A Comparison Between Speech Language Pathologists\u27 and School Administrators\u27 Attitudes and Perceptions Regarding Professional Development

The purpose of this descriptive study was to identify the attitudes and perceptions of speech-language pathologists and school administrators regarding professional development. This study contains both quantitative and qualitative survey data from speech-language pathologists and school administrators currently serving in the public schools in Arkansas. This survey, deployed over a six-week period, contained a series of Likert-type and open-ended questions that were analyzed by the researcher to answer three research questions. There were 182 speech-language pathologists and 103 school administrators who responded to this survey. The participants were chosen from an email list obtained from Arkansas Department of Education and Arkansas Board of Examiner in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. The study examined needs of the speechlanguage pathologists in professional development and to what degree this current professional development met the needs of these professionals. Results obtained from the Likert-style questions were analyzed through descriptive analysis and an independent t-test with an alpha level of