Defining 18+ Adult Transition Services

(lively upbeat music) - [Announcer] Welcome to the webinar Defining 18+ Adult Transition Services. This is a statewide webinar, developed by the Texas Education Agency Student-Centered Transitions Network, to provide educators, students, and families with information about Transition Services for Adult Students with Disabilities ages 18-21. This webinar will include information on Age-Appropriate Instructional Environments, and Outcome-based Programming to facilitate the transition from public school to the post-school adult world. - We wanna start by introducing ourselves, I'm Dr. Christina Gushanas, I am an Assistant Professor at Sam Houston State University, the Eleanor and Charles Garrett Endowed Faculty in Special Education, and a member of the Garrett Center on Transition and Disability Studies. I have experienced teaching within and providing support to local education agencies, LEAs, across Texas on transition services for 18-21 year old students with disabilities. - Hello, I'm Dr. Vickie Mitchell, Professor at Sam Houston State University, the Eleanor and Charles Garrett Endowed Chair in Special Education, and the Executive Director for the Garrett Center on Transition and Disability Studies. On this project, I'm the Project Director for the Student-Centered Transitions Network, which is called Texas Transition. Today, Christina and I will be guiding you through the content of this presentation, so welcome aboard. - In the webinar, Defining 18+ Adult Transition Services, you will learn about adult transition services, small and rural schools, who is eligible, predictors of post-school success, transition assessments, and evidence-based practices. In addition, we will discuss myths related to special education services for adult students, and provide resources you can use in your local education agency. Before we start, I'd like to tell you about an exciting feature you will experience in this webinar. You will notice an icon just appeared on your screen. Whenever you see this icon, it means you'll be asked to do an activity. I know you may be thinking, but this is a recorded webinar, how is that possible? Well, technology advances every day, don't worry though, we'll be sure to give you plenty of instruction as we go through, so sit back and enjoy. (lively upbeat music) - So what are 18+ adult transition services? Well, 18+ services are designed to be specialized, age-appropriate instructional services for adult students 18-21, who are served by special education. Everything about 18+ special education services should be age-appropriate, starting with the transition assessments. Then there's the instructional strategies, the accommodations, and of course, the instructional environments. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, better known as IDEA, does not explicitly state that an LEA must provide an adult transition program for students 18-21, both the Texas Administrative Code, 89.035a, and the code of Federal Regulations, CFR 300.101, state that special education services must be available for eligible students through the age of 21. The special education services that continue beyond the first four years of high school for eligible students, must provide a Free and Appropriate Public Education, which we call FAPE. The special education services in the Individualized Education Program, known as the IEP, are designed to ensure FAPE. And the locally developed 18-21 program is designed to implement the IEP of an adult student to ensure FAPE. So going forward, we'll refer to the transition services of the adult students who are ages 18-21, as an 18+ services, or an 18+ program in order to shorten the name. - In Texas, the TAC describes the Age-Appropriate Instructional Environments for students who have reached aged 18. The admission review and dismissal, ARD committee, must consider the availability of Age-Appropriate Instructional Environments, such as community settings or environments that prepare students for Post-Secondary Education or Training, and Competitive Integrated Employment. This also includes Independent Living, if appropriate. The Age-Appropriate Instructional Environments should be developed in coordination with the student's transition goals and objectives. The three common locations, or models for 18+ services and programs are Campus-Based, District-Based, and Community-Based. Can an 18+ program be located on a high school campus? The answer is, it depends. The instructional environments for adult students must be age-appropriate, and the students on a high school campus are ages 14-18. Are there exceptions? Yes, in some districts, the adult student population is small, such as shared service arrangements, or SSAs, with only a few students over 18. In that case, the 18+ program may be on the high school campus with the age-appropriate adult instruction occurring in the community. An 18+ program located on the high school campus is referred to as a Campus-based 18+ Program, even though students go out into their community for some of their instruction. A District-based 18+ Program is housed at a location owned by the district, or a location in the community that is operated by the district. The District-based 18+ Program must provide age-appropriate instruction, instruction in the community, and to the degree possible, follow an adult schedule. A Community-based 18+ Program means the student is entirely in the community, like any other adult. The adult student goes from home to community activities, such as work, post-secondary education, or training, shopping, and back home. The Community-based 18+ Program does not utilize the high school or other