Meaningful family participation in statewide transition planning Susan Barlow Parent Network of WNY

1
Meaningful family participation in statewide
transition planning
Susan Barlow Parent
Network of WNY
2
Agenda

• Who we are
• Challenges of parents
• Benefits of parent involvement
• Research
• State wide activities
• How it all ties together
• Resources

3

Our Mission Parents Helping Parents
Professionals Enable Individuals with
Disabilities to Reach Their Own Potential

4
Services include

• Parent training on
• Special Education Law,
• Disability related topics and
• Services outside of school
• Information/referral services
• Library resources

5
Did you know that.

• According to McGill Smith (1997) the painful loss
  that a parent feels when faced with the birth or
  identification of a childs disability results in
  parents going through one or all of the 8 stages
  of grief and loss
• Denial 5. Anger
• 2.Fear 6. Guilt
• 3.Confusion 7. Powerlessness
• Disappointment 8. Rejection
• Every time a family faces another major change in
  their life, you may see them going through these
  stages again and again. What will you do to help
  them?

6
The Hardest to Involve Families

• Most barriers to parent involvement are found
  within school practices, not within parents.
• White, Clark and Decker (1996)

7
Challenges

• Lack of time and money
• Average work hours have increased (Americans work
  longer than any other industrialized country)
• U.S. has fewer vacation days than other countries
• More mothers in the workforce
• Welfare reform more poor mothers entered the
  work force without benefits of higher wages, time
  off, etc.
• Lack of childcare or transportation.

8
Challenges

• Cultural language, customs beliefs
• Lack of communication between the youth
  development professional parent understanding
  what they are being asked to do.
• School staff or administration fail to recognize
  or legitimize the parents role in education.
• Ghosts in the Classroom -parents own negative
  school experiences

9
Benefits

• Children achieve more when their parents are
  involved, e.g., higher grades test scores, more
  behavioral engagement better attendance
  (regardless of parents ethnic background,
  education level, or socioeconomic status).
• Children exhibit more positive attitudes
  behavior when parents are involved.
• Children have higher graduation rates greater
  enrollment rates in postsecondary education when
  parents are involved.
• Youth risk behaviors (such as alcohol use,
  violence, and antisocial behaviors) decrease as
  parent involvement increases.

10
RESEARCH
11
What global strategies make a difference?

• Joyce Epstein Anne Henderson
• Children do better in school when their parents
  support, monitor and advocate for their
  education.
• Fritz Ianni
• Consistent messages from home, school and family
  promote positive child and adolescent
  development.
• Robin Jarrett
• Successful parents in high-risk neighborhoods
  employ targeted strategies (youth-monitoring,
  resource-seeking, in-house learning).

12
Research Shows? Parental Involvement The Key to
Student Success

• Parents must be actively involved in order to
  insure a childs success in school. Study after
  study has indicated that a childs educational
  experience is enhanced when a parental figure is
  involved.
• Source
• National Education Association (NEA),

13
Research Findings

• When parents are involved in their childs
  education at home, children do better in school.
• Children go farther in school when their parents
  are involved in school.
• A home environment that supports learning is more
  important to student success than income,
  education level or cultural background.
• Familial assistance is key to a successful
  transition to adulthood

14
NYS - Statewide initiatives

• NYSED Federally Funded Parent Centers
• Transition Coordination Sites (Statewide)
• Transqual (transqual.org)
• Interagency Transition Counsels
• Model Transition Grants to districts with
  required partners
• NYS Education Commissioners Advisory Panel

15
Examples of Strategies Across NYS

• Local TCS/Parent Centers provide Parent Trainings
  to educate parents on Transition, Benefit
  Planning and College Planning.
• Local TCS/Parent Centers speaks to various SEPTA
  groups on requested topics that relate to
  Transition Planning
• Districts hold parent meetings to inform and
  provide resources in Transition Planning
• Local TCS create strong linkages to a variety of
  agencies to insure positive relations and sharing
  of information
• Local TCS maintains a Transition List Serve to
  distribute any and all Information and Events
  regarding Transition Planning locally and
  statewide.

16
Are we all on the same page with SPP 8 13
Transqual other Statewide Initiatives

• Determine the Connections with Transition?

17
State Performance PlanIndicator 8 Parent
Participation

• Percent of parents with a child receiving special
  education services who report that schools
  facilitated parent involvement as a means of
  improving services and results for children with
  disabilities.

18
State Performance PlanIndicator 13
Transition and the IEP

• Percent of youth aged 15 and above with an IEP
  that includes coordinated, measurable, annual
  goals and transition services that will
  reasonably enable the student to meet the
  post-secondary goals.

19
Transqual.org Assessment and Strategies for
Improvement

• Districts use TransQual as a means of Assessing
  Family Involvement and connect to resources that
  will assist in building a Quality Program.

20
Where do these two issues meet?

• Parents are necessary to insure success for SWD
  in Transitioning to Post Secondary life.

21
The Result of the Examination is
Overlap is Everywhere!
22
NYS Resources

• Parent Network of WNY www.parentnetworkwny.org
• Families Together www.ftnys.org
• Parent to Parent of NYS
• Transition Coordination Sites www.vesid.nysed.gov
  /specialed/transition/
• NYSED funded Parent Centers
• VESID www.vesid.nysed.gov
• OMRDD www.omr.state.ny.us