Office of Disability Services
Spring 2008 Quality Survey
Executive Summary—Student Report

The Office of Disability Services (ODS) conducts a quality survey, each year, in an effort to ensure and maintain the highest quality of customer satisfaction, as well as, efficient means of accommodating students with disabilities. The office administers this survey among faculty, staff, and students, attending either the main San Marcos campus or the Round Rock Higher Education Center (RRHEC). This year respondents included 318 faculty and staff (123 of those, had no contact with ODS) and 123 students. While the response rate among students (15.1%) is similar to the response rate from the last survey administration (15.2%), the response rate among faculty and staff has increased 11.5% since the last administration, with a rate of 15.7% last year, and a rate of 27.2% this year. The following report focuses exclusively on the results of the Student Quality Survey. It provides a summary of the major findings of this survey. A separate report summarizing the results of the Faculty and Staff Quality Survey follows.

This year the Office of Disability Services modified their Student Quality Survey. The new survey has expanded sections of each of the specific services offered by ODS, such as captionists or testing accommodations. Evaluators provide a ‘comments’ section at the end of each accommodation to encourage students to provide more qualitative data. Because of this survey design, the results following suit. I have included the comments with each respective accommodations rather than having all of the comments together at the end. This format will prove useful, I think, as it allows for easy comparison of quantitative and qualitative data.

Section A: Demographics
• Of the students, 25 (20.3%) had only been registered with ODS for one semester; 51 (41.5%) have been registered for two to three semesters; and 43 (35.0%) have been registered for four or more semesters.
• Only 2 (1.6%) of the students attend the RRHEC, the other 117 (95.1%) attend the main campus in San Marcos. Since the number of students attending RRHEC is so small, we are unable to conduct a comparison analysis between campuses. These results are the same as last year, suggesting perhaps, that ODS may want to consider a survey administration specific to the RRHEC.

Section B: ODS Services (General)
• Online sign up for advanced registration, and Assistive listening devices scored the highest means of the section with 4.57 and 4.20, respectively.
• Referrals to off campus agencies and parking information and services scored the lowest means of 3.78 and 3.29 respectively.

Section C: Effectiveness of Compensatory Strategies
• Student respondents indicated that the most effective compensatory strategy that they used this year is study skills (mean 3.25), followed closely by tape-recorded class lectures (mean 3.24).
• Student respondents reported volunteer note takers as the least effective compensatory strategy, with a mean of 3.06. It is important to note however, that all of the means in this section are above a 3.0, meaning all of the strategies were at least somewhat effective.

Section D: ODS Services (Specific)
I. Alternative Format/Book on Tape:
• 54 (100%) responded that they ‘Strongly Agree’ or ‘Agree’ with the statement “I found the request form easy to complete’.
• The majority of respondents 21 (63.6%) felt that the reading pace of the speaker was ‘just right’.
• 28 (82.3%) respondents gave an evaluation of ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’ in regards to the overall process of books on tape.
II. Testing Accommodations:
• 61 (91.2%) students reported that the Testing Accommodations are ‘Very Helpful’ or ‘Helpful’ to their academic success
• Student respondents indicated that the most effective compensatory strategy that they used this year is study skills (mean 3.25), followed closely by tape-recorded class lectures (mean 3.24).
III. Captioning Services:
• 10 (100%) of respondents indicated that they ‘Strongly Agreed’ or ‘Agreed’ with the statement: ‘I had an opportunity to interact with the professor equal to that of the other students’.
• 9 (100%) of respondents ‘Strongly Agree’ or ‘Agree’ that having a captionist was a positive experience.
IV. Interpreting Services
• 7 (100%) of the respondents using interpreting services ‘Strongly Agree’ or ‘Agree’ with each of three statements in this section.
• That is, they received information that helped them understand the role of the interpreter; had equal opportunity to interact with the professor; and felt that having an interpreter was a positive experience.

Section E: ODS Customer Service
• 95 (79.9%) of respondents ‘Strongly Agree’ or ‘Agree’ that they are comfortable obtaining signatures from their professors.

• 100 (88.5%) of the student respondents ‘Strongly Agree’ or ‘Agree’ that the new process in requesting accommodations is convenient.

