Transition Services and Individual Graduation Plans

My daughter sent me this photo of her friend's courtyard in Cairo. When I visited a couple summers ago someone told me that taxes are not paid on homes and buildings under construction. I guess that explains all the rebar I saw when touring.

It is very important that special education teachers and guidance counselors work together when documenting transition services in Individual Education Plans (IEPs) and when developing Individual Graduation Plans (IGPs).
Under S.C. Code Ann. Section 59-59-140 (2004), an IGP must be developed detailing the courses necessary for the student to prepare for graduation and to successfuly transition into the workforce or postsecondary education. An IGP must do the following:

1. align career goals and a student's course of study;



2. be based on the student's selected cluster of study and an academic focus within that cluster;



3. include core academic subjects, which must include, but are not limited to, English, math, science, and social studies to ensure that requirements for graduation will be met;



4. include experience-based, career-oriented learning experiences including, but not limited to, internships, apprenticeships, mentoring, co-op education, and service learning;



5. be flexible to allow change in the course of study but be sufficiently structured to meet graduation requirements and admission to postsecondary education;



6. incorporate provisions of a student's individual education plan, when appropropriate; and,



7. be approved by a certified school guidance counselor and the student's parents, guardians, or individuals appointed by the parents or guardians to serve as their designee.
   

The IGP should help guide the development of the IEP and decisions regarding the course of study should relate directly to present levels of performance and the student's post-secondary goal.

IEP teams should ask these questions:

"Do the transition courses of study focus on improving the academic and functional achievement of the student to facilitate movement from high school to post-secondary school?"

"Do the student's courses and other educational experiences align with the post-secondary goals and the IGP?"

Another Cairo pic...we toured the Saint Virgin Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church in Old Cairo. It is also called the Hanging Church as it sits above a gatehouse of the Babylon Fortress. Experts believe it was likely built around 690 to 692. Awesome!

Continuing with the last two transition services listed in Section I of the EXCENT IEP, the Development of Employment and Post School Objectives are components of a transition program that “the student needs to achieve desired post-secondary goals. These could be services leading to a job or career or those that support activities done occasionally such as registering to vote, filing taxes, renting a home, accessing medical services, filing for insurance or accessing adult services such as Social Security Income ”. And finally, a Functional Vocational Evaluation is one component of a transition program that is included “if appropriate”. This evaluation involves “an assessment process that provides information about job or career interests, aptitudes, and skills. Information may be gathered through situational assessment, observations or formal measures, and should be practical. The IEP team could use this information to refine services outlined in the IEP”.

Source: Storms, J., O’Leary, E., & Williams, J. (2000). Transition requirements: A guide for states, districts, schools, universities and families. Eugene: University of Oregon, Western Regional Resource Center

That is me on the back of a camel in front of the pyramids. My daughter and I traveled to Egypt to get her moved into the American University of Cairo where she will study for two years. What an adventure!

Picking up from my last blog entry...transition services should focus on academic and functional achievement to facilitate movement from school to post-school life and can involve the acquisition of daily living skills and related services in addition to instruction, community experiences, the development of employment and post-school objectives, and functional vocation evaluation. The need for acquisition of daily living skills typically applies to lower functioning students who already have annual goals in this area. Related services for transition are similar to the related services in an IEP that are needed for a student to meet their post-secondary goals. Examples might be occupational therapy, physical therapy, interpreting services or perhaps counseling. I'll finish up the topic of transition services (i.e., development of employment and post-school objectives and functional vocational evaluation) in my next entry. It is good to be home!

Transition Services

Transition services should focus on academic and functional achievement to facilitate movement from school to post-school life. Transition services can be instruction, community experiences, acquisition of daily living skills, related services, development of employment and post-school objectives, and functional vocation evaluation. In Oconee County, we have a Students Transitioning to Adult Roles in Society (STARS) program for our certificate track students. Participation in STARS, Vocational Transition, or Vocational Rehabilitation does not automatically mean the "Community Experiences" box in the Transition section of the IEP is checked. If the "Community Experiences" box is checked, it means there must be a need for the student to participate in a community experience to meet their post-secondary goal and there must be a community experience goal in the IEP. For example, if a student has trouble staying in his assigned work area then the IEP could have an annual goal such as "Amanda will stay in her assigned work area at least 35 out of 40 minutes over 3 consecutive work days." I will address the remaining transition services over the next few blog entries.

