Transition Now and Then: Insights on Our Changing View of Transition from

DCDT Position Paper

Wisconsin Transition ConferenceJoanne Cashman, IDEA PartnershipStacie Dojonovic, DCDT and PA CoPDale Matusevich, DCDT and DE CoP

Linda Maitrejean, CESA 11 and DCDT

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.

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One System: Cradle to College and Career

A two -way Interaction of general and special educators throughout the education pipeline

A system that values engagement by youth, families and the community

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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?

• Are families and the community actively engaged with us in the search for solutions?

• Is there a way that we can begin to examine these issues and more together?

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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 pre-kindergarten.

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 PipelineThink/ Pair /Share

Y N Do you know how the elementary schools in your district are doing academically?Y N Do you know what academic supports are available? Y N Do you know how the elementary schools in your district are doing behaviorally?

Y N Do you know what behavioral supports and interventions are available? Y N Can you describe the process for transitioning students from one grade to the next?Y N Do you know the attendance rates for your elementary schools?Y N 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?

Y N Is there a comprehensive transition process from middle to high school?Y N Can you describe your school’s approach to support in the ninth grade? Y N Do you have a picture of how many students are on track for accumulating graduation credit?Y N Do you have a picture of the career education and career assessment takes place in the HS years?Y N 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:o Fail English have only a 12% likelihood of graduating from HSo Fail math have a 13% likelihood of graduatingo Have high rates of absenteeism have only a 13% chance of graduatingo Have poor behavior have only a 20% chance of graduating*

• What is the implication for students with and without disabilities:o For elementaryo For middle schoolo For HSo For the systemo For families and the community

*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 HighSchool Interventions Are Working to Prepare

Students for College and Careers’

National High School Center, 2010

• 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 of these recommendations 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)

oWorking with Intention at Transition Points …and integrating Transition under IDEA!

Responsiveness to Intervention(RTI)

…Also called Multi-Tiered Systems of Support(MTSS)

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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.

• Good core instruction• Universal screening• Progress monitoring• Tiered interventions using evidence-based practices• Data-informed decision-making• Problem solving

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What is 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

Can an RTI Approach be Applied to Transition?

• RTI approaches have been applied widely to reading, math and behavior

• Can it be applied to transition?

Transition Points

Every year is a transition..but some have critical importance

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• Early Childhood

Readiness and Early Learning

• Elementary• Level

Literacy, Numeracy and Behavioral Health

• Middle School Level

Subject Area Competence, Personal Growth and Active

Engagement

• High School Level

Application of Subject Area Knowledge; Demonstrated Mastery, Choose Own Path • Post-

secondary and Employment

Continuous Learning, Personal Mastery, Continuous

Adjustment and Openness to Change

Using the Pipeline Analogy,Here are Our Windows on Cradle to College and Career…

Our Task: Work with intention at every transition point!

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What Does It Mean to be ‘Intentional at Transitions’?

• Major transitions are important; every major transition!o EC to School Ageo Elementary to MSo MS to HSo 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)

Common Core and 21st Century Assessments

• General and Alternate Assessmento Most students will take the general assessmento 1% may take the alternate assessment

• 21st century Assessmentso Embedded Accessibilityo Tied to instructional accommodationso Impact on instructiono Moving beyond seat time to ‘any time , any place’ learningo Potentially, new opportunities for transition skills

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What Resources are Available to You on Common Core

• Toolso Collectionso Dialogue Guideso Participation in creating new tools

• Focused webinars

• Virtual Mentoring

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?