Program Improvement
There is a great deal of excitement upon beginning a new program. However, once things get going, despite the best efforts of planning, it will become evident that certain aspects of the program need improvement. It is not possible to foresee the needs of every student, or the unique complexities of educating students with intellectual disabilities in a college setting. Take heart and know that every group that has entered into this process has faced these same conclusions. It takes time to develop strong partnerships in a new setting and these relationships will eventually provide increased opportunities for your students. Building in program evaluation methods from the start will help to identify areas that are in need of improvement. Make sure to ask students and families on a regular basis for their views on what is going right and what needs to change so that they know that their views are valued. Maintain regular contact with both college and adult service provider staff and solicit their feedback on how things could be improved. And most importantly share your vision of what students can accomplish and help others to see their role in making that vision a reality.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How can we help students, including those with intellectual disabilities, gain access to regular college courses?
- How do we do better jobs at getting our students jobs?
- How can we better access the campus and community in order to further benefit our students?
- How can our instructors better partner with the college entities?
- How can we involve adult services more directly and earlier with our students?
- What kind of evaluation activities can help me improve my program?
- How do you sustain support for the program from the local school system?
- How do we help our students to become more self-determined?
- How can we be more responsive to the needs of our students?
- How do we find out if exiting students are successful?
1. How can we help students, including those with intellectual disabilities, gain access to regular college courses?
There are many different options for students, depending on their support needs, skills, and interests. Some courses require a prerequisite and/or a placement test. Students who are not able to pass the test may take the class for audit rather than credit. It is sometimes possible to approach instructors for permission to enter a class in more than one status, if done prior to the close of registration. Many classes do not require prerequisites or tests, such as introductory basic skills courses, and some art and physical fitness classes and may be better options. For students whose strengths do not lie in academic areas, there are often many hands-on courses that may be better suited toward their skills, such as art, theatre, physical fitness or sports courses. If the schedule or course offerings at the college do not match a student's interest or skills, look into local adult education course through parks and recreation.
Always remember to help a student choose a course that compliments his or her skills and interests, and it may help to talk with the instructor ahead of time. When you talk with an instructor, give insight into the student's strengths and support needs, and make it clear you are available for on-going contact so you can assist the instructor or the student. Also use instructors who have had positive experiences with students as references for new instructors. Students may decide to audit a class once, before trying to take it for credit. This gives them a chance to become familiar with the course content. If an instructor is nervous about allowing a student into his or her class, have them speak with professor who has had a successful experience working with students with intellectual disabilities. In addition, a teacher or aide - an education coach, similar to a job coach, may assist students. Always discuss this option of supported education with the instructor and the student ahead of time. Once a student is enrolled and ready to take the class, make sure to address the student support needs appropriately, which may include: tutoring, restructuring materials, assisting with studying, and other educational support strategies.
2. How do we do better jobs at getting our students jobs?
Finding meaningful employment for anyone these days can be a tough job. The keys to success are knowing your students (their individual talents, skills, preferences and support needs), knowing your local employers, making the matches, and then offering support to all parties to make it last. This is a difficult task for a teacher alone to accomplish; the programs that have shown the most success in the area of employment have dedicated staff with job development training tasked with finding local career opportunities and then connecting and supporting students with them.
Getting to know your students: Why is this so important? When you are tasked with job development, you are essentially a salesperson who must sell your students to local employers. To be an effective salesperson, you must know your 'product' - in this case your students' skills - inside and out. There are many ways in which you can get to know your students, as you see them on a regular basis. There are also good tools out there to assist you. Start by developing a Positive Personal Profile and a resume, and by working together as a team. You may also conduct in person-centered planning activities with your students. It may also be helpful to discover your students' learning styles.
Know your local employers: In order to know about the majority of job opportunities in your community, you must get to know your local businesses. The majority of available jobs are not listed in the help wanted ads; they are acquired through word of mouth. Therefore, the more employers you make contact with and develop relationships with, the more opportunities will become available to you and your students. You must also understand and appreciate the employer perspective. Some ways to do this are to join the local chamber of commerce and business organizations, and to schedule informational interviews with local business people. In addition, you may want to connect your program and students with your local Department of Labor One-Stop Career Center to access resources, training, job opening information, and support services.
Making the match: Often, students with intellectual disabilities aren't successful taking off-the-rack jobs or fitting into existing job descriptions. These students need a customized job that matches their skills and assets, and downplays or supports their areas of need. This means you must negotiate a customized position with an employer, which involves developing a task list of work needs at a business, matching it with a student's skills and presenting an employment proposal. Whether and when to disclose a disability to an employer should be an individual decision.
