Transition Assessment: An Ongoing Process

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Transition Assessment An Ongoing Process

• 2008

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Objectives

• To develop an understanding of IDEA 2004
  requirements for transition assessment
• To identify various formal and informal
  transition assessment tools
• To develop a better understanding of resources
  specifically used for transition assessment
  through hands-on application activities
• To identify how and where transition assessment
  fits within the Transition IEP process

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Terminology

• The definition of measurable postsecondary goals
  has recently been changed to reflect consistency
  with terminology in the Exceptional Student
  Education Compliance Self-Assessment Processes
  and Procedures Manual, 2007-08, Bureau of
  Exceptional Education and Student Services,
  Florida Department of Education.
• The acronym for Secondary Transition (ST) has
  been used in these training materials to
  correspond with the requirements for ST-9,
  measurable postsecondary goals, and ST-10,
  age-appropriate transition assessment, found in
  the Exceptional Student Education Compliance
  Self-Assessment Processes and Procedures Manual.

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Age 16 Requirements

• IDEA 2004
• Develop measurable postsecondary goals based on
  age-appropriate transition assessment in the
  following areas
• education or training
• employment
• independent living (as needed).
• Age-appropriate transition assessment

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Age 16 Measurable Postsecondary GoalsFrom
Procedural Compliance 2007-08 SPP 13 Exiting
II Secondary Transition B (16) FLDOE

• ST-9. There is a measurable postsecondary goal or
  goals in the designated areas (i.e.,
  education/training and employment where
  appropriate, independent living). (34CFR
  300.320(b)(1))
• A measurable postsecondary goal may address more
  than one of the designated areas and must meet
  the following two requirements
• It must be measurable you must be able to count
  it or observe it.
• It must be intended to occur after the student
  graduates from school.

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Age 16 - Education or Training

• Education is defined as
• enrollment in Adult General Education (e.g.,
  Adult Basic Education, Adult High School Credit
  Program, Vocational Preparatory Instruction
  Program, or GED Testing Program)
• enrollment in technical center (certificate
  program)
• enrollment in community college (certificate
  program or two-year degree)
• enrollment in college/university (four-year
  degree and higher).

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Age 16 Education or Training

• Training is defined as
• employment training program e.g., Workforce
  Investment Act (WIA), Job Corps, AmeriCorps,
  Individualized
• individualized means one-on-one training provided
  by the employer, an agency, or service provider

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Age 16 - Employment

• Employment is defined as
• Competitive
• In the competitive labor market that is performed
  on a full or part-time basis in an integrated
  setting
• Is compensated at or above the minimum wage
• Supported
• Competitive work in integrated work settingsfor
  individuals with the most significant
  disabilities for whom competitive employment has
  not traditionally occurred or for whom
  competitive employment has been interrupted or
  intermittent as a result of a significant
  disability

Adapted from NSTTAC, 2007
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Age 16 - Independent Living (as needed)

• Life skills in the following domains
• Leisure/Recreation
• Maintain home and personal care
• Community participation

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Measurable Postsecondary GoalsFrom Procedural
Compliance 2007-08 SPP 13 Exiting II Secondary
Transition B (16) FLDOE

• The following examples of measurable
  postsecondary goals for the area of
  education/training that are sufficiently
  descriptive are provided to guide you in the
  review
• Allison
• - By May 2012 Allison will obtain a four-year
  degree
• from a liberal arts college with a major in
  Child Development.
• Lisette
• - Within three years of graduation from high
  school,
• Lisette will complete the non-degree program at
• Montgomery County College (MCC).

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Measurable Postsecondary GoalsFrom Procedural
Compliance 2007-08 SPP 13 Exiting II Secondary
Transition B (16) FLDOE

• The following examples of measurable
  postsecondary goals for the area of employment
  that are sufficiently descriptive are provided to
  guide you in the review
• Allison
• - Within six months of receiving her degree in
  Child Development, Allison will obtain employment
  in the field of early childhood education.
• Lisette
• - By January 2009, through the assistance of
• Vocational Rehabilitation and the staff of the
  non-degree
• program at MCC, Lisette will obtain part-time
  employment
• on campus at MCC that does not interfere with her
  programs
• schedule.

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Measurable Postsecondary GoalsFrom Procedural
Compliance 2007-08 SPP 13 Exiting II Secondary
Transition B (16) FLDOE

• The following examples of measurable
  postsecondary goals for the area of independent
  living that are sufficiently descriptive are
  provided to guide you in the review
• Allison
• -N/A independent living is only required where
  appropriate. For this student it was determined
  by the IEP team not to be appropriate.
• Lisette
• - Within one year of graduation from high school,
• Lisette will utilize public transportation,
  including the public
• bus and uptown trolley to independently get to
  and from
• classes at MCC.

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Age 16 Transition AssessmentFrom Procedural
Compliance 2007-08 SPP 13 Exiting II Secondary
Transition B (16) FLDOE

• ST-10. The measurable postsecondary goals were
  based on age-appropriate transition assessment.
  (34CFR 300.320(b)(1))
• Review the IEP and other available components of
  the students record to determine if information
  from age-appropriate transition assessments has
  been considered in developing measurable
  postsecondary goals.

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Transition Assessment Examples From
Procedural Compliance 2007-08 SPP 13 Exiting
II Secondary Transition B (16) FLDOE

• The following examples of age-appropriate
  transition assessment that are sufficiently
  descriptive and that reflect best practice are
  provided to guide you in the review
• Allison (education/training and employment)
• - From the Present Levels of Academic
  Achievement and Functional Performance statement
  on the IEP Allison has achieved a level 3 in
  math and a level 2 in reading on the tenth grade
  FCAT, passing the reading portion with a scale
  score of 310 (300 required to pass). She
  continues to struggle with reading in the content
  areas when the material is technical (e.g.,
  science text).

