Increasing the Likelihood of Obtaining a Degree and Transitioning from Postsecondary Education to Em

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Increasing the Likelihood of Obtaining a Degree
and Transitioning from Postsecondary Education to
Employment or Further Education
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• Jim Martin, Ph.D.
• University of Oklahoma
• Zarrow Center for Learning Enrichment
• jemartin_at_ou.edu
• http//education.ou.edu/zarrow/

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What We Still Need to Do To Finish the Job
Alternative Title
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The Reason Why - 1
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The Reason Why -2
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Transition from High School to IHEs

• 53 of students with disabilities plan on
  attending an education program after leaving high
  school compared to 95 of their non-disabled
  peers (Wagner, Newman, Cameto, Garza, Levine,
  2005).
• Yet only 19 of youth with disabilities follow
  through compared to 40 of their non-disabled
  peers (Wagner et al., 2005).
• The rate of current enrollment of youth with
  disabilities in 2-year/ community colleges is not
  significantly different from that of their peers
  in the general population (10 vs. 12).
• Similar-age youth without disabilities are more
  than four and one-half times as likely as youth
  with disabilities to be currently taking courses
  at a 4-year college (28 vs. 6, plt.001).

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The Numbers

• College freshman with a disabilities increased
  from 2.6 in 1978 to 9 in 1996 (Cameto, Newman
  Wagner, 2006).
• Surveys of freshman at 4-year colleges report the
  percent of students with disabilities has gone
  from 3, up to 9, then down to 6 (Henderson,
  1998, 2001)
• 9 of students with disabilities enroll at
  four-year colleges. Non-disabled peers are 4.5
  times more likely to be enrolled (Wagner et al.,
  2005)

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Disclosure IHE Disability Support

• Of youth with a high school IEP in IHE (Wagner et
  al., 2005).
• 52 do not believe they have a disability
• 7 believe they have a disability but did not
  disclose
• 40 identified having a disability
• 88 of students who identified received services
• Put all of this together, about a third of
  students with IEPs in high school receive IHE
  disability support

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Retention and Graduation

• Two-year retention data at OU finds that students
  with and without disabilities return to OU to
  study at equal numbers (OU Institutional
  Research, 2006).
• Only 4 of students with disabilities who had
  enrolled in two-year colleges had graduated
  (Cameto, Newman Wagner, 2006).
• One percent of the students with disabilities
  enrolled in 4-year schools graduated in a
  four-year period (Cameto et al., 2006).
• 20 of students with LD who began IHE graduate 5
  years after high school compared to 44 for
  students without LD (Murray, Goldstein, Nourse,
  Edgar, 2000).
• 10 years after high school, 44 of students with
  LD graduated compared to 78 without disabilities
  (Murray, et al., 2000).
• After six years at OU 55 of undergraduates
  without disabilities graduate compared to 28 of
  their peers with disabilities (OU Institutional
  Research, 2006).

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After Graduation from IHE

• Graduates with LD employed at comparable rates as
  former students with LD (Madaus, Foley, McGuire,
  Ruban, 2001).
• Earning a degree from an IHE benefits the
  employment outcome of adults with learning
  disabilities (Madaus, 2006).
• Students with other disabilities graduating from
  IHEs appear to have less positive results
  (Roessler, Hennessey, Rumrill (2007).
• Some students with disabilities at IHEs lack the
  skills and confidence to seek employment
  (Corrigan, Jones, McWhirter, 2001).

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Whats Going On?

• Why do so few students with disabilities enter
  higher ed?
• What happens to the dreams?
• Why the poor long-term graduation rate?
• Why do fewer students with disabilities who
  graduate from college continue to graduate
  school?
• Why do some students with disabilities (maybe as
  many as 33) experience trouble transitioning
  from IHE into employment?

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The Other Transition Is There Another Task to Do?

• Transition education for students with
  disabilities (Sitlington, 2003)
• Enrolled in higher education programs
• Preparing to move from higher education into
  full-time careers
• Higher Ed needs to strongly consider adopting
  transition education practices to finish the job
  (Roessler, Hennessey, Rumrill, 2007).
• Where and Who?
• Disability Resource Centers?
• Career Development Offices?

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Transition Education Assessment

• Adaptive Behavior Assessment
• Vocational Interest and Skills Assessment
• Postschool Predictor Assessment

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Missing Link In Transition

• We need a transition assessment tool based on
  actual postschool success predictors.
• We need a tool to assess students current
  behavior linked to identified transition success
  predictors.
• No tool like this exists (that we could find).

