How can school and agency personnel work together to support smooth transitions for these students?

Transcript: Rich Luecking, EdD

It’s best to refer to seamless transition as a sequential delivery of specific preparatory and coordinated services that begin early in high school and continue through post-school with the intended outcome of each student employed in an individualized, integrated job of choice and/or enrolled in a postsecondary education prior to school exit. As they leave secondary school, they are already either employed or they’re enrolled in a postsecondary education program that will lead to further advancement of their career. They seamlessly leave school as a secondary school student and to the next phase of their life. There’s no interruption of service.

I’ll give you an example of a student who was served by a public school in Maryland. This young man between the ages of 18 and 21, when he exited school, had opportunities for several community-based work experiences. These work experiences included volunteering at a library and sampling tasks at a retail store and a restaurant. These experiences helped him develop work skills, and it helped him identify the best type of working environment that would be good for him and identified specific ways job coaching might help him learn and succeed in the workplace. The year before he was slated to exit school, he was referred to the Vocational Rehabilitation agency, which helped him find not one but two paid jobs where he worked during his entire last year of secondary school. When he officially ended his status as a student, he was already working. The first day after he exited school looked the same as the day before he exited school. In other words, he had the same jobs, he had the same adult agency supporting him to succeed in these jobs, and he hopes to continue in these jobs. This would be a seamless transition.

The transition coordinator worked together with the state Vocational Rehabilitation counselor, who identified a community rehabilitation agency that could provide the job search and the job coaching support. The Vocational Rehabilitation agency paid for that job development, in-job coaching support, throughout the last year of school. When he exited school—as I mentioned, he was already employed—the teacher, working together with the rehabilitation counselor and the community rehabilitation agency, helped to make this job happen.

Transcript: Matt Korolden, MS, LLP

The IDEA regulations provide a set of expectations and parameters for schools and educators that are intended to support the preparation of students for entry into their adult lives. So know the law, the letter, and the intent. Knowing what the law says, but also really knowing the intent behind those words, is super important for practitioners who are genuinely interested and invested in the outcomes of students.

Know your community, and be known in your community. One of the best transition coordinators I know makes a regular habit of literally walking out into the community and interacting with local business owner, local members of the chamber of commerce, professionals in the community so that as she and the teachers in her school district and her students interact with the community, they start to develop those personal relationships—the kind of relationships that almost always lead more reliably to the outcomes that we really want.

Another piece of advice: Get good at identifying and securing mutual wins. Those opportunities for rehab and schools to experience a positive outcome. Those opportunities for community mental health and schools to do some shared learning. Get good at identifying and securing those mutual wins.

The last piece of advice I might offer is develop a support network that includes local, regional, state, and national allies. Developing a network of people who know the things that you don’t know helps fill in those gaps. When there’s a resource that needs to be accessed, when there’s some content that needs to be brought back to a community, having that broad network enables transition coordinators, secondary teachers [to] tap into those resources that lie beyond themselves.

Willow

Willow has a few years left in high school, but she already has a clear goal to pursue a college education and begins to work toward this goal. With the support of her transition coordinator, Willow:

• Meets with a representative from the local university’s IPSE program to learn more about the application process and the program
• Begins to explore future career paths and related internship opportunities
• Participates in a class offered by the mobility management organization to learn about and practice riding the city bus
• Compiles a digital transition portfolio to summarize her strengths, interests, and support needs

Thomas

Thomas is still finalizing his decisions about his future. His transition coordinator emphasizes the importance of planning and connecting with relevant partners as he explores his options for an independent future. As a result, during his junior year, Thomas:

• Attends a career fair and identifies a professional interest in technology and data analysis
• Secures a summer job with a data management company through contacts provided by his transition coordinator
• Attends a college fair at his school to get an idea of what options are available to him
• Meets with a representative from the local university’s disability services office to learn more about on-campus housing options and accommodations
• Accesses training through the Center for Independent Living to learn methods for completing household chores more independently

Jocelyn

Jocelyn is nearing high school graduation and needs to start finalizing her post-school plans to avoid experiencing a gap in supports. To be set up for success in her desired career field, Jocelyn:

• Visits a culinary arts school, which she decides she wants to attend
• With the support of her transition coordinator, completes an application, submits it, and is accepted
• Meets with the disability services office to submit documentation of her learning disability and to determine the accommodations she qualifies for, which will be in place on the first day of classes
• Continues to work part-time at a local restaurant during her senior year and through the summer before beginning classes
• Secures an apprenticeship in a professional kitchen to begin in the fall