Transcript Post-Secondary Goals and the Summary of Performance

September 15, 2011
Dr. Ed O’Leary
Purpose:
 A free appropriate
public education...
designed to meet
their unique needs
and prepare
students for further
education,
employment and
independent living.
Shift in emphasis
to:
 Results oriented
approach.
 Focus on
improved results.
Over the past 17 years, a number of federal and state
efforts to improve access to transition planning and
services to improve education, employment and
community living outcomes for youth with disabilities
have emerged.
As a result some improvement has been made including
increases in graduation rates, enrollment in
postsecondary education and number of youth entering
the workforce.
While this progress is encouraging, education and
employment outcomes continue to lag substantially
behind that of their peers without disabilities.
NLTS 2, ODEP
The primary focus of Federal and State monitoring
activities shall be on:
•
Improving educational results and functional
outcomes for all children with disabilities; and
•
Ensuring that States meet the program
requirements under Part B/Part C, with a
particular emphasis on those requirements that
are most closely related to improving
educational/early intervention results for
children with disabilities.
6
Monitoring must use quantifiable indicators and qualitative indicators
needed to measure performance in the following priority areas:
Provision of a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive
environment/provision of appropriate early intervention services to
infants and toddlers with disabilities in natural environments.
State exercise of general supervisory authority, including:
• child find
• effective monitoring
• the use of resolution sessions, mediation, and
• a system of transition services - secondary transition and early
childhood transition
Disproportionate representation of racial and ethnic groups in special
education and related services, to the extent the representation is the
result of inappropriate identification.
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Indicator 13
Transition Services in Schools
Indicator 14
Employment and Postsecondary
Outcomes
O’Leary, E. 2008
Present
Level of
Performance
O’Leary, E., 1998 © Copyright
Annual
Goals
Short Term
Objectives
Step II:
Present Levels of
Academic
Achievement and
Functional
Performance
Step I
Measurable
Post-secondary
Goals
Step III:
Transition
Services
Step IV:
Measurable
Annual Goals
Includes: Courses of study
Ageappropriate
transition
assessments
•Training
•Education
•Employment
•Independent Living
Skills – where
appropriate
Includes:
•Instruction
•Related services
•Community experiences
•Employment and other postschool adult living objectives
When appropriate:
•Daily living skills
•Functional vocational evaluation
O’Leary, E., 2005 © Copyright
Congress finds that:
Disability is a natural part of the human experience and in
no way diminishes the right of individuals to participate in
or contribute to society.
This includes such things as:
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Living independently
Enjoying self-determination
Making choices
Pursuing meaningful careers
Enjoying full inclusion and integration in the economic,
political, social, cultural, and economic mainstream of
American society.
Broad definition:
 Formal process of
cooperative
planning that will
assist students with
disabilities to move
from school into the
adult world.
One of the most critical practices to
immediately improve the development and
delivery of transition services that will impact
post school results is to actively engage the
student in all discussions and decision
making in their IEP

Schools must INVITE student’s to their IEP
meeting if a purpose of that meeting is the
consideration of the MPG’s and transition
services.

There is no requirement for student’s to attend
or participate in their IEP.

However, if a student does not attend the
schools must take steps to ensure that the
student’s preferences and interests are
considered.
Is there evidence that the
student was invited to the IEP
team meeting?

Every student who’s IEP will be in effect when
the student turns 16 years of age, or younger if
determined appropriate by the IEP team, must
be invited to their IEP meeting.

Documented evidence in the IEP or cumulative
folder that the student invitation was signed by
the LEA and dated prior to the date of the IEP
conference.

Parent Notice is NOT an invitation to the
student to attend their IEP meeting.

Invitation to attend does not mean equal
opportunity for participation or decision
making.
Invite or Inform
Invite implies the intent to participate
Inform does not
Participation requires preparation
Who Talked The Most – The Least
Average Length of
Meeting
Teacher Directed
 29.05 minutes
Student Self-Directed
 33.57 minutes
Student directed meetings are not
statistically significantly longer than
teacher-directed meetings.
For more than a decade, the New Jersey Office of Special
Education Programs has sponsored regional Dare to Dream
Student Leadership conferences that highlight the importance of
student self-advocacy and leadership.
Each conference features presentations from accomplished
students and young adults with disabilities who have
demonstrated exemplary self-advocacy and leadership skills.
The Student Leadership conferences have long been a positive and
empowering experience for thousands of New Jersey’s students.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv5N6eugyik
Another critical practice to improve results is
to help students determine and define their
measurable post secondary goals.
Is there an appropriate measurable
postsecondary goal or goals that covers
• education or training
• employment, and
• as needed, independent living?
Step I
Measurable Post-secondary
Goals
•Training /Education
•Employment
•Independent Living Skills –
(as needed)
O’Leary, E., 2005 © Copyright
Age-appropriate
transition
assessments
Measurable Annual Goals
Educators/Systems
Measurable Post secondary
Goals
Student’s
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The IEP contains a measurable postsecondary goal or goals
for the student in education/training, employment and if
applicable, independent living skills.

