Examining barriers and strategies for effective professional or interagency collaboration in secondary transition

BACKGROUND: For young adults with disabilities, post-high school outcomes in employment, higher education, and independent living are markedly worse than their peers without disabilities. As a result, legislation and research aimed at supporting transitioning students has increased. Further, numerous initiatives that better support youth and families have been implemented at the state and local level. Collaboration within and across service delivery systems has been identified as a critical aspect of transition planning and supports; however, evidence-based research related to the implementation and effects of collaborative partnerships is limited. OBJECTIVE: In the current study, we identify transition professionals’ perceptions of collaborative factors that facilitate and inhibit collaboration. METHOD: This study utilizes a single-state survey research design to examine the viewpoints of transition professions, specifically educators, Vocational Rehabilitation professionals, and community supports providers. RESULTS: Variance in perceptions were found among participant role groups. Specifically, educators as a whole report that time and workload barriers affect their ability to collaborate effectively. Further, findings indicate that ensuring individual collaborative team member responsibility is perceived as an effective strategy. CONCLUSIONS: These findings may be applied to technical assistance providers when developing team-level evaluations to monitor current levels and support needs of collaborative transition planning teams.

Comprehensive Support and Student Success: Can Out of School Time Make a Difference?

StudentU is a comprehensive program that provides education, nutrition, and social support services to disadvantaged middle and high school students outside of the regular school day. In this paper I investigate the effects of this multi-year program on the early high school outcomes of participating students by exploiting data from oversubscribed admissions lotteries. I find that the subgroup of lottery winners who entered the comprehensive program with low baseline achievement earned more course credits (0.82 credits), achieved higher grade point averages (0.37 grade points), and were less likely to be suspended (17.1 percentage points) during ninth grade than their lottery loser counterparts. Investigation of intervening variables indicates that on-time grade progress and decreases in course failure and disciplinary infractions are potential mediating channels. Using an index of early high school outcomes, I predict that lottery winners are around 4 percentage points more likely to graduate from high school than lottery losers (5 percent effect). These results suggest that comprehensive services delivered outside of the regular school day have the potential to improve the educational outcomes of disadvantaged students.

Is There a Real Need for the Preparatory Years in Higher Education? An Educational Data Analysis for College and Future Career Readiness

Universities seek to qualify students for their academic and career futures and meet labor market requirements. Hence, a preparatory year is provided to bridge the gap between high school outcomes and the needs of university study plans. The preparatory year is the first year of support in the life of university students, and for decades, it has been recognized as important. It is considered the most crucial stage in the life of university students, where they build and refine their skills and choose their academic major, in which they complete their academic and career life. Due to the importance of this year, which requires the full attention and care of the higher authorities in terms of preparation, development, and renewal, this research outlines the importance of the preparatory year at a local level and in international institutions. Moreover, it sheds light on the details of King Abdulaziz University (KAU) students as a case study. It measures the relationship between the admission weighted ratio (AWR), the college enrollment allocation weighted ratio (CEAWR), and the performance of three batches of male and female students (three consecutive years), with details of students’ college allocation after the end of the preparatory year. More importantly, it aims to realize students’ progress through their weighted averages during their preparatory year, and the extent to which the goals of the preparatory year are achieved. After an analytic survey of the reality of the preparatory year, based on the statistical tests conducted, this study found that it is not possible to be satisfied with the weighted ratio for colleges’ direct allocation of high school students. The tests showed a difference between the AWR and that of the CEAWR, which indicates a change in the level of students’ performance from high school to university, due to the positive impact of the preparatory year. More precisely, it was noted that there is a possibility of studying the sufficiency of the weighted ratio for the direct allocation of some colleges in future research.

The Long Arm of Early Exclusionary School Discipline? A Multi-Model Analysis

In this analysis, we consider how a potentially important triggering event in the life course—exclusionary school discipline—may affect students’ high school outcomes. We extend the literature to focus on the long-term effects of exclusionary discipline that occurs in the early grades, when students are relatively young and when a significant share of exclusionary discipline first occurs. We further evaluate the potential, long-term effects of exclusionary discipline on different high school outcomes (non-completion, GED certification, high school diploma) in statistical models that account for observed and unobserved heterogeneity. Overall, we find robust and consistent evidence that very young children are not somehow more resilient or more protected from negative, long-term effects of suspension or expulsion in early elementary school. Moreover, previous research might underestimate the effects of (early) exclusionary discipline more generally by ignoring the independent effects on GED certification.

