Issue Brief: Students with Disabilities, School-to-Work Transition and the School-to-Work Opportunities Act

Introduction

Preparation for the transition from school to the world of work has long been recognized as an important aspect of education for youth with disabilities. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has required such transition planning since 1990.(1) Another federal education law, the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 (“School-to-Work Act”),(2) recognizes the importance of preparing all youth to move successfully from high school to work. Congress passed the School-to- Work Act in response to studies indicating that U.S. students generally were not as well prepared as youth in other nations to make the transition from high school to the world of work. Under this law, states are receiving federal money to develop statewide “school-to-work systems” that afford all students – including students with disabilities – the opportunity to participate in high quality school- to-work programs that meet the requirements of the School-to-Work Act.

School-to-work programs can be a source of the transition services to which youth with disabilities are entitled under IDEA. In addition, the School-to-Work Act specifically requires that school-to-work programs serve all students, including youth with disabilities – independently of whatever rights youth have under IDEA. The program quality requirements of the School-to-Work Act are very rigorous. Properly designed school-to-work programs thus potentially are an important source of high quality educational and transition services for youth with disabilities.

This issue brief is designed to provide information to assist in making this aspect of school reform effective for youth with disabilities. It begins with a brief overview of the purpose, operation and funding of the School-to-Work Act, followed by an overview of the law’s programmatic requirements. It then discusses how components of IDEA and the School-to-Work Act may be linked to reinforce one another, and to provide high quality educational and school-to-work transition opportunities for youth with disabilities.

School-to-Work Act: Purpose, Operation and Funding

The School-to-Work Act is designed to facilitate the creation of a universal, high-quality school-to-work transition system. The School-to-Work Act is distinct from other education reforms because it does not create another separate program with federal mandates. The Act uses federal funds as venture capital to underwrite the initial costs of planning and establishing statewide systems that will be maintained with other resources (including funds available under other federal education, training and workforce development programs). These systems are to provide all students with the opportunity to participate in programs that integrate school- and work-based learning, vocational and academic education, and secondary and postsecondary education.

The School-to-Work Act channels funding to states and local partnerships to create school-to- work systems. All 50 states, the District of Columbia and the territories have received non- competitive school-to-work development grants, which were used to design statewide systems and to write state plans. One-time, five year implementation grants are awarded through a competitive process when the states present a comprehensive school-to-work plan and demonstrate the capability to implement the plan. The expectation is that all states will have received implementation grants by the time the School-to-Work Act sunsets in the year 2001.(3)

Most of the State implementation grant monies flow through to the local level. All of the funds going to the local level go to local partnerships -- entities responsible for operating the programs that comprise the school-to-work system, and consisting of employers, public secondary and postsecondary educational institutions or agencies, educators, labor, and students. Two additional types of local grants are available directly from the federal government: federal partnership grants for those in states which have not yet received state implementation grants, and grants to local partnerships in high poverty areas.(4)

School-to-Work Act: Programmatic Requirements

Under the Act, school-to-work systems must be designed to provide all students with the opportunity to participate in programs that meet certain requirements. “All students” is defined as meaning “both male and female students from a broad range of backgrounds and circumstances, including disadvantaged students, students with diverse racial, ethnic, or cultural backgrounds, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, students with disabilities, students with limited-English proficiency, migrant children, school dropouts, and academically talented students.(5)

School-to-work systems must provide “all students” with the opportunity to participate in programs that:

• integrate school-based learning and work-based learning;
• integrate academic and occupational education;
• include and effectively link secondary and postsecondary education;
• meet the same academic standards set by the state for all students, prepare students for postsecondary education, and award skills certificates;
• provide students with strong experience in and understanding of all aspects of the industry students are preparing to enter, including
• planning
• management
• finances
• technical and production skills
• underlying principles of technology
• labor and community issues
• health and safety issues, and
• environmental issues;
• provide all students with equal access to the full range of program components and related activities; and
• give students flexibility to develop new career goals over time, to change career majors, and to transfer between education and training programs.

In addition, the School-to-Work Act mandates that all programs include three key components, each of which must be integrated with the others: (1) school-based learning, (2) work- based learning and (3) connecting activities.(6)

Each of these components, in turn, must include the following specific elements.

