The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that schools assist students with disabilities to develop independent living skills and abilities essential to succeed in most of their life's endeavors. According to the law, each student with a disability must have an individualized education program (IEP), and the IEP must address…

Student-centered learning encompasses four overlapping and complementary principles (JFF, 2014): competency-based progression, personalization, flexibility in where and when learning takes place, and facilitation of key skills and dispositions such as agency and ownership. To date, few studies have attempted to quantitatively characterize…

In recent years the issue of how well students with disabilities are prepared for post high school opportunities has generated interest in designing more effective transition programs in school districts. Employment rates for students with disabilities after leaving high school are greatly impacted by their experiences and opportunities to develop…

Transition planning officially begins between the ages of 14 and 16 for most students with an IEP. However, the process is lifelong. Job Exploration Counseling, or Career counseling/guidance includes a wide variety of activities which help students explore career options and opportunities available. Job exploring options are intended to foster…

Transition from secondary education to adulthood represents a period during which adolescents with disabilities face multiple responsibilities and changing roles that include establishing independence, attending postsecondary education or training, developing social networks, choosing a career, participating in their communities, and managing…

A project developed competency profiles identifying entry-level skills and employability skills to be acquired by handicapped students before graduation. Research literature was reviewed to identify generalizable skills, employability skills, self-help skills, and job skills. Feedback was obtained from practitioners in the field regarding rating…

This guidebook was designed to be a practical guide in developing workplace education programs. The handbook includes the following three sections: (1) background information, including details and supporting information about workplace education; (2) workplace education worksheets that adult education supervisors can take to the worksite to use…

The catalogs from the Vocational Technical Education Consortium of States (V-TECS) provide current job-specific data for developing performance-based vocational curriculua. The task listings and performance objectives contained in the V-TECS catalogs are validated by incumbent workers in each field; as a result, the V-TECS tasks provide a basis…

This paper presents an educational program for seriously emotionally disturbed students at the Yellowstone Ranch, a residential treatment facility and school focusing on the enhancement of each student's self esteem. Located in Montana, which in 1965 created a special school district to serve the needs of special needs children, the school has as…

This newsletter presents a list of 248 special education curriculum guides, identified as exemplary through the National Special Education Curricula Survey, a national service project of the Indiana Department of Education. The survey was sent to personnel at state departments of education, universities, schools, community agencies, and special…

This guide is designed to help vocational education teachers prepare students with special needs to make a successful transition from school to employment. The guide is organized in five chapters. The first chapter provides a definition of transition and a model for transition from special education or vocational education to the community. In…

The passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) in 1990 and the subsequent reauthorization in 1997 mandate school districts to provide transition services for students with disabilities in order to improve post-school outcomes for these youth. To help meet the requirements for transition, many school districts have developed…

A project was conducted by Missouri LINC to create a computerized data bank of entry and exit-level competencies that could be applied to special education students in vocational education. The competencies that were developed through that project are contained in this guide. They are expected to be useful for vocational and special education…

This document is a guide to career planning and finding a job for high school and college students and graduates with learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, and dyslexia. The guide, which is written from the perspective of an individual with firsthand experience with a learning disability, explains how individuals can find the best…