Building State Capacity: Tools for Analyzing TransitionRelated Policies

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Building State Capacity Tools for Analyzing
Transition-Related Policies

• Paula D. Kohler, Ph.D., Western Michigan
  University
• National Secondary Transition Technical
  Assistance Center

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Topics

• Effective transition practices
• Conceptualizing transition-related policies
• Tools for policy planning

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Taxonomy for Transition Programming
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Taxonomy for Transition Programming

• FAMILY INVOLVEMENT
• Family Training
• Family Involvement
• Family Empowerment

• STUDENT DEVELOPMENT
• Life Skills Instruction
• Employment Skills Instruction
• Career Vocational Curricula
• Structured Work Experience
• Assessment
• Support Services

• PROGRAM STRUCTURES
• Program Philosophy
• Program Policy
• Strategic Planning
• Program Evaluation
• Resource Allocation
• Human Resource Development

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Student-Focused Planning

• Short and long-term goals reflect interests,
  preferences, needs
• Program of study addresses goals
• Students prepared to participate
• Self-determination skills applied

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Student Development

• Develop student competence in academic,
  occupational, life, social, and
  self-determination skills and behaviors
• Develop career awareness
• Provide, facilitate paid work experience
• Provide instruction in school, work and other
  community-based settings
• Identify and generalize student supports

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Interagency Collaboration

• When done well, facilitates transition when done
  poorly, impedes success
• IEP/transition teams include relevant members,
  including service providers
• Teams address individual student needs
• Community planning addresses service needs and
  delivery

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Family Involvement

• Families participate in multiple roles, but
  participation often limited by others
  assumptions and attitudes
• Effective communication, collaborative
  partnerships, caring attitudes facilitate family
  involvement
• Family involvement is dependent on quality and
  quantity of information provided to them

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Program Structures

• Policies and philosophy provide context for
  transition-focused education
• Professional development fosters extension of
  research to practice
• Leadership facilitates system-wide implementation
  and resource allocation
• Program evaluation supports improvement and
  ongoing reform

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Hold those thoughts
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Make the Connection

• Q Whats the purpose of aligning
  transition-related policies across ministries?
• A Facilitate implementation of effective
  transition practices to improve transition
  outcomes

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Your Challenge 1

• Use this state planning institute to
• Provide context for analyzing state and local
  level policies and their effects on facilitating
  implementation of effective transition practices
• Move toward systems reform and service improvement

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Your Challenge 2

• Determine the extent to which your policies
• Complement collaborative service delivery
• Facilitate implementation of effective transition
  services
• Communicate a transition perspective of
  education

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What Policies Do We Examine?

• Any policy instruments that influence how, when,
  where, and who provides transition-related
  education, services, and resources to individuals
  with disabilities

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What are Policy Instruments?

• State or federal legislation, and specifically
  laws, regarding
• Special, general, and career education
• Services to children, youth, and adults with
  developmental disabilities
• Other relevant services
• State plans for service provision e.g., state
  plans for special education, rehabilitation
  services, career and technical education

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What are Policy Instruments?

• Ministry and agency regulations
• Training and resource materials
• Special project proposals, annual reports,
  surveys or needs assessments, products

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Make Sense of the Instruments

• Apply Analytic Frameworks
• Policy Analysis
• How do we organize the many policy instruments?
• Transition practices
• What practices do/should the policies promote?

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Policy Analysis Framework

• McDonnell Elmore (1987)
• Mandates
• Inducements
• Capacity Building
• System Change

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Mandates

• Usually in the form of laws, rules, regulations
• Focused on producing compliance
• Example Licensure requirements

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Inducements

• Typically utilize the transfer of money from one
  organization to another
• Money is used to produce specific goods or
  services
• Example Local agency/organization must establish
  interagency council to receive grant funds

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Capacity Building

• Focuses on transferring money or other resources
  to produce some desired benefit in the future
• Generally concerned with developing future
  potential or growth, but often difficult to
  measure impact
• Example Providing funds to an agency or
  organization to conduct professional development

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System Change

• Focuses on transferring authority so the way
  goods and services are delivered is altered
• Results in a new structure or method for
  delivering goods or services
• Example Policy to require community service
  agency to develop individual service plan prior
  to students exit from school

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Conceptualizing State Agency Roles and Policy
Tools

STATE ED AGENCY
Roles Provide Leadership Provide Funding and
Other Resources Set Policy Assure Compliance
Policy Tools Mandates Inducements Capacity
Building System Change
Regional and Local Education Agencies
Students and Families
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Transition Practices Framework

• What practices do the policy instruments
  foster/facilitate?
• Do they
• Facilitate implementation of the Taxonomy for
  Transition Programming?
• Apply a transition perspective of education
• Result in seamless, successful transitions for
  young people with disabilities?

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Policy Analysis Process

• Review Instruments (e.g., documents)
• Organize by type
• Identify responsible agency
• Determine policy actions
• Identify intended results
• Summarize Findings
• Develop Recommendations

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Policy Analysis Tools

• Summary document for gathering and reviewing your
  policy instruments
• Applicable for use either inter- or intra-agency

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Example Mandate
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Example Inducements
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Example Capacity Building
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Example Systems Change
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Policy Analysis Process

• Effective transition practices

Policy tools that facilitate implementation
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Conclusions Research

• Importance of a broad perspective of
  transition-focused education and services
• Complexity of transitions and transition
  practices research
• Critical relationship of all aspects of
  development and education to transition
• Importance of transition-focused programs that
  provide individualized education and services

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Conclusions Policies

• Policies facilitate or throw up barriers to
  effective practices
• Policies come in many shapes and sizes
• Policies influence direct services and context of
  those services
• When considering policies, must consider explicit
  intended impact, and eventually measure that
  impact