SC Career Cluster

I was having problems with blogger yesterday. It took several attempts to get my entry to post...then the last paragraph was chopped off. Things seem to be working better this morning so yesterday's entry has been "repaired".

Today's transition topic is short and sweet and concerns the SC Career Cluster. IEP teams and guidance counselors will need to work together to make sure the SC Career Cluster in Section I of the EXCENT IEP matches the Career Cluster in the Individual Graduation Plan (IGP) of students with disabilities. Seeing as how student career interests are likely to change over the years, it is possible that students with disabilities might meet with their career counselors to change their IGPs. When this happens, special education teachers need to know so they can make the same changes to the IEP.

Post-Secondary Goal Must be Based on Age-Appropriate Transition Assessment

Please remember that IEPs must show evidence that measurable post-secondary goals(s) were based on age-appropriate transition assessments. This evidence is documented in two places in the IEP in EXCENT: Section I under "Student interests and preferences" and Section II under "Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance". Here are some examples of evidence showing that post-secondary goal(s) were based on age-appropriate transition assessments under Section I "Student interests and preferences":

• "Based on the Kuder Career Planning System, Shaquille's top four carreer clusters are..."


• "According to the results of the Becker Work Adjustment Profile, Amy's work attitude and work habits..."


• "An interview with Michael revealed his interests and preferences to be..."
  

There are numerous transition assessments developed for various ages and ability (e.g., Skills Assessment Module, the Becker Reading Free Vocational Interest Inventory, SCOIS). Please remember to show evidence that measurable post-secondary goals(s) were based on age-appropriate transition assessments by listing them in Section II under "Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance" as well. Since we can no longer type "See attached reports" in the findings section, it will be necessary to summarize the results. If the teacher conducts an interview with the student, the interview form must be signed and dated by the student and teacher. If you have questions about transition, please contact Betsy Burkett, SDOCs Transition Facilitator, at extension 4427.

Transition Services

Transition service needs must be discussed for students age thirteen and older during the effective dates of the IEP. They can also be discussed for younger students if the parents(s) or the IEP team determine it is appropriate. What this means is that every student age thirteen and older during the effective dates of the IEP must have a post-secondary goal reported in the transition section (Section I) of the IEP. This goal must address education or training and employment, or for low functioning students, the transition goal might be to learn indendent living skills. The wording of the transition goal is like an IEP goals in that you must use the words "will study" or "will attend" (education and training) and "will become" (employment). IEPs are out of compliance if they use wording like "hopes to become", "aspires to be employed", or "will seek a job". Think about it like this...we do not write a goal for math using the wording "When given 25 mixed conversions (fraction to decimal to percent), Brandon hopes to respond correctly to at least 20 within 20 minutes by the annual review date of the IEP". If you have questions about writing post-secondary goals, please contact your curriculum coordinator in special services or Betsy Burkett (ext. 4427) our Transition Facilitator. Thanks for doing your best to keep SDOC in compliance with South Carolina's Indicator 13 of the State Performance Plan.

Disability Services for Students in Postsecondary Settings

Yesterday Carol Miller (TriCounty Technical College) and Dr. Arlene Stewart (Clemson University) presented a workshop at Hamilton Career Center focusing on how to successfully transition students with disabilities to college life. Both stressed the importance of teaching self-advocacy skills in the K-12 setting and explained that disability services can vary significantly from one campus to another. One of the main differences between high school and college pointed out by Ms. Miller is that students are responsible for the management of their accommodations. Students arrange appointments with the Office of Disability Services...not parents. Furthermore, it is the student's responsibility to take Faculty Notification Forms to instructors and to initiate communication with faculty if there are problems. Accommodations must be requested by the student and once in place they must be requested for every test, in every class, at least a week in advance. Dr. Stewart shared that the three most important steps for a successful transition include educational planning, student participation in decision-making, and the development of self-advocacy skills. At Clemson University, typical in-class services for students with documented disabilities include extended time, low distraction space for testing, note takers/recording devices for lectures, use of a calculator/computer, and spelling/grammar consideration.

