Improving Secondary Education and Transition Using ResearchBased Standards and Indicators

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Improving Secondary Education and Transition
Using Research-Based Standards and Indicators
An initiative of the National Alliance on
Secondary Education and Transition, supported by
the National Center on Secondary Education and
Transition
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Robert A. Stodden, Ph.D.Director, Center on
Disability Studies andPartner in the National
Center on Secondary Education and Transition
(NCSET),University of Hawaii at
ManoaAustralian Association on Special
EducationSeptember 23-26, 2005 Brisbane,
Queensland, Australia
Presenter
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What the Research Says

• Research shows that many students, including
  those with disabilities, continue to experience
  difficulties in achieving positive school and
  postschool outcomes
• Academic performance
• Postsecondary education
• Employment
• Independent living
• Other outcomes

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Current Challenges

• Critical need to bridge discussions between
  professionals in general education, special
  education, and workforce development, concerning
  programs, strategies, and interventions that
  systematically address the needs of all students.
• Emerging issues related to students access to
  the general education curriculum, including their
  participation in state and local assessment and
  accountability systems.

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Current Challenges (cont.)

• Ongoing challenge of interagency collaboration
  and service coordination.
• Increased number of requests from school
  districts and service providers for information
  on research-based best practices, programs, and
  services and quality indicators.
• New challenges for a focus on accountability for
  all.

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National Alliance on Secondary Education and
Transition (NASET)

• Purpose To bring together a national, voluntary
  coalition to create a shared agenda on the
  improvement of secondary education and transition
  policies and programs for all youth.

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Why NASET was Established

• To identify and build consensus on a set of
  research-based secondary education and transition
  principles, strategies (best practices), and
  indicators that ultimately leads to broad
  adoption at all levels
• To begin to prioritize and address significant
  issues of national scale that have a positive
  impact on secondary education and transition
  services and policies for all youth

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Current NASET Activity

• Development of a common and shared framework to
  help valued partners in school systems and
  communities identify what youth need in order to
  achieve successful participation in postsecondary
  education and training, civic engagement,
  meaningful employment, and adult life.

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Development of the Framework

• More than 30 national organizations and
  additional experts were assembled and met over a
  14-month period to achieve consensus on a set of
  research-based standards and quality indicators
  in 5 key areas
• Schooling
• Career Preparatory Experiences
• Youth Development and Youth Leadership
• Family Involvement
• Connecting Activities

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Why a Framework?

• To respond to increased requests from states,
  school districts, and service providers for
  information on
• Research-based practices, programs, and services
  and
• Benchmarks for effective secondary education and
  transition practices.
• To address new responsibilities for states to
  focus on accountability for each and every young
  person.

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The Framework

• Reflects all youth (not just youth with
  disabilities)
• Resonates with different audiences that serve
  youth
• Reflects both research- and evidence-based
  practices

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The Framework(cont.)

• Identifies what is needed for youth to achieve
  successful participation in postsecondary
  education and training, civic engagement,
  meaningful employment, and adult life and
• Focuses on practices within secondary education
  and transition programs and services.

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Assumptions of the Framework

• Quality secondary education and transition
  programs and activities
• Must have the expectation that all youth can
  achieve successful postschool outcomes
• Result from the support and commitment of highly
  qualified and knowledgeable personnel
• Hold high expectations for all youth, recognize
  individual needs, and strive to improve ways to
  meet changing needs and
• Promote successful postschool outcomes when they
  connect youth to positive, responsible, and
  caring adults.

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Opportunities Provided by the Framework

• Establish one direction (eliminate parallel
  systems, meet the needs of all youth, meet the
  needs of many audienceseveryone sees their
  needs)
• Allow school districts to have benchmarks for
  effective practice
• Establish networks of cross-discipline
  youth-serving organizations and
• Demonstrate how secondary education and
  transition fits across different areas.

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The Framework

• Why is it important?
• Schooling
• Career Preparatory Experiences
• Youth Development and Youth Leadership
• Family Involvement
• Connecting Activities

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Schooling

• 1.1 Provide youth with equitable access to a full
  range of academic and non-academic courses and
  programs of study.
• 1.2 Use appropriate standards to assess
  individual student achievement and learning.
• 1.3 Systematically collect data on school
  completion rates and post-school outcomes and use
  these data to plan improvements in educational
  and post-school programs and services.

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Schooling (cont.)

