Transcript Age Appropriate Transition Assessment: Some insights and

AGE APPROPRIATE TRANSITION
ASSESSMENT: Some insights and
practical information
[email protected]
NATIONAL SECONDARY
TRANSITION TECHNICAL
ASSISTANCE CENTER
(NSTTAC.ORG)
WHY DO AN AGE APPROPRIATE TRANSITION
ASSESSMENT?
 Efficient process that is predictive
 Great way to develop rapport w/ students
 Students enjoy it
 Generates useful and relevant information
 Legally required in meeting the requirements of
Indicator 13 (see http://www.nsttac.org )
 Helps you understand the student in a new way
 Provides students with an opportunity to learn
about themselves while making connections
between school and future careers
CONCEPTUALIZING THE ROLE OF TRANSITION
ASSESSMENT
KNOWING
YOUR
STUDENT &
THE CONTEXT
STUDENT
KNOWS
HIM/HERSELF
• INTERESTS, AMBITIONS, TALENTS,
PERSONALITY, LIMITATIONS
• UNDERSTANDING THEIR POTENTIAL
• KNOWELEGE OF CAREERS
• KNOWLEDGE OF RESOURCES AND
OPPORTUNITIES
• KNOWING WHERE I CAN ADD ‘VALUE’
• FORMALIZING MY AMBITIONS
• DEVELOPING WORLD OF WORK KNOWLEDGE
• DEVELOPING SPECIFIC AND GENERAL
EMPLOYABILITY
• KNOWING HOW TO ACCESS RESOURCES AND
OPPORTUNITIES
WHAT CAN STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT
 Do I have a chance at success in college or further
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training ? (measures of potential to learn and
achievement)
What factors are influencing my career ambitions?
(family and student background, work history, peers)
What are my interests? (We have countless ways to
assess this)
Do I have any special talents that an employer
might value? (measure of aptitude and skill)
Why am I having problems on my current job? (we
have ways to assess one’s work adjustment)
Can you help me understand my personality
relative to school and work? (we really like the SSQ for
this)
WHAT CAN TEACHERS LEARN
 Identify student interests which are key to
motivation
 Identify outside features that may hinder a
student’s ability to pursue a realistic career
 Identify ways to help individual students to be
more successful in their classes
 Identify reasons why individual students are
having problems with certain content or teachers
AREAS OF ASSESSMENT INFORMATION
 Achievement and Mental Ability scores from the
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current psychological report, especially academic and
learning potential
Physical functioning - endurance, mobility, and
performance
Family and student background – learning about
factors affecting their career ambitions
Job Samplings – recreate community jobs in your school
Work Site Evaluations – placing students on real
community jobs
Work Adjustment – how well are students adjusting to
the job site
VOCATIONAL ASSESSMENT: + and  Snapshot of reality
 Often requires training and
 Time efficient and cheap:)
 Fairly predictive
 Non-academic focus
 The right instruments are
reliable and valid
 Students love it while learning
about themselves
 You learn about students
 Indicator 13 requires it
experience for proper
interpretation
 Requires a conceptual
understanding of career
development
 Some tests or tools are dated
and have limited information
(manual)
 Many instruments promise
everything in a short time
(think diet pills)
TRANSITION ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY
 TAKING THE TESTS TO SEE HOW GOOD OR BAD
THEY ARE
WHERE DO STUDENTS
LEARN GENERAL
EMPLOYABIITY
SKILLS?
WHERE DO THEY
LEARN SPECIFIC
EMPLOYABILITY
SKILLS?
HOW DO THEY
OBTAIN WORLD OF
WORK KNOWLEDGE?
WHERE IS THE
MATCH.COM SITE?
HOW DO I HELP THEM
WITH COLLEGE
PLANNING OR
FURTHER TRAINING?
