Jim Martin, Ph.D. University of Oklahoma Zarrow Center for Learning Enrichment jemartin@ou

1. Jim Martin, Ph.D. University of Oklahoma Zarrow Center for Learning Enrichment jemartin@ou.edu http://education.ou.edu/zarrow/ Look under the presentation tab on the left of the following website url to download this PowerPoint file and other supporting information at http://education.ou.edu/zarrow/ Increasing the Likelihood of Obtaining a Degree and Transitioning from Postsecondary Education to Employment or Further Education

2. Alternative Title What We Still Need to Do To Finish the Job

3. The Reason Why - 1

4. The Reason Why -2

5. Transition from High School to IHEs • 53% of students with disabilities plan on attending an education program after leaving high school compared to 95% of their non-disabled peers (Wagner, Newman, Cameto, Garza, & Levine, 2005). • Yet only 19% of youth with disabilities follow through compared to 40% of their non-disabled peers (Wagner et al., 2005). • The rate of current enrollment of youth with disabilities in 2-year/ community colleges is not significantly different from that of their peers in the general population (10% vs. 12%). • Similar-age youth without disabilities are more than four and one-half times as likely as youth with disabilities to be currently taking courses at a 4-year college (28% vs. 6%, p<.001).

6. The Numbers • College freshman with a disabilities increased from 2.6% in 1978 to 9% in 1996 (Cameto, Newman & Wagner, 2006). • Surveys of freshman at 4-year colleges report the percent of students with disabilities has gone from 3%, up to 9%, then down to 6% (Henderson, 1998, 2001) • 9% of students with disabilities enroll at four-year colleges. Non-disabled peers are 4.5 times more likely to be enrolled (Wagner et al., 2005)

7. Disclosure & IHE Disability Support • Of youth with a high school IEP in IHE (Wagner et al., 2005). • 52% do not believe they have a disability • 7% believe they have a disability but did not disclose • 40% identified having a disability • 88% of students who identified received services • Put all of this together, about a third of students with IEPs in high school receive IHE disability support

8. Retention and Graduation • Two-year retention data at OU finds that students with and without disabilities return to OU to study at equal numbers (OU Institutional Research, 2006). • Only 4% of students with disabilities who had enrolled in two-year colleges had graduated (Cameto, Newman & Wagner, 2006). • One percent of the students with disabilities enrolled in 4-year schools graduated in a four-year period (Cameto et al., 2006). • 20% of students with LD who began IHE graduate 5 years after high school compared to 44% for students without LD (Murray, Goldstein, Nourse, & Edgar, 2000). • 10 years after high school, 44% of students with LD graduated compared to 78% without disabilities (Murray, et al., 2000). • After six years at OU 55% of undergraduates without disabilities graduate compared to 28% of their peers with disabilities (OU Institutional Research, 2006).

9. After Graduation from IHE • Graduates with LD employed at comparable rates as former students with LD (Madaus, Foley, McGuire, & Ruban, 2001). • Earning a degree from an IHE benefits the employment outcome of adults with learning disabilities (Madaus, 2006). • Students with other disabilities graduating from IHEs appear to have less positive results (Roessler, Hennessey, & Rumrill (2007). • Some students with disabilities at IHEs lack the skills and confidence to seek employment (Corrigan, Jones, & McWhirter, 2001).

10. What’s Going On? • Why do so few students with disabilities enter higher ed? • What happens to the dreams? • Why the poor long-term graduation rate? • Why do fewer students with disabilities who graduate from college continue to graduate school? • Why do some students with disabilities (maybe as many as 33%) experience trouble transitioning from IHE into employment?

11. The Other Transition: Is There Another Task to Do? • Transition education for students with disabilities (Sitlington, 2003): • Enrolled in higher education programs • Preparing to move from higher education into full-time careers • Higher Ed needs to strongly consider adopting transition education practices to finish the job (Roessler, Hennessey, & Rumrill, 2007). • Where and Who? • Disability Resource Centers? • Career Development Offices?

12. Transition Education Assessment • Adaptive Behavior Assessment • Vocational Interest and Skills Assessment • Postschool Predictor Assessment

13. Missing Link In Transition • We need a transition assessment tool based on actual postschool success predictors. • We need a tool to assess students’ current behavior linked to identified transition success predictors. • No tool like this exists (that we could find).

