DaleRogersTrainingCenter

Transition School-to-Work Program

The Transition School-to-Work Program helps students with disabilities who are eligible for vocational rehabilitation services to prepare for employment and life after high school. One of the services available through the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation counselors assigned to each high school include:

  • Vocational counseling and guidance to assistss teachers, parents and students in developing appropriate career goals
  • Vocational assessment and evaluation to help determine students' employment-related strengths
  • Work study to provide job readiness skills, work experience and high school credits
  • Work site learning, arranged through "cooperative agreements" with schools, which provides minimum-wage work in the community or at school, job readiness skills, work experience and high school credits
  • Work adjustment training - purchased from community-based facilities
  • On-the-job training arranged in the community for students in the second semester of their senior years with permanent employment as a goal
  • Supported employment to help students in the second semester of their senior year transition into permanent employment
  • Job development and placement specialists to help students make job searches more successful.

Philosophy

The concept was developed to further enrich the traditional school classroom. It has been shown that vocational skills are often most effectively taught in the same environment in which they are performed. Both school and community service providers utilize community instruction for students with severe disabilities for learning functional skills in an appropriate community environment. As a result, there has been a greater rate of success in post high school job placement than before when using similar simulated activities.

A community Transition School-to-Work Program is a partnership between the school district and the community provider to further enhance the student’s academic program. The students receive two or three hours credit for vocational training for the time they participate with a community provider, which counts towards the requirements for graduation.

Community transition programs include processes which integrate the skills and expectations delineated in the standards listed in the Department of Rehabilitation Services (DRS) Work Adjustment Training Program Standards & Evaluation Questionnaire.

Community Program Training Components

In-house: Students are trained to work on the many contracts available through the sheltered workshop. Contracts for work may include simple one step jobs to more complex ones, utilizing hand tools. Each student is encouraged to try each job and to try to work up to more difficult work as the year goes by.

Job Exploration Site: Students train at several businesses within the community. These specific jobs and tasks are the basis for the evaluation of each student on their performance and are set up to provide multiple work experiences prior to graduation. These experiences allow for the students to have an idea of the types of jobs they may be interested in doing after graduation which is the basis of the job search plan once they leave the school system.

Locations and basic duties may include:

  • Department stores where students bring stock from the stockroom; place new items in designated areas; re-shelve misplaced items; fold clothes, etc.
  • Full service restaurants where they perform host duties; bus tables; wash dishes; roll silverware and portion food items.
  • Day care centers where they assist with arts and crafts; clean shelves; entertain babies; clean toys & furniture;
  • Horticulture Centers where they can package seeks; apply fertilizer; pack mulch around the plants; plant trees and pick flowers.
  • Novelty stores where they assemble party favors or small household items; tear down and sort merchandise; tear down boxes; inflate balloons; and sort merchandise by color.

Instructional Modules: Additional job skills/life is provided through modules to assist in learning those skills needed to get and keep a job after the students are out of school. The general training areas include Social Skills, Hygiene & Grooming, Safety, Nutrition/Health, Communication, Time Concepts, Money Concepts, Getting a Job and Use of Spare Time.

DRS contract – to start the process of obtaining a contract through DRS to provide this service – the community agency can contact the Department of Rehabilitation Services and request a Work Adjustment Contract. DRS will typically set up for the community agency to tour an existing program and then works with that agency to develop the necessary components.

After graduation

After graduation, counselors and students continue to work toward vocational and employment goals. The counselor can assist the student in connecting with a community agency for job coaching assistance to help find, train and keep a job in the community.

At times, the student may need additional training through a sheltered workshop like Dale Rogers. Parents and students should be aware that some adult service providers require are couple of months to process applications. It is recommended that the student file an application two to three months before leaving school. In some cases, there may be a waiting list for receive services and it is not always possible to start immediately upon graduation.

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H:\Programs\Transition\transition institute stuff.doc / April 21, 2006