Transcript Slide 1

Accomplishments of the IDEA
Partnership and How It
Increases the Effectiveness of
Transition Nationwide!
National Community of
Practice on Transition
What is a Community of Practice?
“Communities of practice are groups of
people who share a passion for
something that they know how to do
and who interact regularly to learn
how to do it better” (Wenger & Snyder,
2000)
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The Spirit of Community:
We Are All In This Together!
A way of working
o Involving those who do shared work
o Involving those that share issues
o Always asking “who isn’t here?”
A way of learning
o Create new knowledge grounded in ‘doing the
work’
o Involve those who can advocate for and make
change
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The IDEA Partnership: OSEP’s Investment in
Stakeholder Expertise
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The Unified Partnership
NASDSE as the Partnership sponsor
National organizations as members
SEAs and partners that create ‘laboratories
for change’
• Federal investments as resources
• A new vision: states and stakeholders as
allies in tackling persistent problems and
achieving outcomes
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National Community of Practice on Transition
The Partnership
• 50+ organizations
• Coalesce around common issues
• The Partnership
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Convenes and facilitates
Increases interaction
Bridges to allied groups and related work
Creates the infrastructure for Collective Impact
Builds the relationships that underlie sustainability
Creates Community
• Authentic Stakeholder Engagement: The Partnership Way
• Pioneered Communities of Practice in Education
• Convenes national CoPs
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How are our CoPs Organized
• National CoP
• State CoPs – 12 states currently (PA, VA, DE, NY, CA,
NH, AL, AZ, WI, ND, MN, DC)
• National Organizations
• Federally Funded Technical Assistance Centers
• Practice Groups on Issues
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Cradle to College and Career
Common Core
Youth Role
Accessible Transportation
More…
The IDEA Partnership Way
The Partnership Way
• Leading by convening
– help people to ‘lead in place’, regardless of role or
position
• Coalescing around issues
– bring people together around shared concerns and
problems of practice
• Ensuring relevant participation
– getting the ‘right’ mix of stakeholders needed to solve
problems
• Doing work together
– focus on the work and the relationship
Deepening Our Work
• Depth develops over time and with intention! In the
Partnership Way, we describe four levels of deepening
work:
• Informing
– intentionally sharing information with a variety of
potential stakeholders
• Networking
– seeking multiple perspectives on a shared issue
• Collaborating
– doing work together on a shared issue
• Transforming
– building the ‘habit’ of collaboration
The Partnership Way – in summary
• Together we:
• Convene cross stakeholder groups to address problems and
issues of common interest
• Create collaboratively developed tools to enhance
relationships and shared work
• Translate research into practical implementation tools and
strategies
• Create opportunities for ongoing modeling and mentoring
• Teach how to and support convening Communities of
Practice
Our collective experiences have resulted in:
– Improved stakeholder buy in and deep
collaboration
– Shared leadership and decision making
– Changing the culture and beliefs about student
capabilities and potential
– Improved refined leadership
Aligning Transition Services With Secondary Education Reform:
A Position Statement of the Division on Career Development and
Transition
Abstract:
• Society has witnessed significant improvements in the lives of
students receiving transition services over the past 30 years. The
field of transition has developed an array of evidence-based
interventions and promising practices; however, secondary school
reform efforts have often overlooked these approaches for youth
without disabilities. If we are to see improvements in
postsecondary outcomes for all youth, reform efforts must begin
with active participation of general and special educators and
critical home, school, and community stakeholders. In this article,
the authors discuss the evolution of transition in light of reform
efforts in secondary education. They review and identify secondary
educational initiatives that embrace transition principles. Finally,
recommendations are provided for advancing alignment of
transition services with secondary education reforms.
