Transition Planning for Secondary Students With Disabilities

Beyond the meaning of everyday learning and living, all students, on varying timetables and with individual urgency, take on a future orientation during the high school years. Looming in the background is the question, "What am I going to do after high school?" The importance of high school programs and transition activities directly relates to the degree to which they provide learning and experiences that will move students toward or clarify their transition goals. For the student to have an investment in their education, meaningful participation in the "right" programs is essential. For students with disabilities, access is necessary to realize the benefits of participation in regular education, vocational education, and school-to-work programs as well as transition and special education programs.Transition Planning for Secondary Students with Disabilities(Second Edition) describes the varied transition needs of students with disabilities and the myriad options and career paths potentially available. The purpose of education and transition is to move students towards selected postschool outcomes. Quality of life is the major benchmark of the individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) as assessed through the careers and lifestyles achieved by students. Make no mistake about it. As logical and principled as these assumptions are, there are many competing forces on the national educational agenda. For one, standardized test scores are viewed by some stakeholder groups as the major focus of educational efforts. From a transition perspective, academic achievement is considered very important, but academic achievement alone is insufficient for successful postschool outcomes. Moreover, contextualized and authentic learning in which academics are embedded shows better learner outcomes than academic subjects taught in the abstract. Since education is a cultural process, new educators need to identify their values and determine which actions are consistent with them. Do we care whether our students enjoy successful careers, meaningful relationships, and community membership? Do we care whether students obtain the best possible foundation to launch them into their young lives? If you answered yes to these two questions, then you will be motivated to learn how transition needs can be met in an academic achievement environment and you will read this book with interest. The Second Edition Transition Planning for Secondary Students with Disabilities(Second Edition) provides broad coverage of transition content, ranging from the legislative-policy base to specific transition activities. A framework of four essential elements of transition provides themes to organize each chapter, connecting content across chapters and topics. The resulting integration of policy and practice systematically builds the reader's understanding and provides guidelines for daily transition activities. The redesign of this text focused on how to support the inservice and preservice teacher or professional in developing and implementing transition activities that meet a dual criteria. Foremost, the outcomes of special education and achieving a quality of life must remain the broad educational framework from which to judge the merits of transition efforts. Just as important, the process of transition provides the means to these goals. Students achieving quality of life outcomes for themselves is partly dependent on a service system with integrity--basing services on students' needs, interests, and preferences, providing an outcome orientation and planning processes, and effectively coordinating all the services required. When these activities result in movement toward student goals, they are on the right track. The four essential elements are a quality check on whether things are being done right. These two broad goals of transition outcomes and process were embedded in the major reorganization ofFlexer, Robert W. is the author of 'Transition Planning for Secondary Students With Disabilities', published 2004 under ISBN 9780131123779 and ISBN 0131123777.