Expanding Equitable Speech & Language Service Provision

This project is a follow-up to the "Equitable Speech & Language Service Provision" project, which was supported by a REACH grant and facilitated the groundwork collaboration between the RU team and the Newark Board of Education (NBOE). Together, they identified challenges related to the evaluation and service delivery for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) children, provided initial training and professional development for staff, and started to develop resources to meet the needs of diverse students in the district. 

The continuation of this project will address the recommendations, and will include strategies to overcome the identified challenges through collaboration with the district. These strategies include a train-the-trainer model, leveraging professional development/learning communities, contract employee training, and student and supervisory training models. By implementing these additional approaches, the team will increase the number of diverse and culturally responsive professionals in the district and ensure the sustainability of this project.

This partnership will continue to bridge research and practice, bringing positive impact to the community. By promoting best practices in cultural responsivity, evaluation and eligibility decisions, and training models, multiple community stakeholders will benefit. This project aims to improve educational and socioeconomic outcomes in the Newark community.