One System:
Cradle to College and Career
A two -way Interaction of general and special
educators throughout the education pipeline
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The Issues We Know
• Achieving Academic Proficiency in the Common Core
• Overcoming Social and Emotional Barriers to Learning
• Self-determination and Self Advocacy and Student
Engagement
• Career Exploration, Career Assessment and Workplace
Learning
• Student Retention/ Drop Out Prevention
• Graduation with a Diploma
• Transition from HS to Post–Secondary and Employment
• Success for All Students
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One System?
• Are we in these issues together...special and
general ed?
• Is there a lens that permits us to examine
these issues and more?
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Envisioning a Pipeline
“If people begin to see the
educational system as a
single entity through which
people move, they may
begin to behave as if all of
education were related.”
Harold Hodgkinson in
“All One System’, 2000
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What is the Logic ?
• Regardless of the type of system a state or local community
chooses, it is important to note that the goal is the same: to
create a system of education that links and coordinates each
education level into a seamless system fundamentally guided
by the principle that success in college begins in prekindergarten.
Education Commission of the States
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What Keeps Us from Seeing the Pipeline?
• Focus on our own immediate
issues and needs
• Fragmentation across levels and
content areas
• Divisions across general, special
and technical education
• Ineffective articulation between
secondary, post–secondary and
employment
• Lack of relationships that
undergird communication
• Insufficient opportunities to learn
about levels that precede and
follow our own
• Infrequent opportunities to track
goal attainment throughout the
entire pipeline
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Questions in the Pipeline
Think/ Pair /Share
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Do you know how the elementary schools in your district are doing academically?
Do you know what academic supports are available?
Do you know how the elementary schools in your district are doing behaviorally?
Do you know what behavioral supports and interventions are available?
Can you describe the process for transitioning students from one grade to the next?
Do you know the attendance rates for your elementary schools?
Do you know how needed supports and interventions are communicated across grades?
Y N Do elementary and middle school teachers have the opportunity to talk about the data on student
performance and student needs?
Y N Is there a comprehensive transition process from elementary to middle school?
Y N Do you know how the middle schools in your district are doing academically (test data and class
performance)?
Y N Do you know what academic interventions are available?
Y N Do you know the suspension data for your middle schools?
Y N Do you know what career education takes place in middle school?
Y N Do you know the attendance rates for your middle schools?
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Is there a comprehensive transition process from middle to high school?
Can you describe your school’s approach to support in the ninth grade?
Do you have a picture of how many students are on track for accumulating graduation credit?
Do you have a picture of the career education and career assessment takes place in the HS years?
Do general education, special education and CTE teachers talk together about common goals and
common responsibilities?
Y N Do you know the drop out rate for your high school?
Y N Do you know how your graduates are doing in post-secondary?
Y N Do you know how your graduates are doing in employment?
How many ‘Yes’ responses did you have?
18-22
15-18
11-15
Less than 11
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Nationally, the connections are startling…
8th graders who:
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Fail English have only a 12% likelihood of graduating from HS
Fail math have a 13% likelihood of graduating
Have high rates of absenteeism have only a 13% chance of graduating
Have poor behavior have only a 20% chance of graduating*
• What is the implication for students with and without disabilities:
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For elementary
For middle school
For HS
For the system
*Balfanz ,et al ( 2007) in Breaking Ranks, A Field Guide to Leading Change, P. 7
National Association of Secondary School Principals( NASSP)
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‘Next Steps for High Schools and School Systems,
in
‘Using the Right Data to Determine if High
School Interventions Are Working to Prepare
Students for College and Careers’
National High School Center, 2010
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Treat the problem of poorly prepared ninth-graders as a P-12 problem, not just a high school
problem (Dougherty & Rutherford, 2010).
Develop content and performance criteria in the elementary and middle school grades to identify
the extent to which each student is on track to readiness for high school, college and careers.
Emphasize the importance of accelerating students onto the “ramp to college and career readiness”
in elementary and middle school.
What is the impact for special education?
For transition?
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Do Some Current Strategies Work
across the age and grade span?
