Amy S. Gaumer Erickson

Improving Interagency Collaboration: Effective Strategies Used by High-Performing Local Districts and Communities

Young adults with disabilities often depend on linkages and supports from adult agencies to achieve high-quality adult outcomes. However, interagency collaboration has emerged as a major area of difficulty and a critical area in need of improvement for school districts throughout the United States. Based on the input of research participants from 29 high-performing districts and state-level transition coordinators from five diverse states, this article identifies 11 key strategies to enhance interagency collaboration. Results provide implications for the field of transition concerning effective methods for increasing interagency collaboration and, ultimately, improving postschool outcomes for student with disabilities.

Effectiveness of Online Professional Development for Rural Special Educators

Retaining teachers and accessing professional development have been long-standing struggles for rural school districts, particularly with respect to teachers with special education endorsements. This study examined the effect of asynchronous online professional development in secondary special education and transition for 86 rural special education teachers. In addition, the study compared results of teachers in rural and non-rural settings. Results indicated that rural special education teachers who participated in the online professional development gained knowledge, increased personal capacity to apply research-based practices, and implemented research-based transition practices within their classrooms. Furthermore, participants developed meaningful, collaborative relationships with rural colleagues across the country. While rural and non-rural educators both experienced gains as a result of the professional development, rural educators initially rated their competency in providing transition services much lower than their non-rural peers; however, both groups rated their competency at the same levels at the conclusion of the online professional development.

The Relationship Among Self-Determination, Self-Concept, and Academic Achievement for Students With Learning Disabilities

Research suggests that self-determination skills are positively correlated with factors that have been shown to improve academic achievement, but the direct relationship among self-determination, self-concept, and academic achievement is not fully understood. This study offers an empirical explanation of how self-determination and self-concept affect academic achievement for adolescents with learning disabilities after taking into consideration the covariates of gender, income, and urbanicity. In a nationally representative sample (N = 560), the proposed model closely fit the data, with all proposed path coefficients being statistically significant. The results indicated that there were significant correlations among the three latent variables (i.e., self-determination, self-concept, and academic achievement), with self-determination being a potential predictor of academic achievement for students with learning disabilities.

An Analysis of Collaboration in a State-Level Interagency Transition Team

Interagency collaboration facilitates strong linkages to adult agencies, which improves adult outcomes among youth with disabilities (Kohler & Field, 2003; Repetto, Webb, Garvan & Washington, 2002). State-level transition teams increase collaboration, reduce duplication of resources, improve professional development, and heighten the cross-flow of information (Blalock, 1996; Wehman, 1998). Using social network (Daly, 2010) and focus group analysis (Krueger & Casey, 2000), this mixed methods study examined changes in collaboration, as well as collaborative characteristics and activities, among members of one state-level transition team. Analysis of the social network indicated a significant increase in the network density. Furthermore, focus group results indicated a range of collaborative strategies that built group cohesion and facilitated movement toward improving transition and student outcomes.

Effects of Community Transition Teams on Interagency Collaboration for School and Adult Agency Staff

This study examined change in indicators of high-quality interagency collaboration after 1 year of establishing a community transition team and compared school and adult agency staff participants. The Transition Collaboration Survey was developed based on research-based indicators of collaboration, piloted, administered to school and agency participants from 16 midwestern community transition teams, and then analyzed through nonparametric statistics. Results indicated a significant increase in indicators of high-quality collaboration in domain areas of shared vision, variety of partnerships, time together, joint planning, shared leadership, structure, training together, minimizing duplication, and sustainability. School and adult agency staff increased collaboration in each domain area, with the exception of only school staff increasing administrative support.

Strategies for Successfully Completing Online Professional Development

Recently, increasing demand for teacher professional development and significant advances in information and communication technologies has led to a proliferation of online professional development. In spite of online professional developments popularity and advantages, research indicates that there is a concern of considerably high dropout rates of online learners. Therefore, to reduce the dropout rates of the learners, this paper is designed to help teachers identify professional development opportunities that are tailored to their needs as well as successfully complete these learning experiences. To achieve the purpose of the study, the paper explores the considerations for evaluating the characteristics of online learners and online professional development. Using these evaluations, this paper provides practical strategies for helping elementary and secondary education teachers successfully complete online professional development without dropping out an online course.

The Impact of Alternate High School Exit Certificates on Access to Postsecondary Education.

The vast majority of high school students plan to attend college, but little is known about the postsecondary enrollment of students who exit high school with certificates of completion or individualized diplomas. With as many as 10% of all high school completers in some states earning documentation other than the high school diploma, it is necessary to better understand the access to postsecondary education for this subset of students who exit high school. Results of this case study reflect the policies and perceptions of a stratified sample of postsecondary institutions in two states. Conclusions highlight both state and institutional variation in postsecondary admission requirements and concerns related to the social validity of the alternate exit certificate.

The relationship between self-determination and academic achievement for adolescents with intellectual disabilities

Previous research has demonstrated that for students with intellectual disabilities, improved self-determination skills are positively correlated with productivity and organization during school and quality of life outcomes in adulthood. Despite extensive investigation in these areas, the predictive relationship between self-determination and academic achievement for students with intellectual disabilities has not been fully established. This study utilized the sample from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 of 480 adolescents with intellectual disabilities in the United States in an attempt to provide a possible empirical explanation of the relationship between academic achievement and self-determination, taking into account the covariates of gender, family income and urbanicity. The structural equation model was found to closely fit the data: all path coefficients were statistically significant. The results of this study identify a strong correlation between self-determination and academic achievement for adolescents with intellectual disabilities, indicating a linear relationship of these skills and supporting an increased focus on the teaching of self-determination skills.

The Impact of IDEA Indicator 13 Compliance on Postsecondary Outcomes.

Since the revision of Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004, experts and service providers have been operating on the untested assumption that State Performance Plan Indicator 13 (transition Individualized Education Program [IEP] compliance) is a precursor to Indicator 14 (student outcomes of engagement in postsecondary education, training, and employment). This study analyzed the relationship between Indicator 13 and Indicator 14 through bivariate linear regression. The sample included student-level secondary transition data from 352 local education agencies (LEAs) in Missouri. A total of 2,123 IEP files were reviewed using a validated checklist for compliance to the IDEA transition requirements, known as Indicator 13. Indicator 14 was measured via survey responses from 4,994 high school graduates with IEPs. Results revealed statistically significant linear relationships between LEAs’ Indicator 13 compliance data and the percentage of graduates with IEPs who completed a semester of college or a career training program. Findings suggest that alternate approaches and indicators may be needed to improve postsecondary outcomes for students with and without IEPs.

Measuring the quality of professional development training

High-quality, evidence-based professional development is essential to ensure that teachers obtain the knowledge, strategies and skills necessary to positively impact student learning. While the primary form of professional development, training has rarely been evaluated for quality beyond the satisfaction of those being trained. The Observation Checklist for High-Quality Professional Development Training (HQPD Checklist) was designed to measure observable indicators of effective professional development consistently. The HQPD Checklist is a valuable tool for professional development providers when designing and reflecting on training content, and for evaluators when monitoring the quality of professional development.