The goal can be counted or measured.

The goal will occur after the student graduates/terminates
from school.
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The MPG’s align with other information – present level of
performance, student interests, student preferences.
There is no requirement for public agencies to determine whether the
postsecondary goals have been met once a child is no longer eligible for FAPE.
FAPE must be made available to all children residing in the State in mandatory
age ranges. However, the obligation to make FAPE available does not apply to
children who have graduated from high school with a regular high school diploma
or to children who have exceeded the mandatory age range.
When a child's eligibility for FAPE terminates under these circumstances, the LEA
must provide a summary of the child's academic achievement and functional
performance, including recommendations on how to assist the child in meeting
the child's postsecondary goals.
Nothing in the IDEA requires the LEA to measure the child’s progress on these
postsecondary transition goals, or provide any special education services to the
child after the child has graduated from a regular high school or exceeded the
mandatory age range for FAPE.
If the goal is measurable and occurs after the student has left…I am
concerned about liability issues when student’s don’t meet the
stated goals after school.
NSTTAC Response
…IDEA 2004 does not require that LEAs are held accountable for
the attainment of postsecondary goals. The stated measurable
postsecondary goals are required components of transition
planning. There are numerous mediating factors that positively or
negatively affect an adult's acquisition of goals, for which a school
could not be held accountable. The purpose of the legislation and
this indicator is that a student's education program support their
goals beyond secondary school.
NSTTAC Indicator 13 Checklist Frequently Asked Questions and Responses – Question # 14
www.nsttac.org/pdf/i13checklistqa.pdf
Age appropriate transition assessments are
critical in assisting students in determining
and defining their measurable post secondary
goals.
Is there evidence that the
measurable postsecondary goals
were based on age-appropriate
transition assessment?
Step II:
Present Levels of
Academic
Achievement and
Functional
Performance
Step I
Measurable
Post-secondary
Goals
Step III:
Transition
Services
Step IV:
Measurable
Annual Goals
Includes: Courses of study
Ageappropriate
transition
assessments
•Training
•Education
•Employment
•Independent Living
Skills – where
appropriate
Includes:
•Instruction
•Related services
•Community experiences
•Employment and other postschool adult living objectives
When appropriate:
•Daily living skills
•Functional vocational evaluation
O’Leary, E., 2005 © Copyright
Step I
Measurable Post-secondary
Goals
Age-appropriate
transition
assessments
O’Leary, E., 2005 © Copyright
•Training /Education
•Employment
•Independent Living Skills –
(where appropriate)
Who’s
The
Smartest?
Division of Career Development &
Transition
Transition assessment is "the ongoing process
of collecting data on the individual’s strengths,
needs, preferences, and interests as they relate
to the demands of current and future working,
educational, living, and personal, and social
environments. Assessment data serve as the
common thread in the transition process and
form the basis for defining goals and services to
be included in the IEP" (Sitlington, 1996).
Measurable Postsecondary Goals – Help students
define their MPG’s
Course of study – Help students determine and plan
courses and educational experiences
Transition services – coordinated set of activities –
 what needs to happen
 by when, and
 who will be responsible to carry out and oversee
each activity
Promotes self advocacy and self-awareness
1. Explain the purpose of assessments to students (MPG’s, course
selection, develop long range plan and activities).
2. Describe the variety of assessments (career, self determination, life
skills, etc.) assessment tools and the different kinds of results.
3. With the student, decide which assessments/assessment tools.
4. Conduct assessments.
5. With the student review results:
 What the results mean
 Why the results
 How the information can be used
6. Have students report on assessments – what – why - the results and
how they used the information to define their MPG’s.
“if an evaluation is specific and individualized to a student AND impacts a
student’s eligibility for special education and related services or changes
those services, it may be an evaluation under IDEA that would require
consent.”
Letter to Sarzynski (OSEP 2005)
1.
Some transition assessments involve only the review of existing data,
and while part of an evaluation, parental consent is not required.
34 CFR § 300.300(d).
2.
Many transition assessments are used as a screening device for all
students (general and special education students) or with an individual
student to determine appropriate instructional strategies and/or to
monitor progress. In such cases, the transition assessment is not an
evaluation, and parental consent would not be required.
34 CFR §§300.300 (d)(1)(ii), 300.302
Excluding the above two examples, which covers most
circumstances, if a particular transition assessment
administered to a specific student would impact the student’s
eligibility for special education and related services or change
those services, then parental consent would be required.
Ultimately, whether parental consent is necessary for a
particular assessment should be determined on a case-by-case
basis.
Barbara Goldsby, Supervisor, Secondary Transition Services
CDE, Exceptional Student Leadership Unit, Denver, CO
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‘Career Cruising’
TPI
Enderle Severson Transition Rating Scale
Instrument for Client and Agency Planning – ICAP
NSTTAC – NSTTAC.ORG
Products and Resources
Transition Assessment Guide
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What is transition assessment?
Why conduct transition assessments?
How do I select instruments?
How do I conduct an age appropriate transition assessment?
Sample Instruments
Informal Assessment
Formal Assessment
Informative links to Podcasts and other sources of information about
age appropriate transition assessment
Self-Determination Assessments
 American Institute for Research Self –Determination
Assessment
 ARC Self-Determination Scale
 ChoiceMaker Self-Determination Assessment
 Field and Hoffman Self-Determination Assessment Battery
http://education.ou.edu/zarrow
Adaptive Behavior and Transition Assessments
Transition Planning Inventory (TPI)
ProEd, Austin TX www.proedinc.com
Scales of Independent Behavior
Riverside Publishing www.riverpub.com
Informal Assessments for Transition Planning
ProEd, Austin TX www.proedinc.com
Enderle-Severson Transition Rating Scale
www.estr.net
Casey Life Skills
www.caseylifeskills.org
On-Line Individual Interest Inventories
My Future
www.myfuture.com/toolbox/workinterest.html
I Oscar (Occupation and Skill Computer-Assisted Researcher)
www.ioscar.org
Career Voyages
http://www.careervoyages.gov/
Career Clusters
www.careerclusters.org
Occupational Outlook Handbook
www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm
www.bls.gov/k12/index.htm (Exploring Careers)
Job Videos
http://www.acinet.org/acinet/videos.asp?id=27,&nodeid=27
Students with Moderate to Severe Disabilities
Choose and Take Action – www.sopriswest.com
Set of instructional activities designed to teach students with moderate to severe cognitive disabilities selfdetermination skills to introduce students to a variety of jobs and career possibilities and help them to
identify what is most important to them about a job.
Engaging students in the planning, discussion
and decision making of all courses and
educational experiences
Do the transition services include courses
of study that will reasonably enable the
student to meet his or her postsecondary
goal(s)?
Step II:
Present Levels of
Academic
Achievement and
Functional
Performance
Step I
Measurable
Post-secondary
Goals
Step III:
Transition
Step IV:
Measurable
Services
Annual Goals
Includes: Courses of study
Ageappropriate
transition
assessments
•Training
•Education
•Employment
•Independent Living
Skills – where
appropriate
Includes:
•Instruction
•Related services
•Community experiences
•Employment and other postschool adult living objectives
When appropriate:
•Daily living skills
•Functional vocational evaluation
O’Leary, E., 2005 © Copyright
Step III:
Transition Services
1.Courses of study
Includes
2.Coordinated set of Activities
- Instruction
- Employment and other post-school adult living objectives
- Related services
- Community experiences
- Employment and other post-school adult living objectives
When appropriate:
- Daily living skills
- Functional vocational evaluation
O’Leary, E., 2005 © Copyright
Step III:
Transition Services
1.Courses of study
Includes
2.Coordinated set of Activities
- Instruction
- Employment and other post-school adult living objectives
- Related services
- Community experiences
- Employment and other post-school adult living objectives
When appropriate:
- Daily living skills
- Functional vocational evaluation
O’Leary, E., 2005 © Copyright

