Author(s): Bassett, Diane S., Carol A. Kochhar-Bryant
Published: October 2006 in Focus on Exceptional Children
URL to article
Research Focus Area: Asset-based best practices for serving students with disabilities/students in special ed
Abstract:
The article discusses special education laws in the United States that have promoted the assimilation of students with disabilities into general education classes, while also promoting their successful transition into the community. Educators are challenged to reconcile the individualized educational model required by special education students with the general education model appropriate for all students. The article discusses policy factors that accelerated the implementation of transition service including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act reauthorizations, the No Child Left Behind Act, the Americans With Disabilities Act, the need for more workers in the economy, and federal initiatives to promote states’ capacity to provide transition services.
Research Question(s):
How do existing special education laws in the US support students with disabilities in the transition from postsecondary education to the adult world? How has this policy arena changed in the last decade, and what work is left to be done?
Methods:
Literature Review
Setting:
United States
Key Findings:
- While the ad-hoc nature of policy making has contributed to an uncoordinated patchwork of youth programs and initiatives, efforts to develop and expand transition practices have endured.
- In the 1990s, partly in reaction to public concerns about he eroding quality of education in the United States and weakening economic competitiveness, policy makers sought to improve student achievement through standards-based reforms. Improving education depended upon the creation of national standards to determine what every student should know and be able to do.
- Standards-based reform movement has shifted the attention of educators from preparation for work and career toward academic performance outcomes for all students.
- More recently, leaders in education and Job training are demanding a systematic redesign of secondary education and transition service delivery for ail youth, particularly those with disabilities.
- Reformers argue that for students with the post-secondary goal of employment, the curriculum should blend both school-based and community-based approaches, particularly during the transition years, grades 9-12. and, if needed, through age 21.
- Since 1990, transition provisions in IDEA have supported u flexible, integrated, and coordinated planning approach lor youth preparing for adult roles.
- The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act of 2001 also requires strategic cross-agency.
- planning as well as collaboration to support students’ transition from secondary education.
- The rehabilitation act of 1998 requires cooperation with education agencies responsible for the transition of students from school to employment or postsecondary settings.
- The rehabilitation act also supports student transition by providing for ongoing support services that can include assessment of employment needs, job development and placement services, social skills training, or coordination of intensive services at the worksite or in the home that may be needed to maintain employment stability, independent living supports, and follow-up services.
- For many students with disabilities, however, decisions about postsecondary choices often are complex and require long-term advanced planning tailored to their individual needs and postschool goals. A pathways approach provides a framework for examining students’ needs and goals early in their educational program, long before graduation is upon them, and developing a course of preparation lo achieve those goals.
Implications:
- During transition years, students should be supported to concentrate on their career goals, and their education also should occur in the community, through work-study or work-based mentorship arrangements.
- The transition component of the IEP should emphasize the supports that students need to live independently, establish social lives, become lifelong learners, and sustain employment.
Limitations:
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