Another point that was made very clear is that just because an accommodation had been granted in high school, it may/may not be appropriate in college.

Assisting 504 Students Transition to Postsecondary Educational Settings

In Volume 25, Issue 11 of the Special Educator (December 4, 2009), school attorney Dave Richards with Richards, Lindsay and Martin in Austin, Texas offer guidance to districts on how to facilitate postsecondary transition for students served under a 504 plan. He stresses the importance of explaining to students that there are distinct differences between 504 services in the K-12 setting and in college settings. In postsecondary settings, students with disabilities are responsible for making college staff aware of their disabilities and accommodations. It is also the student's responsibility to provide requested documentation verifying the existence of a disabling condition and it must be provided at the student's expense. Furthermore, colleges are afforded the opportunity to use "reasonable accommodation" standards which means they can refuse to provide an accommodation if doing so would impose "an undue hardship on the operation of its program or activity."
Students with disabilities also need to be aware that the Section 504 regulation at 34 CFR 104.37(b) prohibits counselors from counseling students with disabilities to "more restrictive career objectives than nondisabled students with similar interests and abilities." Finally, districts can help students with disabilities transition more successfully by fostering self-advocacy skills. They should be encouraged to participate in or even lead their own 504 team meetings and they need to be able to communicate their accommodation needs clearly.

LEAs Must Address Transition Activities and Provide the Summary of Performance

Julie Weatherly featured an article in a journal titled In Case, Volume 48, Numbers 4-6; and in Volume 49, Numbers 1-2. The title of the article is Avoiding Legal Disputes in Special Education: 21 Training Points for Administrators. According to Weatherly,

"Pursuant to IDEA 2004, beginning not later than the first IEP to be in effect when a student is sixteen years old, and updated annually thereafter, an IEP must contain 'appropriate measurable postsecondary goals based upon age appropriate transition assessments related to training, education, employment and, where appropriate, independent living skills' and the transition services (including courses of study) needed by the child to reach those goals. In addition, some states are choosing to add to this requirement by making age fourteen the mandatory age for transition services to be included in an IEP (in SC the age is 13). It is expected that there will be increasing challenges made to IEPs based upon an alleged failure to appropriately address the issue of transition, which is known to be a weakness in the process of educating children with disabilities. It is vital that school staff be trained to understand exactly what is required to be included in the transition planning process, including the requirement to provide a summary of performance once a child's eligibility for FAPE has expired via graduation with a regular high school diploma or aging out of eligibility."

Lessard v. Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative School District, 49 IDELR 2, 180,518 F.3d 18 (1st Circuit, 2008)

According to the 1st Circuit Court, the parents in the case "read far too much into Congress' 1997 definition of transition services." It was their assertion that the Rowley standard of "some educational benefit" was no longer applicable with regard to transition services. In their decision the Court clarified the meaning of "outcome oriented process" in the IDEA's definition of transition services: "It specifies the perspective that participants in the process should strive to attain but does not establish a standard for evaluating the fruits of that process." The parent's argument that the student's IEP was inadequate and incomplete because it did not contain a separate "transition plan" was dismissed. The IEP in this case included several various transition services that were scattered throughout the document and "merely pointing to the absence of a stand-alone transition plan cannot form the basis for a founded claim of procedural error."

When Permission for Outside Agency Participation Must Be Obtained

According to Letter to Gray, 50 IDELR 198, (OSEP, 2008), "Since the conversations at each IEP Team meeting are not the same, and since confidential information about the child is always discussed, we believe that consent must be obtained prior to each IEP Team meeting if a public agency proposes to invite a representative of any participating agency that is likely to be respoonsible or providing or paying for transition services. Therefore, it is not permissible under this regulation for a public agency to obtain the consent of the parents or eligible child only one time before the transition planning process is initiated for the child until the child leaves school. Although your question also asks about obtaining the requisite consent on an annual basis, one annal onset would not be sufficient if there is more than one IEP Team meeting conducted during a 12-month period where a purpose of the meeting will be the conisderation of the child's postsecondary goals and the transaition services needed to assist the child in reaching those goals under 34 CFR Section 300.320(b)."

