Impact of Transition Preparation on Post-Secondary Success

1
Impact of Transition Preparation on
Post-Secondary Success

• Mary Morningstar, Patricia Noonan, Bruce Frey,
• Jennifer Ng, Dot Nary, Kendra Williams-Diehm,
• Beth Clavenna-Deane, Perry Graves, Ryan Kellems,
• Zachary McCall, Mary Pearson, Diana K. Wade

2
Research Design
3
Research Question

• Is there a relationship between the quality of a
• students high school transition preparation and
• Knowledge of self-determination
• Perceived levels of self-determination
• College achievement (GPA)
• Hope and motivation and
• Locus of Control?

4
Sampling

• Characteristics of Institutions
• 12 Total Institutions
• 5 States (Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Utah, and
  Washington)
• Urban, suburban, and small city locations
• Criteria for Participants
• Choice to participate
• Currently enrolled in post-secondary setting
• Had an IEP in high school
• Completed high school 1997 or later
• New IDEA transition plan requirements

5
Sampling Process

• Initial considerations
• KU Institutional Review Board (IRB)
• Contact with disability services facilitators
• IRB process at participating institutions
• Data collection timeline
• Email to facilitators with flier and request to
  forward email to students
• Facilitators sent email to students
• Follow up, follow up, follow up

6
Online Survey

• Consists of 3 scales
• The Arcs Self-Determination Scale (Wehmeyer,
  1995)
• Psychological empowerment subscale
• Secondary School Students Locus of Control Scale
  (Rehaflt, 2006)
• The Adult Trait Hope Scale (Snyder, Harris et
  al., 1991)

7
Online Survey - Design

• Accessibility issues
• Challenging to find software that created surveys
  that were accessible.
• EZSurvey by Raosoft
• User Testing

8
Online Survey - Logic

• Online survey utilized logic so we only collected
  data from our target population

9
Online Survey - Scales

• Each scale was listed on its own page

10
Online Survey - Layout

• Simplified layout provided for easier
  accessibility

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Interview Purpose To quantify the quality of
transition program for self-determination

• Interview Questions
• 3 Areas of Focus
• Student Involvement in Transition Planning and
  IEP Meetings
• Skill Development Opportunities for
  Self-Advocacy and Self-Determination
• Post-Secondary Outcome Preparation

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Step 1 Transition Quality Indicators Alignment

• Indicators/Standards Reviewed
• Quality Indicators for Transition Assessment
  (Morningstar, 2005)
• TransQual (Cornell University, 2006)
• Taxonomy for Transition Programming (Kohler,
  1997)
• Transition Planning Inventory (Clark Patton,
  1997)
• Secondary Teachers Transition Survey (Morningstar
  Benitez, 2005)
• National Longitudinal Transition Survey 2
  (http//www.nlts2.org/reports/2006_08/nlts2_report
  _2006_08_complete.pdf)

• Alignment
• Reviewed each assessment
• Chose only those indicators matched to the 3
  interview areas
• Coded the indicators to align for recurring
  themes
• Found emerging themes in the 3 areas from overlap
  of indicators
• Used themes to develop questions

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Step 2 Interview Protocol Development

• First
• Reviewed literature about developing effective
  recall questions (Fowler, 1995)
• Second
• Question and probe development
• Third
• Question development to elicit memory recall
• Fourth
• Develop the interview protocol (multiple edits)

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Example Interview Recall Questions

• Example
• of
• Recall
• Questions

• What other kinds of things happened in your IEP
  meetings besides just talking about your goals
  for the future?
• Probe Some students have told us that during IEP
  meetings, the team came up with a plan for
  accomplishing their IEP and transition goals.
  Other students have said they really didnt have
  much help during meetings in developing a
  transition plan. How did your IEP team work with
  you to develop a plan for your future goals?

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Step 3 Rubric Rating Indicator Development

• Reviewed rubric research (Arter McTighe, 2001)
• Reviewed rubric examples
• Developed a Likert scale with indicators
• Provided key words and descriptors for the Likert
  scale
• Exemplary 5
• Partial 3
• Poor 1

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Rubric Example Post-Secondary Education and
Preparation

• Question 11 What kinds of things did you learn
  in
• high school that helped you get ready for
  college?
• 5 - Exemplary Described examples where student
  systematically (i.e., class sessions) learned the
  skills (.e.g. study skills, college applications,
  meeting with counselor, disability services,
  etc.).
• 3 Partial Described examples where student
  informally (i.e., help from teachers) learned the
  skills from the program (.e.g. study skills,
  college applications, meeting with counselor,
  disability services, etc.).
• 1 Poor Described few or no experiences
  (neither systematic nor informal) to learn the
  skills.

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Step 4 Pilot Testing

• July Interviews
• Conducted Inter-rater Reliability
• October Interview
• Accessibility

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Results Preliminary Data

• Demographics
• 94 total responded
• 21 responded with usable data
• Large, urban 4-year universities

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Trends from Initial Survey Respondents

• Participants show high mean scores on all scales
• Psychological Empowerment
• X 13.98 (out of 16)
• Hope Total Scale Score
• X 6.18 (out of 8)
• Locus of Control
• X 3.16 (out of 4)

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Trends from Initial Survey Respondents

• Significant correlation between GPA and Agency
  subscale of Hope Scale
• R(19) .493, p lt .05
• Significant correlation between GPA and Locus of
  Control Scale
• R(19) .495, p lt .05
• Significant correlation between Locus of Control
  and Agency subscale of Hope Scale
• R(19) .908, p lt .01

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Contact Information

• Beth Clavenna-Deane
• bacd_at_ku.edu
• Perry Graves
• pgraves5_at_ku.edu
• Ryan Kellems
• rkellems_at_ku.edu

• Zachary McCall
• zmccall_at_ku.edu
• Mary Pearson
• mmpson_at_ku.edu
• Diana K. Wade
• dkwade_at_ku.edu

Mary Morningstar, PhD mmorningstar_at_ku.edu Patric
ia Noonan, PhD pnoonan_at_ku.edu
University of Kansas School of Education
http//soe.ku.edu/