HELPING KIDS SOLVE THE
‘PRODUCTIVE’ CAREER PUZZLE
WHAT STUDENTS SAY ABOUT THE
ASSESSMENTS:
 90% or more report enjoying the process,
recommending it for their friends, and report having
learned something about themselves
 85% report what they ‘liked’ best about the process
(learning about themselves, learning about jobs, or
enjoying it)
 65% report what the liked least (questions were to
many or took too long, process was boring)
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Note: N of 124 and growing
IMPACT ON CAREER DECISION MAKING:
 NO significant impact on various indices of
career decision making relative to a job they
identified as suitable:
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Perceived preparedness for a selected job;
readiness for that job;
ability to find job;
knowledge of that job’s requirements; and
knowledge of how to find that job
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Note: N = 32
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GENERAL CHALLENGES YOU WILL
ENCOUNTER
 Response sets (e.g., flat score
or other unique response
patterns)
 Youth’s with little or now
world of work knowledge
or experience which affects
scores
 Interests or preferences are the
least stable of measures, yet
the most often measured
 Impact of limited access to role
models (parents, siblings,
other adults in their life)
 Impact of their handicap
 Impact of one’s gender and
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culture
Matching results to actual
programs
The issue of self-reported vs.
performance measures
Inaccurate understanding
of talents and limitations
Emerging sources of influence
including television and the
internet
CONSIDERATIONS RELATIVE TO THE SDS –
various forms
 The ‘Rule of 7’
 Round pegs fitting best in round holes
concept (person/environment match)
 Uneven distribution of job and personal
types (rule of asymmetrical distribution)
 Hexagon concept
 The single most widely researched career
assessment
Holland’s Theory
REALISTIC
INVESTIGATIVE
ARTISTIC
CONVENTIONAL
ENTERPRISING
SOCIAL
HOLLAND CODES AND NATIONAL DATA
(2004)
 Realistic jobs account
for 30% of jobs
(though this is
declining), S for 20%
(fastest growing), I is
at 18% (growing), E
and C about 15%
(slight growth)
 Artistic jobs are 1%
(very stable rate)
 I jobs pay over twice
the money as other job
areas
 SR jobs are the highest
area of growth
 75% and 85% of men
are in R or E jobs,
respectively
 Women have a much
more even
distribution led by C,
R, & S
 By 2015 the
distribution of jobs is
projected as SRICEA
 Today it is RECSIA
NEW WORK WORLD
 Emerging knowledge-based economy
 Emerging labor pattern of job changes
(average of 11 or more for today’s youth)
 21 of the 25 fastest growing occupations
require 2 or more years of college
 In 1970, 36% of us had not completed high
school and 38% had only a high school
education; today the respective rates are
15% and 60%
 College grads are really the only ones
experiencing wage growth (dropouts real
median income has dropped by over 20%
since 1980)
TOOLS OF THE TRADE:
Formal and Informal
 I RECOMMEND THE USE OF BOTH
 FORMAL INSTRUMENTS HAVE EVIDENCE
(general reliability and validity, outside use)
 INFORMAL ARE MORE PRACTICAL IN
NATURE AND LESS EXPENSIVE (often free)
 IF YOU WERE A PARENT OF A HIGH
SCHOOL STUDENT, WHAT TYPES WOULD
YOU WANT TO BASE THEIR EDUCATIONAL
PROGRAM ON?
SAMPLE TESTS AND RELATED TOOLS
 General interview or survey about school, interests, work
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history and family jobs at:
Student Style Questionnaire (Pro-Ed in Austin, TX)
Self-Directed Search Forms Explorer, E, and R (several
vendors)
Transition Planning Inventory (Pro Ed in Austin, TX)
Some measure of actual talents or aptitudes (Differential
Aptitude Test, Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery,
Occupational Aptitude Survey and Interest Schedules - 3,
General Aptitude Test Battery & Wiessen Test of Mechanical
Comprehension)
Information from current psychological report (e.g., IQ and
achievement scores)
Two (free) online resources: http://www.caseylifeskills.org/
and http://www.pepnet.org/itransition.asp
OTHER USEFUL RESOURCES
 A Counselor’s Guide to Career Assessment
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Instruments (National Career Development
Association)
Informal Assessments for Transitions:
Independent living and community participation
(Pro Ed)
Assess for Success: A practitioner’s handbook on
transition assessment (Corwin Press)
Assessment for Effective Intervention (Spring of
2007 issue)
Handbook on Measurement and Evaluation in
Rehabilitation (Aspen Publishing)
O’NET website: http://online.onetcenter.org/
COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS
 Is there a single, inexpensive, easy to use tool I can
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use with all my students?
Do I need parental permission to use these
assessment tools?
What tools can I use with students having
intellectual disabilities or more severe disabling
conditions?
Is there anyone who can help me with this stuff?
Do I need parental permission for these
assessments?
What about these free meals you offer?