Offering employment supports: Believe it or not, getting a job can actually be the easy part! Once a student is on a job, it can take effort to keep that job. The level of support provided - from very intense one-on-one assistance to indirect consultation - is determined by the needs of each student. Developing natural supports for people with disabilities on the job can be a lot of upfront effort, but it saves time and energy in the long run. A natural support case study is provided in the Resources Section.
3. How can we better access the campus and community in order to further benefit our students?
There are many ways in which students can get involved on campus and in the local community that will benefit them later in life.
On campus: Help your students sign up at the Disability Support Services Office. If this office is good, they will be able to assist your students in accessing other areas on campus. They may also have groups and activities to join. Another possible area in which to get students involved is the Career Center, which can help student find job leads and get important career information. There are a number of clubs usually on college campuses; find out your students' interests and see if there are clubs that match. You may need to support students as they participate, either directly or through a buddy system. You could also speak to the organizers ahead of time.
Many of the existing programs on college campuses have negotiated getting college ID cards for their students. Some are the exact same IDs that the regular college students acquire; others are a different version with limitations. Either way, the IDs are a privilege afforded to students attending that college or university, allowing recognized access to portions of the campus. Make sure that your students have some free time to 'hang' on campus; for example, they could eat in the dining hall (which may take some negotiation) and then read magazines in the student lounge with other students between classes. And if there are sports teams and sporting events on campus, attending those can emphasize school spirit and the students can meet their peers. And finally, on many campuses across the country there are chapters of the national Best Buddies organization with which your students could become affiliated.
In the community: There are many ways your students can access their local community, from use of the public transportation system, registration at the local Career One Stop Center, to membership at a local gym or YMCA, and participation in community service or volunteer programs. In addition, you can help your students plan their own community trips to museums, theaters, bowling, shopping malls, etc. Once they have learned to plan a trip, perhaps they can do it independently after they have left your program - or even just on weekends.
4. How can our instructors better partner with the college entities?
One way to expand partnership opportunities is to first make sure you are on the radar at the college; in other words, make your arrival on campus official and legitimate from the beginning and you will better be able to make your program known. Once you are recognized on a campus, you can start positively marketing yourself to the various departments and entities on campus (see the Benefits to the college fact sheet in the Resources Section). Instructors should familiarize themselves with the 'worker bees' in facilities as well as heads of departments on campus (i.e. landscaping, cafeteria, etc.) to get an idea of the types of jobs available and to establish a rapport for later potential natural supports.
In addition, instructors can research the immediate environment to determine the types of supports needed by the college that could then be matched to students' job interests and preferences. Also, identify research opportunities in various applicable departments of the college (Education, Special Education, Rehabilitation Counseling, Psychology, etc.) that could provide undergraduate and graduate students opportunities to work with your students as is relevant to individual research and grant funded projects.
Instructors could also join committees or offer to do training and/or instruction, allowing them to be recognized as educational assets and peers. Developing these relationships makes partnering a much more natural process later.
5. How can we involve adult services more directly and earlier with our students?
The best way to facilitate involvement of adult services with students is to involve them early on in the planning and implementation stages of your program. Ask for their input on the types of skills students need to be successful in the real world. Maintain regular contact and help them get to know your students early.
Another way to strengthen your collaboration with adult service providers is to involve them in some of the instructional activities with your students, such as: Conducting mock interviews, presenting on independent living options or benefits, or resume development. You can also conduct site visits to various organizations and ask to meet with adult clients. Also, host a transition fair for your program, inviting representatives to meet your students and families before exit.
The concept of the Transition Services Integration Model, demonstrated by TransCen, Inc., creates integrated individualized employment at competitive wages for youth with the most significant disabilities, along with developing a stable system for long-term career support, and recreation, postsecondary education and community living services. In this model, careers and related services for students are provided by public school staff with the active involvement of adult service agencies; for example, job coaches from local adult service agencies become the aides for the college-based programs, rather than school system personnel alone, to ensure a seamless transition for youth. Now, the day after school exit is no different than the day before: same jobs, same community activities, and same supports and accommodations. Following school exit, the adult service agencies maintain or expand requested/needed services with the cost of services shared, as appropriate, and by the Department of Rehabilitation, the Developmental Disabilities Administration, and other systems as appropriate. See related article in the Resources Section.