• 1.4 Offer educators, families, and community
  representatives regular opportunities for ongoing
  skill development, education, and training in
  planning for positive post-school outcomes for
  all youth.
• 1.5 Establish and implement high school
  graduation standards, options, and decisions that
  are based on meaningful measures of student
  achievement and learning.

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Career Preparatory Experiences

• 2.1 Youth experience career awareness,
  exploration, and preparatory activities in
  school-based and community-based settings.
• 2.2 Academic and non-academic courses and
  programs include integrated career development
  opportunities.
• 2.3 Schools and community partners provide youth
  with opportunities to participate in meaningful
  school-and community-based work experiences.
• 2.4 Schools and community partners provide career
  preparatory activities that lead to youths
  acquisition of employability and technical
  skills, knowledge, and behaviors.

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Youth Development and Youth Leadership

• 3.1 Youth acquire the skills, behaviors, and
  attitudes that enable them to learn and grow in
  self-knowledge, social interaction, and physical
  and emotional health.
• 3.2 Youth understand the relationship between
  their individual strengths and desires and their
  future goals and have the skills to act on that
  understanding.
• 3.3 Youth have the knowledge and skills to
  demonstrate leadership and participate in
  community life.
• 3.4 Youth demonstrate the ability to make
  informed decisions for themselves.

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Family Involvement

• 4.1 School staff members demonstrate a strong
  commitment to family involvement and understand
  its critical role in supporting high achievement,
  access to postsecondary education, employment,
  and other successful adult outcomes.
• 4.2 Communication among youth, families, schools
  is flexible, reciprocal, meaningful, and
  individualized.
• 4.3 School staff actively cultivate, encourage,
  and welcome youth and family involvement.
• 4.4 Youth, families, and school staff are
  partners in the development of policies and
  decisions affecting youth and families.

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Connecting Activities

• 5.1 Organizations align their missions, policies,
  procedures, data, and resources to equitably
  serve all youth and ensure the provision of a
  unified flexible array of programs, services,
  accommodations, and supports.
• 5.2 Organizations connect youth to an array of
  programs, services, accommodations, and supports,
  based on a personalized planning process.

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Connecting Activities (cont.)

• 5.3 Organizations hire and invest in the
  development of knowledgeable, responsive, and
  accountable personnel who understand their shared
  responsibilities to align programs, services,
  resources, and supports necessary to assist youth
  in achieving their individual post-school goals.

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Framework UtilizationA Sample of Possible
Options

• National Association of Special Education and
• Transition Personnel
• Post on associations website
• E-mail copies to association members
• Make suggestions to members for using guidelines
  in their states (e.g., working with stakeholder
  groups, establishing community of practice around
  transition efforts)
• Identify ways to collaborate with other groups
• Disseminate to active communities of practice

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Framework UtilizationA Sample of Possible
Options (cont.)

• Other national associations and professional
• organizations
• Use as an educational tool for postsecondary
  professionals
• Disseminate to business roundtable of the Chamber
  of Commerce
• Market in curriculum package to teachers
• Use the career preparatory standards to identify
  appropriate work-based learning experiences

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Framework UtilizationA Sample of Possible
Options (cont.)

• Brief those who are working on employment policy
  legislation
• Disseminate as a resource to organizations
  members
• Use as a resource to make members aware of best
  practices and to spark ideas for collaboration
• Use for certification of workforce development
  professionals
• Use to begin a conversation on the state of the
  countrys youth

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Framework UtilizationA Sample of Possible
Options (cont.)

• Community/Family Centers
• Post on website
• Feature the framework in newsletter articles
• Highlight framework practices in transition
  trainings
• Disseminate framework to families and
  professionals
• Discuss the framework at state transition and
  annual parent conferences
• Shape systems change efforts at state and local
  levels
• Inform transition planning

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Next Steps

• Work with NASET member organizations to embed
  standards into their ongoing work.
• Develop a comprehensive agenda for dissemination
• Present at national conferences
• Work with individual organizations
• Develop publications which may be used by state
  and local education agencies, workforce
  development professionals, youth development
  professionals, families, and youth.

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National Center on Secondary Education and
Transition (NCSET)

• For more information on the National Alliance on
  Secondary Education (NASET), please contact Bob
  Stodden at stodden_at_hawaii.edu
• National Center on Secondary Education and
  Transition website http//www.ncset.org