district facilities that are not age-appropriate. - Remember when Christina told you this webinar was gonna be engaging? Well, here is your first activity. You're about to be asked to do a little activity on your screen, but don't worry, it's nothing hard. Christina just went over the three different locations where 18+ programs can take place. I want you to place them in order, from the most restrictive to the least restrictive, simple enough, right? Okay, so you click on to do that activity and I'll see you right back here in a bit. So wasn't that fun? I bet you did fantastic. As Christina mentioned, just before the activity, the three models of 18+ programs are campus-based, district-based, and community-based. Adult students who participate in community-based 18+ programs, go from home into the community and back home. The 18+ adult student should follow an adult schedule. If the 18+ program is located at the high school campus, the special education team should ensure the students do not follow the bell schedule, even if the program is located on a high school campus, the IEP is for an adult student, should be individualized, and it should be age-appropriate. Sometimes the student's placement in the district-based or community-based 18+ needs to be temporarily changed, and the student return to the high school's campus-based 18+ program. That type of change to a more restrictive placement is rare, but an example might be a medical complication, or a significant behavior issue that presents a safety concern in the community, should this occur, the ARD committee meets to determine if the IEP is appropriate, and if a change of placement is needed, and to develop goals to facilitate the student's return to the district-based or the community-based 18+ program. As an adult student gain skills, the student may require a less restrictive placement with more time in the community, as with the change of placement, this is an ARD committee decision. There are distinct differences between what an 18+ program is and what it is not. The 18+ IEP is transition-based, that means the standards are not the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, the TEKS. Instead, the standards for the IEP are the standards of the world of work and industry, for example, the standards used to develop the IEP goals and objectives for independent living skills, such as community access, transportation, et cetera, or the standards of the community environment, such as the restaurant, the grocery store, the library, or ride share. Work-based learning should no longer be rotations through the community-based vocational training sites conducted just like in high school, instead, 18+ students should be in internships, apprenticeships, paid employment, or work-study experiences. Student-led IEPs should be implemented to provide meaningful student input and to teach self-determination skills in an authentic activity, the ARD committee meeting. In an 18+ program, it's critical that the staff continuously collect data on the type, levels, and frequency of supports. It's important to fade supports and replace the paid district support with accommodations, with natural supports or with technology. If the student needs paid support, since the district paid support will not be available in adult life, the 18+ teacher should work with the family to identify community funds that can be used to pay for support in adult life. An example of this would be funds from Health and Human Services, Medicaid waiver list. Don't forget about post-secondary education or training. Lack of access to healthcare, or lack of transportation can be barriers to getting to work or to college. If the IEP does not address those very two important factors, it will be difficult to meet the measurable post-secondary goals for employment or for post-secondary education. The functional skills taught in an 18+ program, are functional skills the student will use in adult life. There are many skills that we all have not mastered, however, the only skills that we must learn are those that we'll use in life. We need to obtain detailed information from the students and the families to develop an informed IEP. For example, 18+ teachers should not teach the student to use a microwave when the student will not use the microwave in adult life, because the parents have said they cannot afford to fix it if it breaks. In this scenario, with input from the adult student and the family, independent living goals for meal preparation should be meals that can be prepared without heat. Examples of that would be sandwiches and salads. You did so good on the last one, I think you're ready for another one. Let's check your knowledge of 18+ services. Did you knock it out of the park again? I thought so, okay, let's review what 18+ services are. We know that students in an 18+ program have already earned credits required for graduation, showing mastery of the TEKS, therefore, there's no need to repeat the K through 12 curriculum. What does that mean? Well, it means that students receiving 18+ services have a transition-based IEP. The IEP for an adult student should be based upon transition goals and objectives that are aligned with the results of the age-appropriate transition assessments. Let's talk about internships, apprenticeships, and paid jobs. The purpose of transition services is to prepare students for competitive paid, integrated employment, and to help them to obtain a job. Naturally, this would be included as part of the LEA's 18+ program or service option. Now, let's think about where instructions should happen. The age-appropriate and structural environment is the community, students on a high