Locate the course of study (instructional program
of study) or list of courses of study in the student’s
IEP.

The courses of study is a multi-year description of
coursework from the student’s current to
anticipated exit year that is designed to help the
student achieve their desired post-school goal(s).

The courses of study align with the student’s
identified postsecondary goal(s).
The ARD/IEP team helps the student identify the
courses and educational experiences that will
prepare them for post-secondary life.
Focus on:
—
—
—
Courses of study [all courses and educational
experiences]
How the educational program can be planned
and relate directly to the student’s goals beyond
secondary education
Show how those courses are linked to the MPG’s
Promotes the concept that the high school
program focuses on post-school results.
Help students and family select courses of
study that are meaningful and motivate
students to complete their education.
If the student and parent are aware of and agree to
a change in a course and that change would not
have a direct impact on the student achieving his
or her desired post-school outcome; or if the
student taking the course would not require any
accommodations or modifications (which would
require goals and objectives); then this change
would not be considered a substantive change
and would not necessitate another IEP meeting.
Developing a ‘BIG PICTURE’ long range
coordinated plan of activities and services that
will result in the student achieving their
desired post secondary goals
Are there transition services
in the IEP that will reasonably
enable the student to meet his
or her postsecondary goal(s)?
Step III:
Transition Services
1.Courses of study
Includes
2.Coordinated set of Activities
- Instruction
- Employment and other post-school adult living objectives
- Related services
- Community experiences
- Employment and other post-school adult living objectives
When appropriate:
- Daily living skills
- Functional vocational evaluation
O’Leary, E., 2005 © Copyright

