Practice 1: Understand differences between high school and college.

An important first step with students and parents is being sure that they understand how educational expectations and experiences differ between high school and college. In high school, students who have been determined eligible for special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) because they have a specific disability are entitled to individualized special education (also known as exceptional student education, or ESE) and related services. Students with IEPs may have instruction and related educational goals modified to help them meet educational goals.

When a student is determined to have any disability, he or she may be eligible under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to services and changes to the learning environment to enable them to learn alongside their peers. A 504 plan identifies specific accommodations, supports, or services for the student.

In college, students with IDD must request accommodations from a disability/accessibility services office, providing requested documentation. This may include a recent medical and/or educational evaluation. Some disability services personnel may request and review an IEP and Summary of Performance to understand the impact of a student’s disability on their learning and what supports and services were used in K–12 education.

Students and parents are advised to check with the disability services office at the college to confirm what documentation they require and what supports and services may be available. Most importantly, parents must understand that special education services do not transfer to college.

Practice 2: Frame students’ course of study and transition services around college and career readiness factors.

The National PTA describes students as college and career ready when they are prepared to go directly to work or enroll and succeed—without remediation—in a variety of postsecondary institutions so that they are ready to enter a career of their choice.

College and career readiness (CCR) preparation should be the focus of education for all students, including those with IDD. In 2017, Morningstar et al. created the College Career Readiness Organizing Framework for Secondary Students with Disabilities, which lays out six academic and non-academic factors:

1. Academic engagement:including cognitive and content knowledge
2. Mindsets: including sense of belonging, growth mindset, ownership of leadership, and perseverance
3. Learning processes: including accessing content and engagement in learning
4. Critical thinking: including problem-solving, research, interpretation, communication and precision/accuracy
5. Interpersonal engagement:including with self, with others, and understanding others
6. Transition competencies: including early planning, career culture, college culture, and adult roles/responsibilities

Using this framework, IEP teams can frame high-quality IEP goals and objectives that reflect all six CCR factors and also take into account the skills and knowledge students with disabilities need to develop these competencies. The following table outlines how an IEP team can use the CCR framework:

Practice 3: Become familiar with college and work-related resources.

Preparing students for work and postsecondary education goals is supported by regulations that align with transition planning. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) of 2014 added a new section to the Rehabilitation Act that requires state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies to provide Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) for all students with disabilities while they are in high school. This includes job exploration counseling, work-based learning experiences, counseling related to transition or postsecondary education, workplace readiness training, and instruction in self-advocacy.

The Higher Education Opportunity Act includes provisions that expand postsecondary education opportunities for young adults with disabilities. This is particularly true for students with IDD, as the law created new comprehensive transition and postsecondary programs—inclusive college programs specifically for students with intellectual disability—and provided access to federal student aid (FASFA) for this population to attend college. This law enables students with IDD to bypass the college entrance exam requirements and to earn a non-degree college credential.

Another important resource is The Able Trust, which provides employment opportunities for Floridians with disabilities. The organization was created by the state legislature in 1990 to support vocational rehabilitation (VR) efforts by state agencies and community organizations.

Visit VR youth transition services to learn more about their programs.

Practice 4: Facilitate college searches and campus tours and visits.

Traditionally, students begin researching and visiting colleges by their junior year in high school. Students with IDD are encouraged to follow the same path searching for inclusive college programs. This should include research into what resources are available to students with these disabilities and what procedures are in place for students to request accommodations.

Practice 5: Develop individual education plans that reflect student goals.

To prepare students with IDD for their postsecondary education goals, consider how the IEP can be designed to reflect 1) a student’s measurable postsecondary goals, 2) career assessments that reflect what strengths a student has to pursue those goals, 3) what gaps in skills and knowledge should be addressed, and 4) what annual goals should be planned to help the student prepare for college.

The high school course of study should include classes and activities that support students to achieve academic and transition goals, preparing them for a college credential program. In addition to working to meet the requirements for a high school diploma, a student’s course of study can reflect the skills and knowledge that are required to pursue a specific career. If the school can incorporate on-the-job work, it will give students additional work-based experiences and an opportunity to explore career interests.

Practice 6: Ensure ongoing individualized transition assessment and prepare.

As students prepare for postsecondary education, they and their families, as part of the IEP team, can contribute to transition assessments. These assess what skills and knowledge students have and what they need to learn to prepare for their postsecondary goals. From here, the team can develop appropriate goals. Ideally, team members are using results from structured student and family interviews, observations, and informal data collection, in addition to other assessment tools.