School-based learning includes:

• career awareness, exploration, and counseling that:
• help students identify their interests and goals
• help students to select a career major
• help students develop career options, including encouraging careers in nontraditional employment
• the opportunity to complete a career major that
• includes a coherent sequence of courses or field of study that integrate academic and occupational learning and prepares a student for a first job, and for employment in a broad occupational cluster or industry sector
• provides students to the extent practicable with strong experience in and understanding of all aspects of an industry
• typically includes at least 2 years of secondary education and at least 1 or 2 years of postsecondary education
• results in the award of a high school diploma or its equivalent, a certificate or diploma recognizing successful completion of the postsecondary component (if appropriate) and a skills certificate
• a program designed to meet the same high academic standards established for all students by the state, including linkage to general education reform
• integrating academic and vocational curricula and instruction, including instruction in all aspects of an industry
• regularly scheduled evaluations and ongoing problem solving with students to
• identify their academic strengths and weaknesses, academic progress, workplace knowledge and goals
• identify the need for additional learning opportunities to master core academic and vocational skills
• transition planning to facilitate entry into additional training or postsecondary education programs(7)

Work-based learning includes:

• work experience, coordinated with the school-based learning component and relevant to the student's career major
• workplace mentoring by an individual who
• possesses the skills and knowledge to be mastered by the student
• instructs the student, critiques student performance and challenges the student to perform well
• works in consultation with classroom teachers and the employer
• instruction in general workplace competencies
• experience in and understanding of all aspects of the industry(8)

Connecting activities must include:

• matching students with work-based learning opportunities of employers
• school site mentors for each student who serve as liaison between the student and employers, schools, educators, parents and other community partners
• technical assistance to employers and others in designing school-based learning components, work-based learning components, and counseling and case management services
• technical assistance to employers and other parties in training teachers, workplace mentors, school site mentors, and counselors
• provision of technical assistance to schools and employers to integrate school- based and work-based learning, and to integrate academic and occupational learning into the program
• encouraging active participation by employers, in cooperation with local education officials, in implementing school-based and work-based learning components, and connecting activities
• post-program service coordination
• evaluations of post-program outcomes(9)

Linking School-to-Work Programs with IDEA for Quality Education and Successful Transition

As discussed above, the School-to-Work Act makes it clear that the high quality school-to- work programs it requires must serve students with disabilities. Students with disabilities also have rights to participate, and to receive the support services and accommodations they need, under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. These three laws, however, provide only sketchy guidance as to how to design the supports and accommodations individual students need for meaningful participation and success.

IDEA, however, already provides in detail for individualized planning and service design. IDEA provisions regarding evaluations, Individualized Educational Programs and transition planning and services can provide powerful tools for making school-to-work programs work for youth with disabilities. Significantly, the School-to-Work Act requires coordination with IDEA.(10) The following are some examples of the ways in which IDEA and school-to-work program components may be linked and coordinated to promote equity and quality, and further the School-to-Work Act's mandate to serve "all" students.

· Linking Career Exploration, Awareness and Counseling and Career Major Selection with IDEA Transition Planning and Evaluations

Under the School-to-Work Act, career exploration, awareness and counseling begin at the earliest age possible, and no later than the seventh grade.(11) The purpose of these activities is to assist students to identify their interests, goals and career majors -- in short, to begin preparing for post- high school life. IDEA, too requires that students consider these issues: by age 14, IEPs must address the student's course of study as it relates to post- high school plans.(12) Career awareness, exploration and counseling should proceed this aspect of IEP development in order to make the latter meaningful.

Each of these parallel requirements can be used to make the other more effective. Through participation in the career exploration, awareness and counseling programs established for all students as part of the school-to-work system, students with disabilities can identify the goals and interests on which IDEA transition planning may then be based. And IDEA's individualized planning process may be used to develop any specialized supports a student may need to participate effectively in school-to-work career exploration, awareness and counseling.

Linking school-to-work and IDEA activities in this way can also pave the way for equitable participation and quality outcomes in career majors. Career awareness, exploration and counseling culminate in selection of a career major, by no later than the beginning of the eleventh grade. By monitoring and supporting a student through these earlier steps, and collaborating with school-to- work staff, IEP teams can identify, and design specialized instruction to address, any skills a student will need to strengthen prior to beginning a career major. In collaboration with school-to-work program personnel, the IEP team can also address whether and how any entrance criteria need to be waived or modified for a particular student, and include in the IEP strategies for enabling him or her to meet other entrance requirements.