14. Postschool Success Predictors • Reviewed the literature to identify student behaviors that predicted postschool success. • 45 quantitative and qualitative studies • Several different search engines • Journal reference lists • Hand searched major journals • Asked colleagues around the country

15. 14 Concept Clusters

16. Transition Success Assessment • Transition Success Assessment: A Transition Behavior Profile • 46 items • Professional, Family, and Student TSA Versions • TSA Graphic Profile • TSA Goal Identification Matrix • Takes about 10 minutes to answer the items and score

17. Wording of TSA Items • Fine tuned wording internally at ZC • Conducted six social validity groups • 4 expert panels (27 participants) • 1 parent panel (8 participants) • 1 student panel (8 participants) • 1 more student panel to go • First round produced changes to 36 of 50 Professional TSA items • Subsequent panels made fewer and fewer changes

18. Issues Expressed by Social Validity Groups • Family group focused on wording associated with friends, asking for support, coping skills, and independent living. • Students did not like the word “used.” • Professional group more sensitive regarding words such as limitation and disability awareness. • Very positive feedback from all the groups • Easy to understand and use • Makes sense • Beneficial to planning students’ future • “Now I understand what to teach” • Found the TSA practical

19. Remaining Tasks • Complete internal reliability study with at least 100 professionals, 100 students, and 50 parents • Test-retest reliability (four weeks apart) • Factor analysis of items to determine final clusters • Complete user manual • Disseminate final TSA

20. IES Grant Submitted • Submitted grant to IES to conduct large scale studies • Structural equation modeling to build construct validation • Test parallel versions (student, professional, and family) • Similar factor structure across tools • Reliability studies across country • Undertake predictor studies

21. Benefits of Using TSA for IHEs • Defines behaviors students need to learn to increase likelihood of transition from IHE to employment or further education. • Provides goals and objectives to begin self-improvement efforts or to target instructional programs to improve specific behaviors

22. Transition Success Assessment – Draft 45

23. Transition Success Assessment • Provides a means to identify specific skills students need to learn. • Apply the Self-Determination Model of Instruction concepts to teaching many of these skills (Finn, Getzel, & McManus, in press). • Target instructional efforts. • Build students’ confidence.

24. Where Does Transition Education Fit? • Disability Resource Center staff need to advocate for adopting transition education practices. • Use local and national numbers to support efforts. • Work with campus support systems. • May become a job of DRC or Career Development Offices.

25. References • Cameto, R., Newman, L., & Wagner, M. (June, 2006). The National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2) Project Update: Self-perceptions of youth with disabilities. Washington, DC: Institute of Education Sciences. • Corrigan, M., Jones, C., & McWhirter, J. (2001). College students with disabilities: An access employment group. Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 26, 339-349. • Finn, D., Getzel, E. E., & McManus, S. (in press). Adapting the Self-Determined Learning Model for instruction of college students with disabilities. Career Development for Exceptional Individuals. • Henderson, C. (1998). Profile of 1996 college freshmen with disabilities. Washington, DC: HEATH Resource Center, American Council on Education. • Henderson, C. (2001). College freshman with disabilities: A biennial statistical profile. Washington, DC: HEATH Resource Center, American Council on Education. • Madaus, J. E. (2006). Employment outcomes of university graduates with learning disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly,29, 19-w31. • Madaus, J. W., Foley, T. E., McGuire, J. M., & Rubin, L. (2001). A follow-up investigation of university graduates with learning disabilities. Career Development for Exceptional Individuals, 24, 133-146. • Murray, C., Goldstein, D. E. Nourse, S., & Edgar, E. (2000). The postsecondary school attendance and completion rates of high school graduates with learning disabilities. Learning Disabilities Quarterly, 15, 119-127. • Roessler, R. T., Hennessey, M. L., & Rumrill, Ph. D. (2007). Strategies for improving career services for postsecondary students with disabilities: Results of a focus group study of key stakeholders. Career Development for Exceptional Individuals, 30, 158-170. • Sitlington, P. L. (2003). Postsecondary education: The other transition. Exceptionality, 11, 103-113. • University of Oklahoma Institutional Research and Reporting. (2006, June). Students with disabilities. Norman, Oklahoma. • Wagner, M., Newman, L., Cameto, R., Garza, N., and Levine, P. (2005). After High School: A First Look at the Postschool Experiences of Youth with Disabilities. A Report from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2) Menlo Park, CA: SRI International. Available at www.nlts2.org/reports/2005_04/nlts2_report_2005_04_complete.pdf.