Transition planning begins with identifying a team that includes the student and family to facilitate assessing the student’s postsecondary goals. Critical questions that drive transition assessment include the following (Dukes, 2010):

Using multiple assessment methods will help determine students’ strengths, interests, and needs in light of their postsecondary goals. Possible assessment tools include academic achievement tests, adaptive behavior scales, employability scales, self-determination tools, social skill inventories, personal futures planning, and informal interviews.

The Summary of Performance (SOP) compiles all the data that a school system has collected on a student and summarizes it into one document. The SOP should include recommendations about ways to meet postsecondary goals. Results from ongoing transition assessments provide meaningful data for the student and family. The Florida Center for Students with Unique Abilities’ archived webinar from April 2019, “A Quality Summary of Performance (SOP) and how Postsecondary Programs Use the Information They Contain,” offers guidance on developing an effective SOP.

Dukes III, L.L. (2010). Gathering data to determine eligibility for services and accommodations. In S.F. Shaw, J.W. Madaus, & L.L. Dukes III (Eds.), Preparing students with disabilities for college success: A practical guide to transition planning. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing.

Practice 7: Inform parents about high school diploma expectations and implications.

About 1% of all students, or approximately 10% of all students with a disability, have profound and complex learning challenges that impact all of their activities, including school, independent functioning, community living, leisure, and work (Patel, Cabral, &Merrick, 2020). The IEP teams of these students, including the parents, after carefully reviewing student performance, assessment and evaluation results, and other records, may request written parental consent to have the student placed on access points instruction. Students on access points are assessed using an alternate assessment, currently the Florida Standards Alternate Assessment.

Access points reflect the core intent of the general standards but at a reduced level of complexity. Access points are taught within access courses, but this does not mean that students taking these courses must be in a separate classroom. Access courses can be taught in a general education classroom with the support of an ESE teacher, allowing students to spend time with their peers without disabilities. See Florida Standards Alternate Assessment and mile marker 8 of the Project 10 Secondary Transition Roadmap for Families.

Some confusion may arise if students and parents think that earning a standard diploma means that the student who received this instruction can do the same work as any other student in postsecondary education. Under Florida’s “open access” law, students who earn a standard diploma are entitled to entry into a Florida state college. It is important to discuss with parents how the open access law promotes entry to college, but that academic accommodations should be considered for students to do college-level coursework.

Students with disabilities in Florida have the option to defer receiving their diploma so that they can continue receiving educational services from the school district. Deferral allows students to continue being eligible for free appropriate public education (FAPE) up to age 22. See mile marker 9 in the Project 10 Secondary Transition Roadmap for Families for more information.

Patel, D. R., Cabral, M. D., Ho, A., & Merrick, J. (2020). A clinical primer on intellectual disability. Translational pediatrics, 9(Suppl 1), S23–S35. https://doi.org/10.21037/tp.2020.02.02

Practice 8: Orient school personnel to inclusive postsecondary education options.

Access to inclusive postsecondary programs at universities, state colleges, and technical colleges for students with IDD is relatively new and many IEP team members and families may not be familiar with the options and types of credentials available. Make sure team members know these practical ways they can support a student to prepare for college:

• Provide students with effective secondary and college advising (guidance counselors)
• Collaborate with school-to-work and career and technical education colleagues to promote inclusive course access (special and general education staff)
• Facilitate transition assessments that inform IEP teams how to develop effective annual goals and objectives (transition specialists and special education teachers)
• Establish memorandums of agreement with local institutions of higher education and employers to develop college and work experiences for students (special education administrators)

Additionally, special education and transition staff can partner with their career and guidance counselor colleagues at the high school to prepare short presentations at department meetings about college and career options for students, collaborate on a school-wide college fair, host presentations from graduates who have moved on to college, and offer professional development sessions to colleagues.

Practice 9: Promote public awareness of college as an option.

Plan for public awareness activities that promote inclusive postsecondary education. These activities can be school- or community-based. Be prepared to talk about how college is a possibility for non-traditional students such as students with IDD and possible outcomes. Strategies include:

• Requesting to speak at Parent Teacher Organization meetings
• Establishing a speaker bureau of students with IDD
• Coordinating parent panels to promote parent-to-parent testimonies and advising
• Attending local transitions fairs, either to staff a table or to run an informational session
• Planning for a school committee presentation to increase buy-in
• Starting a public awareness campaign (e.g., social media, local cable)
• Inviting college representatives or recruiters from inclusive postsecondary programs to speak or join school events or requesting flyers from programs to display for guidance counselors
• Creating a network for parents and students such as listening sessions, local community transition support groups or councils, etc.