Determining When to Invite Public Agencies to IEP Meetings

In Letter to Caplan, 50 IDELR 168, (OSEP, 2008), the following guidance is given when determining if public agencies need to be invited to IEP meetings: "However, in determining whether a public agency must invite another agency to an IEP Team meeting conducted under 34 CFR Section 300.320(b), in general, you may wish to consider such factors as whether a purpose of the IEP Team meeting will be in the consideration of the postsecondary goals for the child and the transition services neded to assist the child in reaching those goals; whether there is a participating agency, other than the public agency responsible for providing a free appropriate public education to the child, that is likely to be responsible for providing or paying for the child's transition services; and whether the consent of the parents or the child who has reached the age of majority has been provided for the other agency's participation at the IEP Team meeting conducted in accordance with 34 CFR Section 300.320(b)."

Changes to the 2006 Final IDEA Part B Regulations Regarding the Role of Adult Services Organizations in the IEP Process

The 2006 final IDEA Part B regulations removed the 1999 requirement that "[i]f an agency invited to send a representative to a meeting does not do so, the [school district] shall take other steps to obtain participation of the other agency in the planning of any transition services." The IDEA never gave schools authority to compel another agency to participate in transition service planning. Furthermore, neither the IDEA nor case law offered useful guidance as to what those "other steps" might constitute. The Department of Education justified removing the requirement in the comments and discussion section of the 2006 regulations: "The Act has never given public agencies [such as school districts] the authority to compel other agencies to paritcipate in the planning of tranistion services for a child with a disability...Without the authority to compel other agencies to particpate in the planning of tranistion services, public agencies have not been able to meet the requirement...to 'ensure' the participation of other agencies in transition planning. Therfore, while we believe that public agencies should take steps to obtain the pariticpation of other agencies in the planning of transition services for the child, we believe it is unhelpful to retain [the 1999 regulation]." 71 Federal Register page 46, 672 (2006).

Transition Services Must be Provided Despite Student's Completion of Academic Requirements for Graduation

In Susquehanna Township School District v. Frances J. and Charles J. ex rel. Jelani J., 39 IDELR 5 (Pennsylvania Commonwealth Circuit Court 2003), a state court ruled in favor of a student and ordered a local school district to pay for one-year of a college prep program included in the student's transition plan. The district contended it owed no further duty to provide the student a free and appropriate education since the student had already graduated. The review panel indicated that transition services had not been provided as delineated in the student's IEP; therefore, all requirements of graduation had not been fulfilled and the district was obligated to provide the services.

Transition IEPs and Expressed Needs, Preferences, and Interests

In Sinan v. School District of Philadelphia, 48 IDELR 97 (E.D. Pa. 2007), the parents of a 19-year-old special education student contended the district failed to mention vocational and practical living goals in their child's IEP; therefore, the transition plan was incomplete. According to the parents, IDEA obligated the district to plan for a student's postsecondary vocational and practical training regardless of the expressed desires of the parents. According to the district, the plan called for the student to meet with college guidance counselors and that the transition plan was limited to college preparation rather than vocational goals at the parents' insistence. Observing that "case law does not offer strong support for the plaintiffs' proposition that the district has an affirmative duty to provide for vocational and practical training in all transition plans, without regard to a student's individual needs and preferences," the court held that "the transition plan's focus on college planning was appropropriate given [the student's] needs, preferences and interests at the time."

