Postsecondary transition planning for students with disabilities is a process beginning at age 14 (or earlier if appropriate) designed to help students reach their vision for a meaningful and productive future as they transition into adulthood.
Postsecondary transition for students with disabilities is a student-centered process that includes ongoing assessment, services, instruction, experiences, opportunities, and supports designed to elevate students’ in-school and post school outcomes.
”Contemporary transition policies and practices are grounded in the belief that students with disabilities are far more likely to achieve their aspirations for life after high school if provided the right combination of opportunities, instruction, services, and support [in high school]. This belief aligns with the special education’s overarching purpose to “prepare students with disabilities for further education, employment, and independent living” to ensure “equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency (IDEA. 2004)”. (Trainor et. al., 2019) (Division of Career Development & Transition)
Postsecondary Transition Services Flow Chart
Adapted from Johnson, C. E. (2012). Transition Services Flowchart.
Center for Change in Transition Services, Seattle University, Seattle WA
Coordinating with Other Agencies
Connecting students and families with other agencies that serve adults with disabilities helps “create a bridge” between high school and adult life, allowing the student to build community relationships and supports before leaving high school.
Learn more about coordinating with other agencies
Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS)
Job Exploration Counseling
Discussion or counseling of job exploring options intended to foster motivation, consideration of opportunities and informed decision-making.
Work-Based Learning Experiences
An educational approach that uses the workplace or real work to provide students with the knowledge and skills that will help them connect school experiences to real-life work activities and future career opportunities. These opportunities are meant to engage, motivate and augment the learning process.
Counseling on Post Secondary
Students gain an awareness of the wide range of career pathway options and labor market realities and projections. Students explore how skill development and knowledge relate to future opportunities in postsecondary Education (PSE) settings and employment.
Workplace Readiness
Workplace Readiness skills encompass the abilities that help employees learn how to interact with supervisors and co-workers. They help reinforce the importance of timeliness and build an understanding of how we are perceived by others.
Instruction in Self Advocacy
Self-advocacy includes instruction regarding an individual’s ability to effectively communicate, convey, negotiate or assert his/her own interests and/or desires. Emphasis is on taking responsibility for communicating one’s needs and desires in a straightforward manner to others.
Resources
Board Strategic Plan
Portrait of a Graduate
Taxonomy for Transition Programming 2.0
Predictors of Post School Success for Students with Disabilities
Pre-ETS Brochure
Portrait of Postsecondary Transition (Coming Soon!)
