Postsecondary Transition Planning

Postsecondary Transition Planning

for Parents

What is postsecondary transition planning? “Postsecondary” refers to life after high school graduation. “Transition planning” refers to the high school classes and supporting transition services that a student receives during their high school years to help prepare them for life after graduation in the areas of education/training, employment, and,if necessary, independent living skills. According to federal law, the purpose of public education is to prepare students with disabilities for further education, employment, and independent living after their graduation from high school.

The student’s transition plan can and often will change as the student moves from age 14 to high school graduation. The student may think at age 14 he/she will attend the vocational school and then enter the work force, but later decide in high school that attending college is what he/she will do after graduating.

Transition planning is a part of the IEP process and must be present on an IEP when a student turns 14 and continue to be a part of the IEP until graduation. Transition planning information currently appears in sections 4 and 5 of the IEP. However, information presented in previous sections (section 1, Future Planning and section 3, Profile)of the IEP form is used in developing the transition plan. While each section of the IEP contains specific information, thesesections are all tied together and should support each other in presenting a complete description of the child.

Postsecondary goals can be written in three areas on the IEP: 1) education or training, 2) employment, and if necessary, 3) independent living skills. Goals in education/training and employment have to be written for any student 16 or older, but the need for an independent living skills goal is optional. The IEP team with your input will annually make the decision as to the need for an independent living skill in transition planning during the IEP meeting.

Transition servicesare to be provided to the student during their high school years which support the student reaching their postsecondary goals. Transition services are to be coordinated activities for the student that:

• are provided for specific reasons to improve their academic achievement and functionalperformance to help them move from high school to their post high school life, and
• arebased on the student’s needs, strengths, preferences, and interests.

Seventransition service categories or activitieshave been identified that a studentmay participate in during the high school years in support of their IEP postsecondary goals. These seven categories or activities with some examples are:

1. instruction- study skill training, tutoring, organizational skills training

2.community experiences- job shadowing, service learning project

3. development of adult living objectives- resume development, apply for

SAT/ACT college tests, guidance counseling, job placement service

4. related services- develop peer supports, computer skills training

5. daily living skills training- diet and menu training, driver’s education,

budgeting, checkbook use, appropriate dress, handling emergencies

6. age-appropriate assessments- Ohio Graduation Test, ACT/SAT tests,

curriculum-based assessments, aptitude testing, interest inventories

7. linkage to adult services- referral to BVR or MR/DD, plan with disabilities

services at a college, support for obtaining a YMCA membership

A service or activity may be meet the needs of more than one of thesecategories. The focus should be on providing the most appropriate activities for a student and not what category to place it under. Every category does not have to be addresses every year. These categories are provided for guidance in developing a transition plan that will support your child in reaching their transition goals.

Also, there are other related services that may be required to assist your child with their disability to benefit from special education. Some examples of these related services are: transportation needs, speech-language therapy, physical and occupational therapy, school nurse, educational aide, guidance counseling, mobility training, etc.

Any time postsecondary transition planning is to be discussed at an IEP meeting, both the student andparents are to be invited to attend the meeting. Good transition planning particularly requires the student and parentsbehighly involved in this part of the IEP.

If any outside agency (i.e. MRDD, Social Security, BVR) is requested to attend an IEP meeting by the school system due to transition planning needs, the school must notify the parents ahead of time and receive your permission for the agency to attend the meeting. Outside agencies could be invited because they might provide services or pay for services to be provided to a student that the school system does not have the ability to offer.

While federal law requires transition planning to be a part of IEPs for students 16 and older, the state of Ohio has decided to also require some transition planning be present in IEPs for student who are14 years old. The IEP team can decide to have transition planning on a student’s IEP earlier than 14, if it is deemed to be appropriate.

Transition planning for a student age 14 is usually different than age 16 and older students. The age 14 transition requirements are fewer and usually more general in naturethan plans for a student 16 and older. The closer a student moves toward graduation the more specific and detailed their transition plan should become. The supporting transition services should also become more focused to support the child’s postsecondary goals on the IEP.

An IEP for a 14 year old student only has to include a statement of the transition service needs of the child that identify the proposed high school courses of study he/she will enroll in when beginning high school (grade 9). The high school courses to be enrolled must be those that support the current postsecondary goals written in the current IEP.

An IEP for a student age 14does not have to include additional transition services or age appropriate transition assessments the child will receive in high school. The IEP team may include this optional information on an IEP, if it is available. However, at age 16all of these information areas must be included in the IEP for transition planning.

What is an age appropriate transition assessment? This is an ongoing process by the school in collecting information on the student’s needs, strengths, preferences, and interests. “Age appropriate” means assessments are given to a student based on their chronological age in years and not their mental/developmental age. There are both formal and informal ways a school can gather age appropriate information on a student that meet transition assessment requirements.