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Transition Assessment Examples From
Procedural Compliance 2007-08 SPP 13 Exiting
II Secondary Transition B (16) FLDOE

• Allisons relative strengths are in the areas
  of short- and long-term memory and problem
  solving. Her specific learning disabilities are
  in the areas of reading comprehension and written
  expression, but she is able to maintain passing
  grades in general education classes when provided
  with additional time to complete assignments and
  opportunities for re-teaching and/or
  reinforcement of concepts. Allisons oral
  expression skills are strengths for her as are
  her interpersonal skills. Academically she
  maintained Bs with a C in Chemistry during tenth
  grade and the first semester of the 11th grade.
  She met all of her IEP goals for the 2006-07
  school year.

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Transition Assessment Examples From
Procedural Compliance 2007-08 SPP 13 Exiting
II Secondary Transition B (16) FLDOE

• Lisette (education/training, employment, and
  independent living)
• - From the Present Levels of Academic Achievement
  and Functional Performance statement on the IEP
  Based on teacher observation notes,
  community-based task analysis checks, and
  information from the student, her parents, and
  her teachers collected through the Transition
  Planning Inventory and Making Action Plans
  (MAPS), Lisette is a rule-oriented, quiet young
  woman with strong skills and interests in
  employment in the service industry.

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Transition Assessment Examples From
Procedural Compliance 2007-08 SPP 13 Exiting
II Secondary Transition B (16) FLDOE

• Lisette learns best through observation and
  practical experience due to limited verbal and
  reading skills. Lisette has participated in a
  curriculum with a functional-academic focus in
  which she has demonstrated strengths in
  independent living skills, such as self-care,
  home management, reading for success in the
  community, and community math skills, including
  time and calendar skills. Lisette has expressed
  an interest in and demonstrated success in the
  service industry, particularly in the area of
  food preparation. Lisette indicates that her
  family encourages her to do well in school and in
  her job experiences. Her family expresses
  interest in Lisettes living outside of their
  home as she becomes more financially independent
  after leaving high school.

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Transition Assessment

• Transition assessment is the ongoing process of
  collecting data on the individuals 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 Individualized Education
  Program.
• - Sitlington, Neubert, and Leconte (1997)

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Age-Appropriate Transition Assessment

• Age-appropriate means activities, assessments,
  content, environments, instruction, and/or
  materials that reflect a students chronological
  age.
• Age-appropriate assessments may necessitate
  adaptations to their administration for some
  students, so that meaningful data are obtained.

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Types of transition assessments

• Behavioral assessment information
• Aptitude tests
• Interest and work values inventories
• Intelligence tests and achievement tests
• Personality or preference tests
• Career maturity or readiness tests
• Self-determination assessments
• Work-related temperament scales
• Transition planning inventories

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Types of transition assessments

• Paper and pencil test
• Structured student and family interviews
• Observational community or work-based assessment
  (situational)
• Curriculum-based assessments

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Transition Assessment

• What assessments are you currently using?
• Formal
• Informal

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Types of Assessment

• Informal
• Curriculum-Based/Teacher-Made Tests
• Interest Inventories
• Self-Determination
• Situational
• Questionnaires/Surveys/ Interviews
• Checklists

• Formal
• Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test
• College Entrance Test
• PSAT, SAT, ACT, CPT
• Transition Planning Inventory
• Brigance
• Life Centered Career Education (LCCE)
• Florida Alternate Assessment
• Other norm-referenced

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Assessments

• Transition Planning Inventory
• Enderle-Severson
• ChoiceMaker
• STEPS
• ARC Self-Determination Scale
• Self-Directed Search
• Career Chronicle Quest
• Informal Assessments in Transition Planning
• Transition Assessment Planning Transition and
  IEP Development for Youth with Mild to Moderate
  Disabilities
• Case Studies in Assessment for Transition Planning

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Assessments and Accommodations

• Formal Assessments
• Documentation on individual students Transition
  IEP
• Established accommodations
• Request prior to testing
• Informal Assessments
• Documentation on individual students Transition
  IEP
• No set accommodations
• Implemented on demand

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Using Assessment Information in Transition IEP
Development

• Transition assessment will provide practical
  information to assist in all facets of transition
  planning and Transition IEP development.
• Age-appropriate transition assessment must be
  used to develop students measurable
  postsecondary goals.

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Transition Assessment

• Transition assessment data should
• be obtained over time,
• indicate strengths, preferences and interests,
• consider present and future environments,
• be conducted by way of multiple
  places/sources/persons,
• be sensitive to cultural diversity

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Resources

• Transition Assessments
• Websites
• www.nsttac.org
• http//old.transitioncoalition.org/assessing/index
  .htm
• Interest Inventories
• Career Cruiser Florida Department of Education
• www.myfloridaeducation.com/workforce/publicat.htm
• CHOICES
• www.FACTS.org
• Career Development Resources
• http//www.thetransitioncenter.org/supt-emp.htm

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For additional information

• Sheila Gritz
• Email Sheila.Gritz_at_fldoe.org
• Florida Department of Education, Bureau of
  Exceptional Education and Student Services
• www.fldoe.org/ese/
• Drew Andrews
• Email drewa_at_coe.ufl.edu
• Patrick Mulvihill
• Email patmfl_at_aol.com
• The Transition Center, University of Florida
• www.thetransitioncenter.org