Academic and post-secondary participation of students with ABI after the BrainSTEPS program

Purpose: To describe and analyze educational and post-high school participation of individuals who sustained an acquired brain injury (ABI) during childhood and participated in a state-wide school-based brain injury support program, BrainSTEPS in Pennsylvania (BrainSTEPS). Method: Retrospective analysis of programmatic information and data collected through electronic and phone surveys during a follow-up survey for a statewide, school-based, school consultation program for students with ABI. Participants: Caregivers reported on 190 individuals with ABI who participated in Pennsylvania’s BrainSTEPS Program. Results: Individuals post-ABI who participated in the BrainSTEPS were most likely to have experienced a mild ABI in high school due to sports. Post-injury, students were most likely to be enrolled in regular education, have graduated high school, pursued four-year college education and be attending post-secondary education and living with family. Additional significant relationships were not reported within the concussion or moderate-severe traumatic brain injury subgroups. Significant relationships for educational outcomes included higher likelihood of regular educational placement at the time of referral given an older grade at injury and regular educational placement before injury. For post-high school outcomes, a younger age at survey was associated with current attendance in post-secondary education, compared to other vocational options. Conclusions: Individuals with a history of ABI before school age and during primary and secondary education present with heterogeneous educational and post-high school outcomes. A greater breadth of measures of formal and informal educational and vocational supports and post-high school attainment should be implemented to accurately capture the needs and outcomes of these students to inform supports and services.

Impacts of attending an inclusive STEM high school: meta-analytic estimates from five studies

Background Inclusive STEM high schools seek to broaden STEM participation by accepting students on the basis of interest rather than test scores and providing a program sufficient to prepare students for a STEM major in college. Almost nonexistent before the present century, these high schools have proliferated over the last two decades as a strategy for addressing gaps in STEM education and career participation. This study uses a meta-analytic approach to investigate the relationship between attending an inclusive STEM high school and a set of high school outcomes known to predict college entry and declaration of a STEM college major. Results Combining effect estimates from five separate datasets of students from inclusive STEM high schools and matched comparison schools, the analysis reported here used data from administrative records and survey data for 9719 students in 94 high schools to obtain estimates of the average impact of attending an inclusive STEM high school on STEM-related high school outcomes. Positive effects for inclusive STEM high schools were found for completion of key STEM courses and for likelihood that students would engage in self-selected STEM activities. Students who attended an inclusive STEM high school also identified more strongly with mathematics and science and were more likely as high school seniors to be very interested in one or more STEM careers. Importantly, these positive impacts were found for low-income, under-represented minority, and female students as well as for students overall. Attending an inclusive STEM high school appeared to have a small positive impact on science test scores for students overall and for economically disadvantaged students, but there were no discernible impacts on mathematics test scores. Conclusions These findings suggest that the inclusive STEM high school model can be implemented broadly with positive impacts for students, including low-income, female, and under-represented minority students. Positive impacts on the odds of taking advanced mathematics and science courses in high school and on interest in entering a STEM profession are of particular importance, given the strong association between these variables and entry into a STEM major in college.

Caught in the Cycle: Economic Conditions at Enrolment and Labour Market Outcomes of College Graduates*

We show that cohorts of male graduates who start college during worse economic times earn higher average wages than those who start during better times. This is not explained by differences in selection into employment, economic conditions at graduation, or field of study choices. Graduates who enrol in bad times are not more positively selected based on their high-school outcomes, but they achieve higher college grades and earn higher wages conditional on their grades. Patterns for female graduates are similar, though less robust. Our results suggest that individuals who enrol during downturns exert more effort during their studies.

The TRANSFORMATION BASED ON OUTCOMES PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENTATION MODEL 0F THE NATIONAL STANDARD OF EDUCATION TO THE BALANCED SCORECARD

The performance assessment of the outcomes of a high school must use a valid and reliableassessment instrument. The instrument model for an outcomes performance assessment thatis built from the transformation of the National Education Standards to the Four BalancedScorecards perspectives produce 65 assessment items that are valid and have high reliability. High school outcomes performance assessment in North Sumatra can be done by using aformulated model of an outcomes performance assessment instrument so that the hope is thatthe quality of SMA can be improved.

Teachers’ Pay for Performance in the Long-Run: The Dynamic Pattern of Treatment Effects on Students’ Educational and Labour Market Outcomes in Adulthood

This article examines the dynamic effects of a teachers’ pay for performance experiment on long-term outcomes at adulthood. The program led to a gradual increase in university education of the treated high school students, reaching an increase of 0.25 years of schooling by age 28–30. The effects on employment and earnings were initially negative, coinciding with a higher rate of enrolment in university, but became positive and significant with time. These gains are largely mediated by the positive effect of the program on several high school outcomes, including quantitative and qualitative gains in the high-stakes matriculation exams.

Pledging to Do “Good”: An Early Commitment Pledge Program, College Scholarships, and High School Outcomes in Washington State

Indiana, Oklahoma, and Washington each have programs designed to address college enrollment gaps by offering a promise of state-based college financial aid to low-income middle school students in exchange for making a pledge to do well in high school, be a good citizen, not be convicted of a felony, and apply for financial aid to college. Using a triple-difference specification, we estimate the effects of Washington’s College Bound Scholarship program on students’ high school grades, high school graduation, juvenile detention and rehabilitation, and incarceration in state prison during high school or early adulthood. We find insignificant and substantively small or negative effects on these outcomes. These results call into question the rationale for such early commitment programs.