Some examples of formal age appropriate transition assessments are:

• results on district-wide and state-wide tests, (Ohio Achievement Assessments and Ohio Graduation Test testing)
• adaptive behavior/daily living skills assessments,
• interests inventories,
• aptitude tests, and
• intelligence tests.

Some examples of informal age appropriate transition assessments are:

• interviews and questionnaires given to students and parents

to help determine the student’s needs, strengths, preferences, and needs related to their anticipated post-school goals,

• direct observations of student performances in their school environments, (i.e. classroom, cafeteria, extra-curricular activities),
• curriculum-based assessments conducted by the teacher to help develop specific curriculum and instructional plans for a student, or
• learning styles and study skills assessment.

Age appropriate transition assessments do not have to be included on an IEP for a student age 14 or younger. They do have to be included on an IEP for students age 16 and older. Only a summary of the information gained from an assessment(s) and the type (i.e. pencil and paper, computer assessment, etc.) needs to appear on the IEP.

Age appropriate transition assessments are not required to be conducted every year nor for each of the postsecondary goal areas of education/training, employment, orindependent living skills. However, it is better to do some assessment each year to obtain new information on the student.

When a postsecondary goal is being written (section 4 of IEP), these three criteria are to be used to make it correct:

A the goal has to be written to occur after high school graduation,

B the goals have to be measurable. “Measurable” for a postsecondary goal

actuallymeans it can observed if the goal was met or not, and

C the goal has to be written withpositive(will) expectations.

Postsecondary transition goals can be written in three areas:

1 education/training,

2 employment, and

3 independent living skills

Below are two examples of what transition goals could be written as with the “A,B,C” criteria and “1,2,3” goal areas identified.

This goal involves both education (1) and employment goals (2).

“After graduation from high school (A), Beth will (C) enroll (B) at Shawnee State University(1) in the field of elementary education(1). She will (C) graduate (B) with an elementary education degree (1) and be employed (B) as a teacher (2).”

The following is an example of a postsecondary transition goal for an independent living skill (3).

“After graduation(A), Beth will (B) participate(C) in community activities (3) by attending(B) the movie theater(3), joining(B) a bowling league (3), and participate (B) in YMCA classes (3) of interest to her. She will (C) also do her own clothes shopping (3) and financial management (3) by developing (B) and implementing (B) a budget (3).”

Remember, the postsecondary transition goals are goals that will occur after high school graduation. The supporting activities/servicesandhigh school classesdo occur during their high school years to support the student in reaching the goals.

When involved in transition planning, it is important for students and parents to:

• knowthe student’s needs, strength, preferences, interests,
• know the present levels of performance of theirchild,
• know where you want your child to doafter high school graduation,
• decide what needs to be done to prepare your child for their transition goals.

Once an overall transition plan has been jointly developed by the student, parents, and school, various methods of evaluation should be decided upon to determine how progress is being made toward the postsecondary goals. Remember, these goals can change and thus the transition services and high school courses of study could then change.

Most, if not all, of the academic and functional goals written in section 6, Measurable Annual Goals, of the IEP are designed to support one or more of the broader postsecondary goals written in section 4. TheIEP annual goals can also be viewed as yearlyinstruction the school will implement to help a student reach their future postsecondary goals in education/training, employment, and, if necessary, independent living skills.

A school district or staff member cannot be heldliablefor a student with a disability not reaching a postsecondary goal stated on the IEP. IDEA services and rights guaranteed by federal law do not extend beyond high school graduation. However, schools are held liable for providing during a student’s high school years, the courses of study (classes) and the transition services/activitieswhich support the student in being prepared to obtain their postsecondary goals. The school is not guaranteeing passage of any high school coursewritten on an IEP for transition planning. The school is responsible for providing the necessary supplementary aides and supports along with appropriate accommodations or modification to support the student’s participation in thoseclasses.

One person who is knowledgeable about special education and the child’s IEP is to be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the IEPs. This person could be a guidance counselor, intervention specialists, director of special education, principal, or other individual deemed appropriate by the school district. This responsible person is not documented on the IEP, but parents should know who this person is for the school.

In the senior year before a student graduates, the school is to provide students with a Summary of Performancedocument. This contains information which focuses on the accomplishments of the student in high school and recommends future transition needs he/she should pursue in education, employment, and independent living skills. The academic achievements and current functional performance of the student must be included in the document. There is no one form approved to use for this summary, only a requirement for schools to provide it to graduating students.

The best IEPs are those written with both students and parents involved in the process with school staff.

Parents are the first teacher of a child and the most important teacher.

John Morgan, Postsecondary Transition Consultant

State Support Team, Region 15

100 E. Third Street, PO Box 578

Piketon, Ohio 45661

1 800 282-4597 or 1 740 289-4171 ext. 4218

e-mail:

Document Revised: January 13, 2012

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