We believe that are at least 2 coherent practice
strategies that work across the pipeline:
o Response to Intervention (RTI)
o Working with Intention at Transition Points
…and integrating Transition under IDEA!
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An RTI Approach to Improved
Student Outcomes
• A look at how all students are doing
• A ‘tiering’ of all interventions
• A simple data system that gives information and points the
way to better decisions
• An expectation the faculty will have quality professional
development on ‘what works’
• An expectation that all faulty will use the framework to assess
their success in meeting student needs
• An expectation that faculty will use proven strategies in
designing core instruction and interventions
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What is RTI?
RTI is not entirely new. Many elements have been in practice
for years in successful schools. RTI is the systematic and
intentional application of these elements in a coherent
approach to better outcomes.
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Good core instruction
Universal screening
Progress monitoring
Tiered interventions using evidence-based practices
Data-informed decision-making
Problem solving
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Our Windows on Cradle to College and Career
Our Task: Work with intention at every transition point!
Application of Subject Area
Knowledge; Demonstrated
Mastery, Choose Own Path
Literacy, Numeracy and
Behavioral Health
• Early
Childhood
Readiness and Early Learning
• Elementary
Level
• Middle School
Level
Subject Area Competence,
Personal Growth and Active
Engagement
• High School
Level
• Postsecondary and
Employment
Continuous Learning, Personal
Mastery, Continuous
Adjustment and Openness to
Change
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What Does It Mean to be
‘Intentional at Transitions’?
• Major transitions are important; every major transition!
o EC to School Age
o Elementary to MS
o MS to HS
o HS to post-secondary and employment
• Early academic, social and emotional skill development sets the stage.
• Being intentional means planning for changes, thinking about
adjustment, watching for early warning signs and crafting
interventions.
• Every year is a transition…but the ninth grade year is critical!
• Focusing at transition points gives us a way to think about Transition
under IDEA as a part of the whole system and to learn what might be
helpful to other students.
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Who Else is Focused on These issues?
• NASSP:
• Breaking Ranks: A Comprehensive Approach
• Breaking Ranks: A Field Guide for Leading Change
• AASA
• National Partner in Ready by 21
• CCSSO and NGA
• Common Core State Standards: College and Career
Ready Standards
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Ready by 21: Insulating the Pipeline
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Ready by 21: The Forum on Youth Investment and
The American Association of School Administrators (AASA)
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Common Core and
21st Century Assessments
• General and Alternate Assessment
o Most students will take the general assessment
o 1% may take the alternate assessment
• 21st century Assessments
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Embedded Accessibility
Tied to instructional accommodations
Impact on instruction
Moving beyond seat time to ‘any time , any place’ learning
Potentially, new opportunities for transition skills
What Resources are Available to You on
Common Core
• Tools
o Collections
o Dialogue Guides
o Participation in creating new tools
• Focused webinars
• Virtual Mentoring
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Revisiting the DCDT Position Paper
Aligning Transition Services With Secondary Education Reform:
A Position Statement of the Division on Career Development
and Transition
“If we are to see improvements in postsecondary outcomes
for all youth, reform efforts must begin with active
participation of general and special educators and critical
home, school, and community stakeholders.”
Will we seize the opportunities?
Is Making Futures Happen

Are you passionate about transition?

Do you want to hear about the latest news,
events, and research in the field?


Would you like to connect with the leading
practitioners and researchers working on
transition across the country?
Join the Division on Career Development and Transition to get these member
benefits and more!!!
Visit our booth in the Exhibit Hall for more information
or
Join online at: www.dcdt.org
Feel Free to Contact Us
Jane Razeghi
Executive Director, Division on Career
Development (DCDT)
George Mason University
[email protected]
Stacie Dojonovic, M.S., CRC, LPC, CVE
Vice-President, Division on Career
Development (DCDT)
Fox Chapel Area School District
[email protected]
Dale Matusevich
Past-President, Division on Career Development
(DCDT)
Delaware Department of Education
[email protected]
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