6. What kind of evaluation activities can help me improve my program?
The purpose of evaluation is to see if goals in a particular area are being accomplished. There are a variety of ways to evaluate a program. To choose the method that is best suited to your needs, you first must determine the area that you would like to monitor or improve. Areas of program evaluation could include: student or program goal achievement, monitoring of student or staff activities, monitoring of participant (student, family, college personnel) satisfaction, or determining student outcomes.
After choosing the area that will be evaluated, you will then determine what method you will use to conduct your evaluation. There are various methods that can be used to collect evaluation data, including checklists, tables, surveys, or interviews. Once the evaluation method or methods are chosen, create a schedule detailing when each activity will take place and the person(s) responsible for conducting each activity.
Then collect the data. Try to keep you data collection methods simple and to schedule it during times of the week, month or year (depending on your schedule) that are not as busy. However, collecting the data is not the most important step. Data alone will not improve your program. These data must be reviewed to determine if your goals are being met or if there is a need for change or improvement. For example, an evaluation of student goal achievement finds that only 50% of students are attaining their personal goals. In this situation it should be determined where the problem lies; either students are not being supported to achieve their goals appropriately or students' goals may need to be modified. We suggest that once an evaluation is conducted, that the findings should be reported to the people involved. This shows the information they provided was used to improve services. There are a variety of resources related to evaluation listed below including an online evaluation tool.
7. How do you sustain support for the program from the local school system?
While creating a program in a college setting affords staff a good deal of flexibility it also creates a new challenge; maintaining contact with and support from the local school system instructional and administrative staff. Often being out of the high school takes a program off of the daily radar and the teachers and program staff can feel out of the loop and disconnected. In order to maintain support, try implementing following suggestions.
1) Establish a regular form of communication, including site visits, between those implementing the program and those in charge of administration. Administrators need to be familiar both with the setting and its players to make informed decisions about referrals and funding.
2) Ensure that the mission of the program and its purpose are clearly understood at the outset by both the program staff and the school system administration. If changes in the mission, referral protocol, student profile, or other significant program issue occur over time, these changes should be agreed upon by all and disseminated to anyone in the system that they might impact.
3) Share documentation of progress and challenges. Administrative staff should be kept informed of both the successes as well as the struggles of a program on a regular basis. Try creating a one page quarterly report or email that can be easily distributed.
4) Make sure to meet in person 2-3 times per year to discuss what is working and what is not. No program is able to run smoothly 100% of the time. It is important not to wait until conflicts occur, to sit down and discuss how things could be improved.
5.) Create a process for keeping your program coordinator and staff connected with and abreast of school system scheduled events, training, and initiatives.
Remember, the programs that have an involved and knowledgeable administrator are the ones that have the best chance of lasting through budget cuts. They are also the programs that will produce the best student outcomes. See the Benefits to LEAs Fact Sheet in the Resources Section.
It is just as important for staff to have a clear schedule and set of expectations. Creating a staff schedule and a responsibility chart may clarify who is responsible for each program activity. A sample staffing chart is provided in the resource section.
8. How do we help our students to become more self-determined?
Self-determination skills are crucial to succeeding in all adult environments. Students in college programs must learn how to ask for assistance appropriately, deal with adult social situations, and resolve problems, often without the support of a teacher or employer. To assist students in developing self-determination skills, individualized instruction time can be used to help students understand personal disabilities and accommodation needs. Students may also benefit from practicing or role-playing the appropriate way to request assistance from a professor or an employer. Students at this age should also be involved in the development and monitoring of their IEP goals. Meet with students prior to IEP meetings and provide an opportunity to review past goals and progress. Encourage students to set new IEP goals for the upcoming year and provide students with the chance to speak during the IEP meeting about these goals. Finally, expect students to monitor their progress toward goals throughout the year and assist when modifications are needed. More information on self-determination can be found at the Eaton Coull Learning Group or the Self-Determination Synthesis Project websites, which are listed in the Resources Section.
9. How can we be more responsive to the needs of our students?
The most striking feature of programs serving students with intellectual disabilities in college settings is their ability to be individualized and responsive to students' needs. Each student's program is tailored to help him or her achieve personal goals with needed supports. This individualized process can begin prior to the student entering the program by implementing person-centered planning techniques. Individual meetings can be conducted with students and their families, teachers, and support personnel to discuss the student's expectations and perhaps, fears, and to determine the student's goals for the upcoming year. These goals can relate to personal development, employment, education, or community access. Given these goals, the team can then determine the best location for each goal to be met and the supports that will be required to do so. The person centered plan can then be used to generate students' schedules.
