National Community of Practice on Transition

1. Accomplishments of the IDEA Partnership and How It Increases the Effectiveness of Transition Nationwide! National Community of Practice on Transition

2. What is a Community of Practice? “Communities of practice are groups of people who share a passion for something that they know how to do and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better” (Wenger & Snyder, 2000) 2

3. The Spirit of Community: We Are All In This Together! A way of working • Involving those who do shared work • Involving those that share issues • Always asking “who isn’t here?” A way of learning • Create new knowledge grounded in ‘doing the work’ • Involve those who can advocate for and make change 3

4. The IDEA Partnership: OSEP’s Investment in Stakeholder Expertise • The Unified Partnership • NASDSE as the Partnership sponsor • National organizations as members • SEAs and partners that create ‘laboratories for change’ • Federal investments as resources • A new vision: states and stakeholders as allies in tackling persistent problems and achieving outcomes 4

5. National Community of Practice on TransitionThe Partnership • 50+ organizations • Coalesce around common issues • The Partnership • Convenes and facilitates • Increases interaction • Bridges to allied groups and related work • Creates the infrastructure for Collective Impact • Builds the relationships that underlie sustainability • Creates Community • Authentic Stakeholder Engagement: The Partnership Way • Pioneered Communities of Practice in Education • Convenes national CoPs 5

6. How are our CoPs Organized • National CoP • State CoPs – 12 states currently (PA, VA, DE, NY, CA, NH, AL, AZ, WI, ND, MN, DC) • National Organizations • Federally Funded Technical Assistance Centers • Practice Groups on Issues • Cradle to College and Career • Common Core • Youth Role • Accessible Transportation • More…

7. The IDEA Partnership Way

8. The Partnership Way • Leading by convening • help people to ‘lead in place’, regardless of role or position • Coalescing around issues • bring people together around shared concerns and problems of practice • Ensuring relevant participation • getting the ‘right’ mix of stakeholders needed to solve problems • Doing work together • focus on the work and the relationship

9. Deepening Our Work • Depth develops over time and with intention! In the Partnership Way, we describe four levels of deepening work: • Informing • intentionally sharing information with a variety of potential stakeholders • Networking • seeking multiple perspectives on a shared issue • Collaborating • doing work together on a shared issue • Transforming • building the ‘habit’ of collaboration

10. The Partnership Way – in summary • Together we: • Convene cross stakeholder groups to address problems and issues of common interest • Create collaboratively developed tools to enhance relationships and shared work • Translate research into practical implementation tools and strategies • Create opportunities for ongoing modeling and mentoring • Teach how to and support convening Communities of Practice

11. Our collective experiences have resulted in: • Improved stakeholder buy in and deep collaboration • Shared leadership and decision making • Changing the culture and beliefs about student capabilities and potential • Improved refined leadership

12. Aligning Transition Services With Secondary Education Reform: A Position Statement of the Division on Career Development and Transition Abstract: • Society has witnessed significant improvements in the lives of students receiving transition services over the past 30 years. The field of transition has developed an array of evidence-based interventions and promising practices; however, secondary school reform efforts have often overlooked these approaches for youth without disabilities. If we are to see improvements in postsecondary outcomes for all youth, reform efforts must begin with active participation of general and special educators and critical home, school, and community stakeholders. In this article, the authors discuss the evolution of transition in light of reform efforts in secondary education. They review and identify secondary educational initiatives that embrace transition principles. Finally, recommendations are provided for advancing alignment of transition services with secondary education reforms.

13. One System: Cradle to College and Career A two -way Interaction of general and special educators throughout the education pipeline

14. The Issues We Know • Achieving Academic Proficiency in the Common Core • Overcoming Social and Emotional Barriers to Learning • Self-determination and Self Advocacy and Student Engagement • Career Exploration, Career Assessment and Workplace Learning • Student Retention/ Drop Out Prevention • Graduation with a Diploma • Transition from HS to Post–Secondary and Employment • Success for All Students

15. One System? • Are we in these issues together...special and general ed? • Is there a lens that permits us to examine these issues and more?

16. “If people begin to see the educational system as a single entity through which people move, they may begin to behave as if all of education were related.” Harold Hodgkinson in “All One System’, 2000 Envisioning a Pipeline

17. What is the Logic ? • Regardless of the type of system a state or local community chooses, it is important to note that the goal is the same: to create a system of education that links and coordinates each education level into a seamless system fundamentally guided by the principle that success in college begins in pre-kindergarten. Education Commission of the States

18. Focus on our own immediate issues and needs Fragmentation across levels and content areas Divisions across general, special and technical education Ineffective articulation between secondary, post–secondary and employment Lack of relationships that undergird communication Insufficient opportunities to learn about levels that precede and follow our own Infrequent opportunities to track goal attainment throughout the entire pipeline What Keeps Us from Seeing the Pipeline?

