In March 1996, the Region XI Education Service Center, Fort Worth (Texas), was designated to continue a project implemented in 1990 by the Texas Education Agency to study the overall effectiveness of special education programs. The 1996 project was extended in 1997. This paper reports on the first of three newly planned study components, the…

The Personal Futures Planning Project created a person-centered planning model for developing and implementing individually designed transition services for 30 secondary-age youths with deaf-blindness in Kentucky. Project activities included: providing training and consultation in personal futures planning, providing consultation in planning and…

Millions of school children are currently at risk of academic failure; the potential costs to society are staggering. If the central factors causing a child's poor social adjustment can be addressed, both the rate of school failure and social service costs can be reduced. Attempting to control the school failure issue, the Wisconsin State…

As part of a series of topic papers assessing federal laws and programs affecting persons with disabilities, this paper focuses on employment programs and initiatives. Described are (1) the transition model of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), which emphasizes a solid educational foundation and adequate…

The goal of Project VAST (Virginia's Approach to Services for Transitioning) is to develop, implement, and evaluate a model at both state and local levels which ensures that students with disabilities who move through Virginia's public school programs and into the community will receive transitional services focusing on career preparation,…

Social isolation and loneliness, cultural shock, and lack of commitment to minority students have been suggested as barriers to educational attainment for many minority college students. Blacks are severely underrepresented in the sciences and in mathematics, and these issues and concerns are not uncommon to black students enrolled in the School…

A developing concern in Minnesota for the fact that a greater percentage of special needs students than non-special needs students tends to drop out of postsecondary vocational education prompted a project to promote articulation--transition--for these students into postsecondary education. A statewide survey was conducted to determine current…

A cooperative program in the state of Washington involves a university offering freshman English writing courses on a high school campus. The program, in which the university establishes curriculum textbook choices and student performance expectations, offers students greater flexibility and assurance of college credit than does the Advanced…

This report is an evaluation of a New York City school district educational program funded under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The purpose of the Transitional Classes Program was to provide educational experience for emotionally handicapped students returning from residential centers. The program's basic goals were…

A school/community-based program was developed by Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools to prepare students, aged 5-21, with moderate/profound retardation for transition into adult life. Program goals included providing more community and job training and increasing opportunities for frequently occurring, quality interactions with…

A summer vocational interest exploration workshop was developed by Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools for handicapped students aged 14-19. Students developed their basic and social skills and gained understanding of career opportunities as they worked in simulated job environments in food services, business, building/grounds maintenance,…

Preparing disabled students for transition to productive adult lives involves careful planning between sending and receiving agencies. The article describes state and school district transition programs, emphasizing interagency planning teams (Oregon), cross-agency coordination and ninth grade vocational assessments (Minnesota), and field-testing…

Literature reports of individual and group child-focused interventions designed to help students cope effectively with divorce-related transitions and to reduce potential maladjustment are described. Indirect interventions with parents, teachers, and the school organization are also discussed, and a comprehensive model of divorce-related school…

Describes and evaluates the staffing, scheduling, thematic underpinning, activities, and student recruitment efforts of New York City's 1983 summer PREP program for introducing new students to the city's high schools. Also covers site selection, student and teacher attitudes, differences from previous years' programs, and recommendations for the…

The Southern Regional Education Board adopted Challenge to Lead education goals to focus and hold attention on educational improvement in its 16 states. This report provides an overview of Oklahoma's progress toward meeting these important goals. Challenge to Lead asserts: "With almost half of the new jobs created in America in the 1990s, SREB…