Another way to be responsive to students' needs is to provide a bit of flexibility when it comes to accessing a program at the college. Sometimes, a student will express a desire to attend a program based at a college, but their team is not sure it is the best place for that student to meet his or her needs. In these situations, it might be possible to let the student attend the program for limited period of time (a two or three week trial) or to participate in one or two activities on specific days of the week. This experience will allow the student to see if the program is truly what he or she thought it was and will provide the program staff with a chance to do an ecological assessment of the student in the environment of their program.
Finally, being responsive to students' needs may mean providing them with greater input on the instructional topics. Teachers often are asked to use particular curricula when instructing a class. In this type of program, teachers often fair better by not adhering to a set curriculum, but instead, gearing instruction specifically to students' transitioning needs. For example, if a student is having difficulty socializing during classes or on the job, then that student's individual instructional time should be devoted to improving social skills. If a student does not understand his or her IEP and does not participate in the annual IEP meetings, then his or her instruction can focus on IEP preparation. The students -- and their interests, strengths and support needs - are the best source for determining topics of instruction.
10. How do we find out if exiting students are successful?
One true measure of a quality program is its ability to help students achieve the kind of life they desire. Student outcomes are a clear representation of what they have learned and what they have not. While providing transition services and instruction in college settings is an innovative method, these experiences need to be tied to real outcomes for them to be meaningful. Programs and services provided to students with intellectual disabilities in colleges have yet to be proven to improve student outcomes. This is largely due to a paucity of data available about what happens after students exit. Often program staff does little to follow up on students aside from informal communications with the students or their families.
The best way to find out if your students are doing well once they leave your program is to conduct follow up activities. This process actually begins while students are still in your program. During a student's last year, data can be collected on the student's employment situation (job title, rate of pay, benefits, hours, level of support, adult service provider), living status (lives alone, with parents, with friend, rent paid) and postsecondary education (courses taken, plans for future courses). Program staff should also obtain each student's (and their family's) contact information including address, home and work phone numbers, cell phone numbers, and email addresses. Before students exit, inform them and their families that you will be contacting them in the future (six to twelve months) see how things are going. Then set up a schedule that allows you or a staff person to contact each of your former students or their family at least once per year. You can try to collect the data through the mail, but it might be more effective to do it via email or over the phone. A sample Graduate Follow-Along Data Sheet is provided in the Resources Section.
When collecting follow up data, make sure to address each of the topics you included in your exit data (employment, living status, postsecondary education). However, provide the opportunity to address changes in each of these areas such as, "Has your employment situation changed since you left the program?" "If so, how?" "If you are not at the same job, why did you leave (fired, quit)?" "What was the reason for the job ending?"
While there is no set timeframe on how long you should conduct follow up activities, the longer you collect data, the more meaningful your findings will be. Try to create a reasonable schedule that you can maintain. But remember, collecting follow up data will not improve your program. You must carefully review your findings and determine if they have implications for program improvement. For example, if you find that former students are having difficulty maintaining employment after leaving the program due to inconsistent support from their adult service provider, this might have implications for how you help students choose their adult service provider in the future. Or, if your students indicate that they haven't taken any further classes at the college or in the community because they don't know what is available, this might suggest that you spend more time focusing on this area with your incoming students.
While collecting follow-up data can be a challenging process, the outcomes are rewarding. Your findings will not only let you know how your graduates are doing; but also provide you with the means to improve your services to current and future students.
RESOURCES
Online Resources
Documents/Publications
Postsecondary Education Options for Students with Intellectual Disabilities (PDF)
Benefits to Colleges Fact Sheet (MS Word)
Sample Graduate Follow-Along Data Sheet (MS Word)
Employer Perspectives on Youth with Disabilities in the Workplace (PDF)
The 411 on Disability Disclosure: A Workbook for Youth with Disabilities (PDF)
Job Development Tools
Sample Employer Partnership Letter (MS Word)Sample Task List (MS Word)
Sample Employment Proposal (MS Word)
Employability Skills Checklist (MS Word)
Interviewing Practice Handouts (MS Word)
Informational Interview Site Visit Notes (MS Word)
Sample Case Study of Natural Supports: Susan (MS Word)
Positive Personal Profile (MS Word)
Multiple Intelligences Quick Test (MS Word)