Transition Goals Cannot Be Vague or Generic

In Marple Newton School District v. Rafael N. ex rel R.N., 48 IDELR 184 (E.D. Pa 2007), a court concluded that an IEP was deficient because there were no "measurable postsecondary goals related to training, education, employment, and independent living skills for a Spanish-speaking mild to moderately retarded 17-year-old special education student with untreatable epilepsy. With regard to the IEP, the court stated the "goals are vague and do not capitalize on the student's strengths or specific interests." Furthermore, the student's IEP "states generic goals that have remained static from year to year. There were no vocational or independent learning outcomes in the community component of the IEP, there was no component to prepare the student for medical self-monitoring, and the IEP did not "take into account the student's strengths or preferences."

IEP teams need to be mindful when creating transition plans and ensure that each one is individualized and meaningful.

Texas Transition Plan was Designed to Provide FAPE

In K.C. b/n/f M.S. and W.C. v. Mansfield Independent School District, 52 IDELR 103, 618 F. Supp. 2d 568 (N.D. Texas 2009), the court held a transition plan was reasonably calculated to provide FAPE as it reflected the student's skills and interests, and included a series of practical goals that would help the student transition upon graduation. Subsequently, the district held no obligation to pay for the student's placement in a music academy for students with cognitive disabilities. The plaintiffs alleged the district disregarded a teenager's interest in music when developing her transition plan. The court determined the transition plan reflected the student's strong interests in fashion and child care and was reasonably calculated to help her meet her post-secondary goals based on the results of an occupational assessment provided by the district which indicated the student had both a high skill level and interest in the area of fashion, child care, and child development. The assessment also revealed a high interest in the performing arts but the skill score was "very low". Considering the results of the assessment, the IEP team developed a transition plan indicating the student would work in a clothing store and as a classroom aide in an elementary school music class. The student was dissatisfied with placement in the music class which was subsequently discontinued the following year so the district added one-on-one music instruction to the IEP. The court concluded the transition plan was based on an Occupational Assessment and was reasonably calculated to provide FAPE.

Self-sufficiency Standard is Refuted by 9th Circuit

The 9th Circuit Court affirmed that IDEA '97 did not raise the Rowley standard for determining whether an IEP offered a free and appropriate education (FAPE) when it overturned a District Court granting reimbursement to the student. The District Court held that by its description of transition services as intending to foster independent living and economic self-sufficiency IDEA '97 had adopted a new standard of FAPE. The Circuit Court stated:

"We conclude that the District Court misinterpreted Congress' intent. Had Congress sought to change the free appropriate public education 'educational benefit' standard--a standard that courts have followed vis-a-vis Rowley since 1982--it would have expressed a clear intent to do so. Instead, three omissions suggest that Congress intended to keep Rowley intact. First, Congress did not change the definition of a free appropriate public education in any material respect. If Congress desired to change the free appropriate public education standard, the most logical way to do so would have been to amend the free appropriate public education definition itself. Second, Congress did not indicate in its definition of 'transition services', or elsewhere, that a disabled student could not receive a free appropriate public education absent the attainment of transition goals. Third, Congress did not express disagreement with the 'educational benefit' standard or indicate that it sought to supercede Rowley. In fact, Congress did not even mention Rowley. J.L. v. Mercer Island School District, 52 IDELR 241 (9th Circuit 2009).

How Can the SOP Assist the Voc Rehab Services Program in the Provision of Transition Services to Eligible VR Students with Disabilities?

According to Questions and Answers on Secondary Transition, 52 IDELR 230 (June 1, 2009), in addition to providing information that may be used to determine a student's eligibility for VR services, the Summary of Performance (SOP) serves as a functional document that provides the Vocational Rehabilitation Services Program with information describing a student's vocational, employment, academic and personal achievements as well as vocational and employment supports needed by the student.
If determined to be eligible to receive VR services, the student, with the assistance of a VR counselor, develops an individualized plan for employment (IPE) to achieve a specific employment outcome. A SOP may facilitate the development of a meaningful IPE by providing information that describes the student's secondary and psotsecondary goals, career interests, levels of academic performance, need for reasonable accommodations for work, and the functional levels of the student's social and independent living skills, at the time of completion of secondary education.
In general, a SOP that informs the State VR Services program of the student's academic and vocational functional performance may minimize delays in the transition service delivery system and better prepare the student for a successful career.