For each measurable postsecondary goal area
there should be some type of instruction,
related service, community experience,
employment and other post-school adult living
objective, daily living skill and/or functional
vocational evaluation listed in association with
meeting the measurable postsecondary goal.

The transition services and activities
(actions/steps) described under all of these
areas is a coordinated plan for the transition
from school to post-school adult life.
“Herding Cats”
The CSA must show evidence that:
1.
Activities are individualized and student specific.
2.
Activities lead toward the achievement of the
student’s measurable postsecondary goals
3.
Activities should show a minimum of 2 years
4.
The activities demonstrate coordination between
school, family, student and/or outside agency(ies)

Multi year - at least a 2 year description of coordinated
activities/strategies to help students achieve their
measurable post secondary goals while they are still in
high school

Should complement the course of study, include
steps/activities needed for successful post school
transition
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If there are transition services listed that are likely to be
provided or paid for by an outside agency then you
need to obtain written consent before inviting agency
representative to the IEP meeting.
Role of the Student
• Attend and actively participates in all IEP meetings, discussions and
decisions
• Share with the IEP team your desired post secondary goals (what you
want to do after completing school – education, training, employment,
independent living)
• Describes areas in which help or assistance is needed;
• Updates the IEP team on how well you are doing in
classes, work and community experiences;
• Learn about your disability, know your strengths and learn how to
advocate for the accommodations, modifications and supports that
you need in order to succeed during in school and the community
Role of the Parent/Family
• Support your child’s active participation in their IEP meeting.
• Visit with your child about their post secondary goals and dreams.
• Help your child develop a plan for the future including an education
plan that matches their desired post secondary goals.
• Learn about community agencies, supports, services and programs
that can help your child when they complete school.
• Take responsibility for some of the activities/strategies in the
transition plan.
• Help your child learn about and understand their disability and their
strengths.
• Help your child learn how to advocate for themselves so they receive
the necessary accommodations, supports and services.
Role of the School
• Invite the student, parent and appropriate agency(s) to the IEP
meeting.
• Assist the student and family in identifying post secondary goals and
developing transition services.
•Provide the skills, knowledge and experiences necessary to prepare
the student in their achieving their desired post secondary goals.
• Become familiar with community, regional and state post school
services supports, programs that work with and assist person with
disabilities and their requirements.
• Be responsible for some of the activities/strategies in the student’s
transition plan.
• Provide self advocacy and self determination training.
• Assist the student in taking an active role in their IEP planning,
discussion and decision making.
Rehabilitation Act
Coordination with Education Officials
The State plan shall contain plans, policies, and procedures for coordination between VR and
education officials. The plan, policies and procedures must be designed to facilitate the transition
of the students with disabilities from the receipt of educational services in school to the receipt of
vocational rehabilitation services…This agreement must at a minimum provide for:
consultation and technical assistance to assist educational agencies in planning for the
transition of students with disabilities from school to post-school activities, including
vocational rehabilitation services;
 transition planning by personnel of the designated State agency and educational agency for
students with disabilities that facilitates the development and completion of their
individualized education programs.
 the roles and responsibilities, including financial responsibilities, of each agency, including
provisions for determining State lead agencies and qualified personnel responsible for
transition services; and
 procedures for outreach to and identification of students with disabilities who need the
transition services.

Rehabilitation Act - Required Collaboration
Each student determined to be eligible for VR services or, if under an order of
selection, each eligible student served under the order, an IPE must be
developed and approved before the student leaves the secondary school
setting.
Regulations at 34 CFR 361.22
It is important to note that VR agencies must collaborate with state
education agencies in providing transition services to all students with
disabilities and are required to conduct outreach and identify those students
with disabilities who may need transition services.
Section 101[a][11][D][iv] of the Rehabilitation Act
This includes students receiving special education and related services under
the IDEA and students with disabilities covered only by Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act (Section 504).
Participate in transition planning and assist in designing
and developing transition services for students with
disabilities, that facilitate the achievement of the
employment outcome identified in the individualized plan
for employment;
Provide consultative and technical assistance services to
assist educational agencies in planning for the transition of
students with disabilities from school to post-school
activities, including employment.