to address – review in next regularly scheduled cycle.
□ Some areas to address – department should submit short report on progress to Faculty
Senate/Provost’s Office in 3 years.
* APR’s report to faculty senate will consist of this completed form in electronic form.
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