Bartlett Labs: A Commitment to Learning

BY LAUREL GRIGG MASON, Director of Bartlett Labs

Photo of Macerata, Italy Photo courtesy of Regione Marche Tourism Board “Macerata: Veduta” licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 www.flickr.com/photos/turismomarche/9682823031

In our second year of operation, the SALT Center’s Bartlett Labs has continued to prioritize applied research and assessment. Through partnerships, research projects, and outreach, we have bolstered innovative approaches and programming helping to affirm the SALT Center’s position as one of the nation’s most impactful support programs for college students with learning and attention differences.

PARTNERSHIPS

University of Macerata

Bartlett Labs’ relationship with the University of Macerata in Italy has blossomed! Last year, we hosted doctoral candidate, Noemi Del Bianco, as a visiting scholar. This year, we formalized an agreement which will enable us to host scholars and practitioners from Italy, and in turn, send scholars and professionals from the University of Arizona to learn from and collaborate with our colleagues there.

College STAR Network

We are also thrilled to be affiliated with the College STAR Network, a project with partner organizations across the nation seeking to make post-secondary education more welcoming and supportive for individuals with learning and attention differences. This network allows us to share our expertise, learn from other campuses, and have an impact beyond our individual institutions. Not only do these partners promote best practices in supporting students at the college level, together we are actively working on joint research and outreach efforts to increase college-going rates and success outcomes for this student population.

Arizona Online

Our recent partnership with Arizona Online has provided promising results for the SALT Center Online pilot program. After surveying student participants and staff, we have received positive outcomes in terms of process and quality of programming. Bartlett Labs will continue to be the assessment and research unit where all of the SALT Center’s pilot programs begin.

RESEARCH PROJECTS

College STAR Workforce Readiness Study

Our current study on students’ perceptions about the transition to the workforce continues. Over 80 students who receive academic support from 8 different programs across the nation participated in the research, many from Arizona and the SALT Center. We are working on a manuscript to highlight our initial results and have follow-up studies in the development stage. We plan to explore, in more depth, several aspects of why (or why not) an individual might choose to disclose their disability in the workplace. From the experiences of both alumni and current college students, we hope to learn more about the decision-making process regarding disclosure in employment settings as well as the process through which individuals make a disclosure and what impact they feel their decision has had on their workforce experience.

Self-Authorship Study

In collaboration with University of British Columbia doctoral candidate, I-Chen Wu, we are exploring the development of selfauthorship in students in relation to their engagement with the SALT Center’s support services. Marcia Baxter Magolda defines self-authorship as, “The internal capacity to define one’s own beliefs, identity, and social relations.” This has several implications for decision-making related to all areas of life, from choice of major, career, and even interpersonal relationships. Over 40 students enrolled in the SALT Center completed a pre-test / post-test survey, and we are excited to learn how our support services may influence the development of self-authorship.

OUTREACH

Promoting Self-Advocacy: Building Essential Skills for the Transition to College

Claudia Sandoval and I gave this presentation at the annual conference of the Association of Educational Therapists and at the College STAR Conference in October 2020.

Post-Secondary Options for Students with LD/ADHD/ASD

I participated in this panel discussion with representatives from other college support programs at the Independent Education Consultants Association fall conference. We addressed the changes we had to make to support students in the virtual environment due to COVID-19. This group delivered a similar presentation at the Learning Disabilities Association of America annual conference, expanding the reach to parents and other educators.