Career and technical education (CTE) can provide significant benefits to students with disabilities. CTE teachers need to be aware of the rights of students with disabilities and of the planning process involved in meeting their needs. In addition, CTE teachers must know what role they play both in planning and in providing instruction. CTE teachers often need background information on the details of disabilities and the accommodations required. This Digest provides information on students with disabilities for secondary CTE teachers.
The Individualized Education Program (IEP) mandated by IDEA draws on the results of a comprehensive evaluation of the student's educational needs at least once every 3 years (ibid.; Smith 2000). The IEP must identify the student's current level of educational performance; measurable goals and objectives; special education, related services, and other accommodations to be provided; and the extent of participation with nondisabled students. The IEP must also specify how the student's progress will be measured, how parents will be informed of progress, and the extent of modification in state- and districtwide tests. Beginning at age 14, the IEP must include a statement of transition services the student will need to reach postschool goals; beginning at age 16, the IEP must include a statement of transition services to help the student prepare for leaving school. IDEA requires that six participants be involved in the IEP meeting: the student (if appropriate); a parent (and family if desired); at least one of the student's special education teachers (or related services provider, if appropriate); at least one of the student's regular education teachers; a representative of the local educational agency; and other agency personnel with knowledge or expertise to meet the student's needs.
Effective planning for activities and services that benefit students with disabilities and improve postschool outcomes involves several broad practices (Kohler and Hood 2000). Planning should be proactive, focused on individual students, and driven by students and parents; it should involve student assessment, life skills development, and accommodations. Planned educational activities should focus on school- and work-based experiences linking high academic and workplace standards, with integrated academic and vocational curricula for employment skills and specific occupational instruction. Family involvement should be facilitated by training to increase parents' knowledge and skills in advocacy, planning, support, and legal issues. Business, labor, and government and community agencies should be actively involved to provide resources, training sites, and mentoring for students and educators. Finally, program policy and structure should support needed partnerships, philosophy, planning, evaluation, and human resource development.
In particular, CTE teachers can provide CTE-specific information (Division of Special Education 1999). That information would include occupationally specific courses of study, cooperative education, apprenticeship, and career guidance and counseling services. CTE teachers would also provide any formal program entry criteria (e.g., prerequisite courses or entry-level skills along with tests to assess them). Although students with disabilities must meet standard program entry requirements, entry testing must allow any accommodations listed in a student's IEP for test-taking (e.g., extended time, use of a reader).
CTE teachers also have an important role to play in providing effective work-based experiences for students with disabilities, which can include field trips, job shadowing, school-based enterprises, career-related camps, apprenticeships, internships, cooperative education, work-study, and part-time job placement (Hagner and Vander Sande 1998; Institute on Community Integration 1998). CTE teachers may share responsibility for contacting local employers; arranging sites and experiences that meet employer and student needs; orienting employers to work-site roles (coaches for instruction, mentors for social initiation and inclusion); visiting sites to observe student work; and monitoring student progress, work, and difficulties. Perhaps most important, CTE teachers must plan and provide the connecting activities that link school- and work-based learning--feedback sessions, discussions, journal writing, student presentations, projects, or portfolios, for example.
So in a nutshell, CTE teachers are one member of the team that helps students with disabilities participate fully and meaningfully in high-quality educational programs. They play a key role in providing a strong mix of all school programs--academic, functional, occupational--carefully linked to each other and to work experience, delivered with customized accommodations to meet students' individual needs, and embodying the same high expectations they have of all students (Rutkowski and Riehle 2001).
Colley, D. A., and Jamison, D. "Post School Results for Youth with Disabilities: Key Indicators and Policy Implications." CAREER DEVELOPMENT FOR EXCEPTIONAL INDIVIDUALS 21, no. 2 (Fall 1998): 145-160.
Division of Special Education. TRANSITION: SCHOOL TO POST-SCHOOL ACTIVITIES: ACCESS TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES. Jefferson City: DSE, Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 1999. (ED 436 895)
Eisenman, L. T. "Characteristics and Effects of Integrated Academic and Occupational Curricula for Students with Disabilities." CAREER DEVELOPMENT FOR EXCEPTIONAL INDIVIDUALS 23, no. 1 (Spring 2000): 105-119.
Evers, R. B., and Elksnin, N. WORKING WITH STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES IN VOCATIONAL-TECHNICAL SETTINGS. Austin, TX: PRO-ED, 1998.
Hagner, D., and Vander Sande, J. "School-Sponsored Work Experience and Vocational Instruction." In BEYOND HIGH SCHOOL: TRANSITION FROM SCHOOL TO WORK, edited by F. R. Rusch and J. G. Chadsey, pp. 340-366. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1998.
Institute on Community Integration. TRANSITION SERVICES: SCHOOL-TO-WORK OUTREACH PROJECT 1998 EXEMPLARY MODEL/PRACTICE/STRATEGY. Minneapolis: ICI, University of Minnesota, 1998. (ED 420 801)
Kohler, P. D. "Implementing a Transition Perspective of Education: A Comprehensive Approach to Planning and Delivering Secondary Education and Transition Services." InBEYOND HIGH SCHOOL: TRANSITION FROM SCHOOL TO WORK, edited by F. R.Rusch and J. G. Chadsey, pp. 179-205. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1998.
Kohler, P. D., and Hood, L. K. IMPROVING STUDENT OUTCOMES: PROMISING PRACTICES AND PROGRAMS FOR 1999-2000. Champaign: Transition Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2000. (ED 448 563) http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/sped/tri/kohlerdirectory2000.htm
Ordover, E. L., and Annexstein, L. T. ENSURING ACCESS, EQUITY, AND QUALITY FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES IN SCHOOL-TO-WORK SYSTEMS: A GUIDE TO FEDERAL LAW AND POLICIES. Washington, DC: Center for Law and Education; Minneapolis: Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota, 1999. (ED 434 422) http://ici2.umn.edu/ntn/pub/fedlaw/cle.pdf
President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS: A BLUEPRINT FOR CREATING AND SUPPORTING ENTREPRENEURIAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES. Washington, DC: PCEPD, 2000. (ED 450 525)
Rutkowski, S., and Riehle, E. "My Daughter Probably Won't Get a Football Scholarship...Now What Can We Do?" National Dissemination Center for Career and Technical Education, Professional Development Speaker Series Webcast, Columbus, OH, October 10, 2001. http://www.nccte.org/events/profdevseries/20011010/index.asp
Smith, S. W. CREATING USEFUL INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PROGRAMS (IEPS). ERIC DIGEST E600. Arlington, VA: ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education. (ED 449 636)
Vail, A., and Mandiloff, V. CULTIVATING OUR GARDEN: SERVING STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES IN FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCES. Ellenburg, WA: Family and Consumer Sciences Education Association, 1996. (ED 419 346)
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This project has been funded at least in part with Federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education under Contract No. ED-99-CO-0013. The content f this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Digests may be freely reproduced and are available at http://ericacve.org/fulltext.asp.
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