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Postschool Success Predictors

• Reviewed the literature to identify student
  behaviors that predicted postschool success.
• 45 quantitative and qualitative studies
• Several different search engines
• Journal reference lists
• Hand searched major journals
• Asked colleagues around the country

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14 Concept Clusters
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Transition Success Assessment

• Transition Success Assessment A Transition
  Behavior Profile
• 46 items
• Professional, Family, and Student TSA Versions
• TSA Graphic Profile
• TSA Goal Identification Matrix
• Takes about 10 minutes to answer the items and
  score

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Wording of TSA Items

• Fine tuned wording internally at ZC
• Conducted six social validity groups
• 4 expert panels (27 participants)
• 1 parent panel (8 participants)
• 1 student panel (8 participants)
• 1 more student panel to go
• First round produced changes to 36 of 50
  Professional TSA items
• Subsequent panels made fewer and fewer changes

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Issues Expressed by Social Validity Groups

• Family group focused on wording associated with
  friends, asking for support, coping skills, and
  independent living.
• Students did not like the word used.
• Professional group more sensitive regarding words
  such as limitation and disability awareness.
• Very positive feedback from all the groups
• Easy to understand and use
• Makes sense
• Beneficial to planning students future
• Now I understand what to teach
• Found the TSA practical

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Remaining Tasks

• Complete internal reliability study with at least
  100 professionals, 100 students, and 50 parents
• Test-retest reliability (four weeks apart)
• Factor analysis of items to determine final
  clusters
• Complete user manual
• Disseminate final TSA

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IES Grant Submitted

• Submitted grant to IES to conduct large scale
  studies
• Structural equation modeling to build construct
  validation
• Test parallel versions (student, professional,
  and family)
• Similar factor structure across tools
• Reliability studies across country
• Undertake predictor studies

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Benefits of Using TSA for IHEs

• Defines behaviors students need to learn to
  increase likelihood of transition from IHE to
  employment or further education.
• Provides goals and objectives to begin
  self-improvement efforts or to target
  instructional programs to improve specific
  behaviors

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Transition Success Assessment Draft 45
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Transition Success Assessment

• Provides a means to identify specific skills
  students need to learn.
• Apply the Self-Determination Model of Instruction
  concepts to teaching many of these skills (Finn,
  Getzel, McManus, in press).
• Target instructional efforts.
• Build students confidence.

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Where Does Transition Education Fit?

• Disability Resource Center staff need to advocate
  for adopting transition education practices.
• Use local and national numbers to support
  efforts.
• Work with campus support systems.
• May become a job of DRC or Career Development
  Offices.

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References

• Cameto, R., Newman, L., Wagner, M. (June,
  2006). The National Longitudinal Transition
  Study-2 (NLTS2) Project Update Self-perceptions
  of youth with disabilities. Washington, DC
  Institute of Education Sciences.
• Corrigan, M., Jones, C., McWhirter, J. (2001).
  College students with disabilities An access
  employment group. Journal for Specialists in
  Group Work, 26, 339-349.
• Finn, D., Getzel, E. E., McManus, S. (in
  press). Adapting the Self-Determined Learning
  Model for instruction of college students with
  disabilities. Career Development for Exceptional
  Individuals.
• Henderson, C. (1998). Profile of 1996 college
  freshmen with disabilities. Washington, DC HEATH
  Resource Center, American Council on Education.
• Henderson, C. (2001). College freshman with
  disabilities A biennial statistical profile.
  Washington, DC HEATH Resource Center, American
  Council on Education.
• Madaus, J. E. (2006). Employment outcomes of
  university graduates with learning disabilities.
  Learning Disability Quarterly,29, 19-w31.
• Madaus, J. W., Foley, T. E., McGuire, J. M.,
  Rubin, L. (2001). A follow-up investigation of
  university graduates with learning disabilities.
  Career Development for Exceptional Individuals,
  24, 133-146.
• Murray, C., Goldstein, D. E. Nourse, S., Edgar,
  E. (2000). The postsecondary school attendance
  and completion rates of high school graduates
  with learning disabilities. Learning Disabilities
  Quarterly, 15, 119-127.
• Roessler, R. T., Hennessey, M. L., Rumrill, Ph.
  D. (2007). Strategies for improving career
  services for postsecondary students with
  disabilities Results of a focus group study of
  key stakeholders. Career Development for
  Exceptional Individuals, 30, 158-170.
• Sitlington, P. L. (2003). Postsecondary
  education The other transition. Exceptionality,
  11, 103-113.
• University of Oklahoma Institutional Research and
  Reporting. (2006, June). Students with
  disabilities. Norman, Oklahoma.
• Wagner, M., Newman, L., Cameto, R., Garza, N.,
  and Levine, P. (2005). After High School A First
  Look at the Postschool Experiences of Youth with
  Disabilities. A Report from the National
  Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2) Menlo
  Park, CA SRI International. Available at
  www.nlts2.org/reports/2005_04/nlts2_report_2005_04
  _complete.pdf.