Developing Systems of Professional Development in Transition: Resources & Strategies

1. Developing Systems of Professional Development in Transition: Resources & Strategies National Secondary Technical and Training Assistance Center October 20, 2007 Mary Morningstar, Ph.D. University of Kansas mmorningstart@ku.edu Diane S. Bassett, Ph.D. University of Northern Colorado diane.bassett@unco.edu

2. Effective Professional Development Is… “sustained, intensive, ongoing and of high quality” (Porter, et al., 2000; US DOE Eisenhower Program) “Does not take place during workshops and inservice day presentations, but in the context of professional communities that have been locally developed to be responsive to teachers’ needs” (McLaughlin, 1994) Question for Today: How can states develop comprehensive, sustained, high-impact professional development systems for transition?

3. Professional Development: Learning from the Best How to Apply it to Transition Stakeholders Transition Practices Professional Development Practices SEA Transition PD Goals LEA Transition Goals (Hassel, 1999)

4. Step 1: Include critical stakeholders • LEA personnel • SEA personnel • IHE personnel • Community members, organizations & agencies • Family members • Students with Disabilities/Consumers

5. Partnering with IHEs • Include IHE personnel in planning for SEA and LEA planning and development • Work collaboratively with IHE personnel to integrate transition content into degree programs aligned with national transition standards • Include IHE personnel in delivering conferences, regional PD • Collaborate with IHE personnel to develop collaborative grants, research projects

6. Step 2: Develop a PD Needs Assessment Process • Identify strengths and gaps at all levels • Utilize comparison groups from other districts and other states • Identify data sources • Develop a plan that addresses gaps and ways to collect data Application to Transition: • Assess for Transition Content (teacher competencies & programmatic evaluations) • Assess for Transition Policies and Compliance (SEA/LEA Indicators data; policy review; compliance review procedures)

7. Needs Assessment for Content • Transition Taxonomy (Kohler, 1996) • Quality Indicators of Effective Transition Practices (Morningstar, 2006) • TransQual Online (Cornell University) • NASET National Standards and Quality Indicators • CEC/DCDT Standards for Transition Specialists & Secondary SPED teachers • Secondary Teachers Transition Survey (STTS, Benitez & Morningstar, 2005)

8. Step 3: Develop State, Regional, Local Goals for PD • Focus should be on statewide impact of PD • Align SEA goals to LEA goals to school goals to individual goals; involve IHEs in alignment of goals Application to Transition: • Use data collected to identify goals for comprehensive professional development (pre-service coursework to in-service training) • Consider goals targeting: (1) policies & compliance, (2) effective practices, (3) consistent statewide training/TA, (4) interagency collaboration

9. Step 4: Identify PD content, processes and activities • Content – What do transition stakeholders need to know? How does this link to the needs assessment & goals? • Process – How will SEAs support & provide ongoing PD to LEAs? How do LEAs ensure PD embedded into daily staff activities? • Activities – What specific activities can be integrated into pre-service education and ongoing PD?

10. Scheduled at a particular time Occurs for a pre-determined period Usually involves a defined learning group (i.e., team, department, school, graduate class) Has pre-determined outcomes and evaluation processes Is planned, designed, and facilitated by an expert Uses all team members to bring their best ideas (i.e., building a house) Is educator-initiated and directed Occurs naturally as a part of educator’s work Can include formal or informal mentoring (Most of the award winning schools used informal structures over formal ones) 2 Types of Learning Structures INFORMAL FORMAL

11. Examples of PD for Transition: Process, Content & Activities • State and Local Interagency Teams – (e.g., www.sharedwork.org; Pennsylvania; Arizona, WI) • Regional Networks of Training and TA (e.g., CO, ID, MO, NM, WI) • LEA Transition Mentors/Liaisons (e.g., ID, MO, WI) • Ongoing Program Evaluation & Action Planning (e.g., TransQual, Quality Indicators of Transition Needs Assess) • Parent Transition Liaisons (e.g., MPACT, PACER, WI) • Youth Development (e.g., State YLFs; National Youth Leadership Network www.nyln.org) • Transition Outcomes Project (O’Leary) • State Transition Institutes + Post-Institute follow up (e.g., AR, NM, OK, KS, CO, etc.) • Models of Success (e.g., Transitioncoalition.org; MO) • Online Communities of Practice (e.g., Sharedwork.org; Missouri COP; Idaho COP) • SEA & LEA websites with transition information, resources, etc. (e.g., CO, NM, CA)

12. Examples of State/IHE Partnerships • State endorsement/specialization in transition w/ online courses (Kent State) • College/university courses for degree or certification (e.g.,GWU, KU) • Online Transition Certificate (KU TransCert) • Online non-instructor led modules (KU, CO*, CA, IRIS Center) • SEA supported short-courses in transition (Transition Coalition) * In progress

13. Thinking Across State, Local, School Levels • What systems and structures do you need in place at the SEA level (e.g., website, interagency team, statewide institute, online modules, coursework/certificates) • What systems and structures do you need at the REGIONAL level (e.g., regional training & TA; regional mentors, etc.) • What systems and structures do you need at the LOCAL level (e.g., local CTTs; LEA liaisons, etc.)

14. What do you Need to Consider? • What systems do you currently have in place for providing professional development? Are they working? How is it supported? What else do you need? • How are professional development needs determined? Do you use a formal system to identify state/local needs? Is it determined based on SEA priorities (e.g., new transition forms, new policies/procedures with VR, etc.) • What standards, competencies or endorsements for transition professionals are in place in your state? • What resources do you have for providing ongoing professional development? (staff, TA Centers, RRCs, IHEs, SIGs/SPDGs, online resources…) • How will you evaluate the effectiveness of your PD system? • What are your priority areas?

15. Online Resources • KU Transition Coalition: www.transitioncoalition.org • NSTTAC: www.nsttac.org • IRIS: http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/index.html • NASDSE Communities of Practice: www.sharedwork.org • NASEThttp://www.nasetalliance.org/ • National Center on Secondary Education and Transitionwww.ncset.org • NICHCY: www.nichcy.org • DCDT Transition Standardshttp://www.dcdt.org/ • Transition Taxonomy: http://homepages.wmich.edu/~kohlerp/pdf/Taxonomy.pdf • California:www.calstat.org/transitionGuide.html