As part of its effort to make universal prekindergarten (UPK) available to four-year-olds, California has recently expanded transitional kindergarten (TK) in its public schools. TK will be a full pre-K grade level in all districts by the 2025-26 school year. Other states that seek to broaden access to early care and education (ECE) can learn…

The purpose of this study was to explore reasons why adolescent youth from foster care and in special education, including those who are newly emancipated from the foster care system, have difficulty transitioning into independent living. The study was guided by one research question: What difficulties do students who receive special education…

More than 725,000 of California's K-12 students qualified for special education services in 2018-19, but they entered a system that is often ill equipped to serve them. This brief summarizes the findings from 13 research publications produced as part of the PACE Policy Research Panel "Special Education: Organizing Schools to Serve Students…

The Youth Transitions Partnership (YTP) in Alameda County, California blends service coordination, intensive case management, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) to help transition-age youth in foster care engage with available support systems and subsequently improve their outcomes. As part of a formative evaluation of YTP, Chapin Hall…

According to national indicators of adolescent health and well-being, the most significant health issues young people face are related to mental health. In San Mateo County, a recent report on adolescent health frames the prevalence of mental health needs among public school students as "staggering." Both locally and nationally, schools…

According to national indicators of adolescent health and well-being, mental health is one of the most significant health issues young people face. Since mental health is linked to other aspects of health and well-being, undiagnosed and untreated mental health conditions can negatively impact a young person's social-emotional health, academic…

This self-assessment tool was developed for those who wish to embark on state-wide governmental systems change to improve high school transition and employment outcomes for youth and young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Its purpose is to aid in the development of a work plan that is based on a review of the state…

This report focuses on the seven original Youth Transition Demonstration (YTD) projects selected for funding in 2003. Three of the original seven projects were selected for a national random assignment evaluation in 2005; however, this report only focuses on program operations prior to joining the random assignment evaluation for the three…

To aid "at risk" students in their transition from school into meaningful employment and a quality adult life, this handbook lists and describes California programs and services that are in wide use and have broad support. The handbook is divided into three sections, covering preschool through eighth grade, ninth through twelfth grade,…

School districts and community agencies located within Los Angeles County (California) were surveyed to determine the level of transition planning from school to the world of work and community living for "students at risk." Twenty-five school districts and 10 community agencies/private schools receiving supported employment funds are…

Provides a comprehensive view of California's school-to-work transition programs as they have evolved and grown. Discusses next steps including interagency collaboration, joint planning, and professional training. (JOW)

Project WorkAbility is a California program serving special education secondary and postsecondary students. The model design for WorkAbility is based on well-known transition models and contains components common to those models. The design views transition as both a process and a product, supports interagency cooperation and collaboration, and…

The paper discusses recommendations for a statewide (California) plan to provide transitional services to severely handicapped high school students. Initial sections trace the state and federal commitment to transitional services for work and other aspects of life. Thirteen model programs in California and eight in other states are summarized. A…

California's Education Transition Center has developed a network of exemplary collaborative transition programs which agree to provide site visitors with information about school, community, and private programs that can improve school-to-adult-life transition services for "at risk" students. This document contains guidelines prepared to…

For young people who have dropped out of school, are out of work, or lack connections to family or other caring adults, there are often no easy answers. Their hopes for a better life are frequently no different than those harbored by their more advantaged peers, but their path to adulthood is rendered more difficult by tangled combinations of…