AGE APPROPRIATE TRANSITION ASSESSMENT: A Tool for Helping Keep Youth in school

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AGE APPROPRIATE TRANSITION ASSESSMENT A Tool for
Helping Keep Youth in school

• Larry Kortering
• Pat Braziel
• Korteringlj_at_appstate.edu
• Brazielp_at_earthlink.net

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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 www.nsttac.org)
• Helps you understand the student in a new way

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AREAS OF ASSESSMENT INFORMATION

• Achievement and Mental Ability scores from the
  current psychological report
• Paper/pencil tests in the areas of interests,
  personality, career readiness, work adjustment,
  and aptitude
• Physical functioning (observation or tested)
• Family and student background (interview or
  survey)
• Job Samplings
• Work Site Evaluations

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VOCATIONAL ASSESSMENT and -

• Snapshot of reality
• Requires training and experience for proper
  interpretation
• Requires a conceptual understanding of career
  development
• Norms may be dated and statistical properties
  suspect
• Many instruments promise everything in a short
  time (think diet pills)

• Time efficient and is not (cheap)
• Fairly predictive
• Fosters self-understanding
• Means for developing rapport
• Non-academic focus
• The right instruments are reliable and valid
• Students love it
• Indicator 13 requires it

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TRANSITION ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY

• TAKING THE TESTS TO SEE HOW GOOD OR BAD THEY ARE

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GENERAL CHALLENGES YOU WILL ENCOUNTER

• Response sets (e.g., flat score or other unique
  response patterns)
• Youths with little or now world of work
  knowledge or experience which affects scores
• Interests are the least stable of measures, yet
  the most often measured
• Impact of limited access to role models

• Impact of their handicap
• Impact of ones gender and culture
• Matching results to actual programs
• The issue of self-reported vs. performance
  measures
• Emerging sources of influence include television
  and the internet

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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
• SDS R is complex and warrants assistance

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HOLLAND CODES AND LABOR DEPT. DATA (2000)

• 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

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NEW WORK WORLD

• Emerging knowledge-based economy
• Emerging labor pattern of job changes (average of
  11 or more for todays 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)

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RECOMMENDED LEVEL ONE TESTS

• General interview or survey about school,
  interests, work history and family jobs
  (http//www.nsttac.org)
• Student Style Questionnaire (Psychological
  Corporation in San Antonio, 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
  Assessment Inventory Scales)
• Information from current psychological report
  (e.g., IQ and achievement scores)

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TRANSITION ASSESSMENT GUIDE

• PROVIDING BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON ASSESSMENT
• PROVIDING JUST IN TIME ACCESS TO RESOURCES AND
  INFORMATION
• PROVIDING SAMPLE ASSESSMENT TOOLS
• GETTING FEEDBACK ON HOW TO DO IT BETTER

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OTHER USEFUL RESOURCES

• A Counselors Guide to Career Assessment
  Instruments (National Career Development
  Association)
• Informal Assessments for Transitions Independent
  living and community participation (Pro Ed)
• Assess for Success A practitioners handbook on
  transition assessment (Corwin Press)
• Assessment for Effective Intervention (Spring of
  2007 issue)
• Handbook on Measurement and Evaluation in
  Rehabilitation (Aspen Publishing)
• ONET website

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CONTACT INFORMATION

• WWW.NSTTAC.ORG (sign up for NSTTAC Notes and
  download Transition Assessment Guide)
• Larry Kortering (korteringlj_at_appstate.edu)
• Patricia Braziel (brazielp_at_earthlink.net)

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to read about each trade!)