• The statement scoring the highest mean, 3.63, is ‘I plan to use ODS services in the future’.

• The statement scoring the lowest mean, 2.68, is ‘I would be interested in a disability support group’. This implies that students disagree with this statement more than they agree. It suggests that a support group would have a limited involvement.

Office of Disability Services
Spring 2008 Quality Survey
Executive Summary—Faculty and Staff Report

The Office of Disability Services (ODS) conducts a quality survey each year, in an effort to ensure and maintain the highest quality of customer satisfaction, as well as, efficient means of accommodating students with disabilities. The office administers this survey among faculty, staff, and students, attending either the main campus in San Marcos or the Round Rock Higher Education Center (RRHEC). This year respondents included 318 faculty and staff (123 of those had no contact with ODS) and 123 students. While the response rate among students (15.1%) is similar to the response rate from the last survey administration (15.2%), the response rate among faculty and staff has increased 11.5% since the last administration, with a rate of 15.7% last year, and a rate of 27.2% this year. This is an excellent improvement in capturing attitudes and experiences of faculty and staff members working with students registered with ODS. The following report focuses exclusively on the results of the Faculty and Staff Quality Survey. It provides a summary of the major findings of this survey and a separate report summarizing the results of the Student Quality Survey follows.

Section A: Demographics
• Of the faculty and staff surveyed, 165 (84.6%) individuals responded as faculty, 26 (13.3%) responded as staff, and 4 (2.1%) did not indicate their position within the university.
• Of those respondents that marked ‘Administrative/Professional’ Staff, 12 (41.4%) indicated that they are professional staff and 5 (17.2%) are Academic Advisors.
• Academic Affairs is the largest college represented by respondents, with 127 (65.1%) marking this option.
• Nearly 40% of respondents report employment at Texas State for more than ten years.

Section B: Customer Service
• Overwhelmingly, faculty and staff responded that they are satisfied with ODS, with 179 (93.2%) marking ‘Very Good’ or ‘Good’ in regards to their overall satisfaction. This percentage is an increase from the last administration, which had a rate of 87.1%.
• The majority (greater than 95%) of respondents marked ‘Strongly Agree’ or ‘Agree’ for the questions concerning the quality of ODS customer service. This percentage too has increased since the previous survey administration. In addition, the means in this section are all above 3.5, indicating that most respondents view ODS in a positive light.

Section C: Test Administration
• Overall, faculty and staff responded positively to the questions on test administration. Again, over 90% of the respondents indicated that they ‘Strongly Agreed’ or ‘Agreed’ with each of the seven statements provided.
• In this section, all of the means range between a 3.57 and a 3.69 (out of 4.0). This suggests that the faculty and staff are overwhelmingly pleased with test administration.

Section D: Sign Language or Oral Interpreter Services
• Approximately 35 respondents report using sign language or oral interpreting services.
• Nearly everyone (more than 90%) ‘Strongly Agreed’ or ‘Agreed’ with the four statements regarding these services. The means in this section are all between 3.56 and 3.71, clearly illustrating that the faculty and staff are highly pleased with these interpreters.

Section E: Captionist (Speech to Text) Facilitated Services
• Approximately 17 respondents reported using captionist-facilitated services.
• On four of the five statements regarding captionist services, all 17(100%) faculty and staff members ‘Strongly Agreed’, or ‘Agreed.’ This suggests that the captionists working in the Office of Disability Services are professional, helpful, and doing a great job!

Section F: More about ODS Services
• More than 97 (55%) of respondents are aware of the faculty resource guide available online. This is an improvement from last year, when only 49.4% of respondents reported being aware of this resource.
• Of the faculty and staff that had used this resource, 78 (88.6%) found the guide to be helpful, up from 83.6% in the previous year.
• Over half (51.3%) of the respondents reported the utilization of student referrals, another 33.8% required clarification of ODS procedure.

Additional Comments-Faculty and Staff
• The respondents provided an array of comments. One suggestion that faculty and staff make, is to modify the final exam accommodations. Many note the overcrowding of test takers, and difficultly in scheduling around finals.
• The respondents also suggest providing a non-applicable choice, as some respondents could not answer certain questions.
• Many of the comments are compliments to the ODS staff. Great job everyone!