2. Aligning IEPs with school-based learning

An IEP reflecting a student's choice of school-to-work or vocational education program must be in place before the program begins. This is critical if school-based learning is to be successful. It can be accomplished by aligning IDEA evaluations and IEPs to the skills and competencies students in the chosen program are expected to attain, and the instructional methods used to teach them.

Evaluations and reevaluations under IDEA must be designed to provide information about how a student's disability effects learning in the regular curriculum; the services and supports he or she will need to meet the expectations set for all students; and the supports staff will need to assist him or her in doing so.(13) Once a student has selected a program, evaluations should be done to elicit this information in relation to the content and methods of the curriculum in that program. School personnel can then use that information to develop an IEP linked to the course of study in the school to work program. The specific educational services to be provided should include all those necessary to meet the goals and objectives, and attain the high standards set for all students in the regular and school-to-work curriculum.

3. Aligning IEPs with Work-based Learning

IDEA evaluations and IEP development can function as tools for equity in work-based learning just as they do in school based learning. Well planned evaluations can yield the information needed to align IEPs to the content and methods of work-based learning components, and pave the way for mastery of the competencies desired for all students. IEP teams, working with school-site mentors and other school-to-work staff, can plan for any supports or accommodations a student will need at the workplace.

4. Linking Ongoing Evaluation and Problem Solving under the School-to-work Act and IEP Review and Revision under IDEA

The School-to-Work Act requires school-based learning components to include regularly scheduled student evaluations that include ongoing consultation and problem solving with students to identify their academic strengths, weaknesses and progress, workplace knowledge, goals and the need for additional learning opportunities to master core academic and vocational skills.(14) IDEA similarly provides for ongoing, individualized problem solving, through requirements for reevaluations and IEP review and revision when students do not make expected progress.(15) These parallel school-to- work and IDEA requirements can be used to complement one another to promote student success.

Where the student evaluation called for by the School-to-Work Act reveals problems with academic progress, for example, the IEP team should convene to discuss the difficulties and make any adjustments to the student’s specialized instruction and support services necessary to address them. Where appropriate, special educators and school-to-work educators might collaborate to develop appropriate additional learning opportunities to master core academic and vocational skills. Apprized of student difficulties, the IEP team might arrange for an IDEA reevaluation of the student to obtain new data to address issues that surfaced through the school-to-work process.

NOTES

(1)For current requirements regarding transition planning and services, see 20 U.S.C. §1414(d)(1)(A)(vii).

(2)20 U.S.C. §6101 et seq.

(3) As of September 1997, thirty-seven states have received implementation grants: Alaska; Arizona; California; Colorado; Connecticut; Florida; Hawaii; Idaho; Indiana; Iowa; Kentucky; Louisiana; Maine; Maryland; Massachusetts; Michigan; Minnesota; Missouri; Nebraska; Nevada; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New Mexico; New York; North Carolina; Ohio; Oklahoma; Oregon; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; Tennessee; Texas; Utah; Vermont; Washington; West Virginia; and Wisconsin. The remaining 13 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the seven U.S. Territories will be awarded an Implementation Grant (on a non- competitive basis) if they meet the criteria established by the Act. Because the Act sunsets in the year 2001, implementation grants for those states will not be for a five year period.

(4)See 20 U.S.C. §§6171 - 6177.

(5)” 20 U.S.C. §6103(2).

(6)School-based learning, work-based learning and connecting activities are also addressed in Chapter

(7)20 U.S.C. §6103(4), (5) and §6112.

(8)20 U.S.C. §6113.

(9)20 U.S.C. §6114.

(10)20 U.S.C. §§2328(a)(3), 6143(d)(6)(H).

(11)20 U.S.C. §6112(1).

(12)20 U.S.C. §1414(d)((1)(A)(vii).

(13)20 U.S.C. §1414(b)(2), (c)(1).

(14)14. 20 U.S.C. §6112(5).

(15)20 U.S.C. §1414(d)(4).