Impact of Transition Preparation on Post-Secondary Success

1. Impact of Transition Preparation on Post-Secondary Success Mary Morningstar, Patricia Noonan, Bruce Frey, Jennifer Ng, Dot Nary, Kendra Williams-Diehm, Beth Clavenna-Deane, Perry Graves, Ryan Kellems, Zachary McCall, Mary Pearson, Diana K. Wade

2. Research Design

3. Research Question Is there a relationship between the quality of a student’s high school transition preparation and: • Knowledge of self-determination; • Perceived levels of self-determination; • College achievement (GPA); • Hope and motivation; and • Locus of Control?

4. Sampling • Characteristics of Institutions • 12 Total Institutions • 5 States (Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Utah, and Washington) • Urban, suburban, and small city locations • Criteria for Participants • Choice to participate • Currently enrolled in post-secondary setting • Had an IEP in high school • Completed high school 1997 or later • New IDEA transition plan requirements

5. Sampling Process • Initial considerations • KU Institutional Review Board (IRB) • Contact with disability services facilitators • IRB process at participating institutions • Data collection timeline • Email to facilitators with flier and request to forward email to students • Facilitators sent email to students • Follow up, follow up, follow up

6. Online Survey Consists of 3 scales • The Arc’s Self-Determination Scale (Wehmeyer, 1995) • Psychological empowerment subscale • Secondary School Student’s Locus of Control Scale (Rehaflt, 2006) • The Adult Trait Hope Scale (Snyder, Harris et al., 1991)

7. Online Survey - Design • Accessibility issues • Challenging to find software that created surveys that were accessible. • EZSurvey by Raosoft • User Testing

8. Online Survey - Logic Online survey utilized logic so we only collected data from our target population

9. Online Survey - Scales Each scale was listed on it’s own page

10. Online Survey - Layout Simplified layout provided for easier accessibility

11. Interview Purpose: To “quantify” the quality of transition program for self-determination • Interview Questions • 3 Areas of Focus • Student Involvement in Transition Planning and IEP Meetings • Skill Development & Opportunities for Self-Advocacy and Self-Determination • Post-Secondary Outcome Preparation

12. Step 1: Transition Quality Indicators Alignment Indicators/Standards Reviewed: • Quality Indicators for Transition Assessment (Morningstar, 2005) • TransQual – (Cornell University, 2006) • Taxonomy for Transition Programming (Kohler, 1997) • Transition Planning Inventory (Clark & Patton, 1997) • Secondary Teachers Transition Survey (Morningstar & Benitez, 2005) • National Longitudinal Transition Survey 2 (http://www.nlts2.org/reports/2006_08/nlts2_report_2006_08_complete.pdf) Alignment • Reviewed each assessment • Chose only those indicators matched to the 3 interview areas • Coded the indicators to align for recurring themes • Found emerging themes in the 3 areas from overlap of indicators • Used themes to develop questions

13. Step 2: Interview Protocol Development • First • Reviewed literature about developing effective recall questions(Fowler, 1995) • Second • Question and probe development • Third • Question development to elicit memory recall • Fourth • Develop the interview protocol (multiple edits)

14. Example: Interview Recall Questions Example of Recall Questions What other kinds of things happened in your IEP meetings besides just talking about your goals for the future? Probe: Some students have told us that during IEP meetings, the team came up with a plan for accomplishing their IEP and transition goals. Other students have said they really didn’t have much help during meetings in developing a transition plan. How did your IEP team work with you to develop a plan for your future goals?

15. Reviewed rubric research (Arter & McTighe, 2001) Reviewed rubric examples Developed a Likert scale with indicators Provided key words and descriptors for the Likert scale Exemplary – 5 Partial – 3 Poor – 1 Step 3: Rubric Rating Indicator Development

16. Rubric Example: Post-Secondary Education and Preparation Question 11: What kinds of things did you learn in high school that helped you get ready for college? • 5 - Exemplary: Described examples where student systematically (i.e., class sessions) learned the skills (.e.g. study skills, college applications, meeting with counselor, disability services, etc.). • 3 – Partial: Described examples where student informally (i.e., help from teachers) learned the skills from the program (.e.g. study skills, college applications, meeting with counselor, disability services, etc.). • 1 – Poor: Described few or no experiences (neither systematic nor informal) to learn the skills.

17. Step 4: Pilot Testing • July Interviews • Conducted Inter-rater Reliability • October Interview • Accessibility

18. Results – Preliminary Data • Demographics • 94 total responded • 21 responded with usable data • Large, urban 4-year universities

19. Trends from Initial Survey Respondents • Participants show high mean scores on all scales • Psychological Empowerment • X = 13.98 (out of 16) • Hope Total Scale Score • X = 6.18 (out of 8) • Locus of Control • X = 3.16 (out of 4)

20. Trends from Initial Survey Respondents • Significant correlation between GPA and Agency subscale of Hope Scale • R(19) = .493, p < .05 • Significant correlation between GPA and Locus of Control Scale • R(19) = .495, p < .05 • Significant correlation between Locus of Control and Agency subscale of Hope Scale • R(19) = .908, p < .01

21. Beth Clavenna-Deane bacd@ku.edu Perry Graves pgraves5@ku.edu Ryan Kellems rkellems@ku.edu Zachary McCall zmccall@ku.edu Mary Pearson mmpson@ku.edu Diana K. Wade dkwade@ku.edu Contact Information Mary Morningstar, PhD ~ mmorningstar@ku.edu Patricia Noonan, PhD ~ pnoonan@ku.edu University of Kansas School of Education http://soe.ku.edu/