19. Questions in the PipelineThink/ Pair /Share Y N Do you know how the elementary schools in your district are doing academically? Y N Do you know what academic supports are available? Y N Do you know how the elementary schools in your district are doing behaviorally? Y N Do you know what behavioral supports and interventions are available? Y N Can you describe the process for transitioning students from one grade to the next? Y N Do you know the attendance rates for your elementary schools? Y N Do you know how needed supports and interventions are communicated across grades? Y N Do elementary and middle school teachers have the opportunity to talk about the data on student performance and student needs? Y N Is there a comprehensive transition process from elementary to middle school? Y N Do you know how the middle schools in your district are doing academically (test data and class performance)? Y N Do you know what academic interventions are available? Y N Do you know the suspension data for your middle schools? Y N Do you know what career education takes place in middle school? Y N Do you know the attendance rates for your middle schools? Y N Is there a comprehensive transition process from middle to high school? Y N Can you describeyour school’s approach to support in the ninth grade? Y N Do you have a picture of how many students are on track for accumulating graduation credit? Y N Do you have a picture of the career education and career assessment takes place in the HS years? Y N Do general education, special education and CTE teachers talk together about common goals and common responsibilities? Y N Do you know the drop out rate for your high school? Y N Do you know how your graduates are doing in post-secondary? Y N Do you know how your graduates are doing in employment? How many ‘Yes’ responses did you have? 18-22 15-18 11-15 Less than 11

20. Nationally, the connections are startling… 8th graders who: • Fail English have only a 12% likelihood of graduating from HS • Fail math have a 13% likelihood of graduating • Have high rates of absenteeism have only a 13% chance of graduating • Have poor behavior have only a 20% chance of graduating* • What is the implication for students with and without disabilities: • For elementary • For middle school • For HS • For the system *Balfanz ,et al ( 2007) in Breaking Ranks, A Field Guide to Leading Change, P. 7 National Association of Secondary School Principals( NASSP)

21. ‘Next Steps for High Schools and School Systems, in ‘Using the Right Data to Determine if HighSchool Interventions Are Working to Prepare Students for College and Careers’National High School Center, 2010 • Treat the problem of poorly prepared ninth-graders as a P-12 problem, not just a high school problem (Dougherty & Rutherford, 2010). • Develop content and performance criteria in the elementary and middle school grades to identify the extent to which each student is on track to readiness for high school, college and careers. • Emphasize the importance of accelerating students onto the “ramp to college and career readiness” in elementary and middle school. What is the impact for special education? For transition?

22. Do Some Current Strategies Work across the age and grade span? We believe that are at least 2 coherent practice strategies that work across the pipeline: • Response to Intervention (RTI) • Working with Intention at Transition Points …and integrating Transition under IDEA!

23. An RTI Approach to Improved Student Outcomes • A look at how all students are doing • A ‘tiering’ of all interventions • A simple data system that gives information and points the way to better decisions • An expectation the faculty will have quality professional development on ‘what works’ • An expectation that all faulty will use the framework to assess their success in meeting student needs • An expectation that faculty will use proven strategies in designing core instruction and interventions

24. What is RTI? RTI is not entirely new. Many elements have been in practice for years in successful schools. RTI is the systematic and intentional application of these elements in a coherent approach to better outcomes. • Good core instruction • Universal screening • Progress monitoring • Tiered interventions using evidence-based practices • Data-informed decision-making • Problem solving

25. Our Windows on Cradle to College and CareerOur Task: Work with intention at every transition point!

26. What Does It Mean to be ‘Intentional at Transitions’? • Major transitions are important; every major transition! • EC to School Age • Elementary to MS • MS to HS • HS to post-secondary and employment • Early academic, social and emotional skill development sets the stage. • Being intentional means planning for changes, thinking about adjustment, watching for early warning signs and crafting interventions. • Every year is a transition…but the ninth grade year is critical! • Focusing at transition points gives us a way to think about Transition under IDEA as a part of the whole system and to learn what might be helpful to other students.

27. Who Else is Focused on These issues? • NASSP: • Breaking Ranks: A Comprehensive Approach • Breaking Ranks: A Field Guide for Leading Change • AASA • National Partner in Ready by 21 • CCSSO and NGA • Common Core State Standards: College and Career Ready Standards

29. Ready by 21: Insulating the Pipeline

30. Ready by 21: The Forum on Youth Investment and The American Association of School Administrators (AASA)

31. Common Core and 21st Century Assessments • General and Alternate Assessment • Most students will take the general assessment • 1% may take the alternate assessment • 21st century Assessments • Embedded Accessibility • Tied to instructional accommodations • Impact on instruction • Moving beyond seat time to ‘any time , any place’ learning • Potentially, new opportunities for transition skills

32. What Resources are Available to You on Common Core • Tools • Collections • Dialogue Guides • Participation in creating new tools • Focused webinars • Virtual Mentoring

33. Revisiting the DCDT Position Paper Aligning Transition Services With Secondary Education Reform: A Position Statement of the Division on Career Development and Transition “If we are to see improvements in postsecondary outcomes for all youth, reform efforts must begin with active participation of general and special educators and critical home, school, and community stakeholders.” Will we seize the opportunities?

34. Is Making Futures Happen • Are you passionate about transition? • Do you want to hear about the latest news, events, and research in the field? • Would you like to connect with the leading practitioners and researchers working on transition across the country? Join the Division on Career Development and Transition to get these member benefits and more!!! Visit our booth in the Exhibit Hall for more information or Join online at: www.dcdt.org

35. Feel Free to Contact Us Jane Razeghi Executive Director, Division on Career Development (DCDT) George Mason University Jrazeghi@gmu.edu Dale Matusevich Past-President, Division on Career Development (DCDT) Delaware Department of Education dmatusevich@doe.k12.de.us Stacie Dojonovic, M.S., CRC, LPC, CVE Vice-President, Division on Career Development (DCDT) Fox Chapel Area School District Stacie_Dojonovic@fcasd.edu 38