school campus are typically ages 14-18, and have not completed high school graduation requirements. Healthcare and travel training should be a part of 18+ instruction, poor health and lack of transportation can be a barrier to employment, or attending post-secondary education for any adult, with or without a disability. Travel training is not restricted to the Urban Metro, it also includes pedestrian skills, bicycle skills, ride share, carpool, personal transportation, and then of course, the traditional Metro transportation. There is a concept in differentiated instruction known as concept mastery. That means that if you truly understand the concept, you not only know what it is, but you also know what it is not. Let's check your concept mastery of 18+ services and programs. Coming up, there's going to be a little popup, multiple choice question to see just how much you already know about 18+ services and what they are not. Go ahead and answer that question, then let's talk about it in greater depth. How did you do? I'm sure you did great. So let's take a deeper dive into what 18+ services are not. The 18+ IEP is not TEKS-based, remember, the student has already mastered the graduation requirements and has completed the TEKS, the 18+ IEP is transition-based in line with the transition assessments. The 18+ programming is not more work-based learning in the community that looks just like it did when the student was in high school, it should not be just more of the same. The IEP meeting is not the traditional IEP meeting with educators leading the meeting and students merely answering questions as input. 18+ is not continuing to use the yellow bus or the school van until the student completes the 18+ program or ages out. If transportation has not been addressed and travel training is not in place, jobs and post-secondary education will not continue. This is adult life, right? If you and I cannot get to our job or our classes at the university, we would end up losing our job or dropping outta college, the same applies for adults with disabilities, which is why travel training is an essential part of 18+ services. 18+ services is also not continuously giving support to the student and never fading the support. If the student cannot do the work without the school staff, then it will not be sustainable in adult life. Develop accommodations, natural supports, or agency paid supports, to replace school supports that will not exist after the student exits public school. 18+ is not having students who are still taking high school courses, attending the 18+ program. Students taking high school courses for credit must follow a bell schedule, while the 18+ students need to follow an adult schedule. If the adult students are out in the community and must interrupt the instructional day to pick up a high school student, or return a high school student to the campus to attend schedule classes, then it reduces the amount of time the adult students can be in the community. This may be a violation of the schedule of services for the adult students who were out in the community and did not need to return to the school. One of the difficulties for small and rural schools is finding employment in an area with few businesses. In rural communities, there are often ranches, farms, and small businesses. If those options are not available, many individuals in today's world are developing home-based businesses, sometimes called self-employment or self-enterprises. Another concern for small and rural schools is post-secondary education. You may need to assist the student in finding and enrolling in online classes linked to the student's post-secondary goals for employment, independent living, or simply instruction in an area of personal interest. For example, if the student obtains employment at a local ranch or a turf farm, the owner or manager may provide the on-the-job training. The Texas Workforce Vocational Rehabilitation, called VR services, may provide job coaching if the student is eligible, the same holds true for a student starting a home-based business or applying for VR services to assist with job coaching. Small school districts and small rural school districts often ask if it's possible to have 18+ services in their district, the reason is due to the small student population in small and rural districts, for example, the district may only have one or two students age 18 or older who's eligible for extended special education services under IDEA, but the answer is yes, in this scenario, an 18+ program is located on the high school campus, however, the IEP team must consider the availability of age-appropriate instructional environments in the community. As with all IEPs, the IEP must be individualized and age-appropriate for the adult student. Remember, small rural schools do not need program to provide appropriate adult transition services, it can be just one student receiving community-based instruction with no formal 18+ program in place. (lively upbeat music) - Code of Federal Regulations, or CFR 300.101, and the Texas Administrative Code, or TAC 89.1035a, state that special education services must be available for eligible students through 21 years of age. The key word is eligible, not every adult student with a disability and an IEP is eligible to continue to the age of 21. The question is, what makes a student eligible to continue through the age of 21? In Texas, our state law provides guidance to assist the ARD committee in making that decision. The TAC 89.1070 identifies when a student meets general education graduation requirements and is no longer eligible for special education services. It also identifies which students would be most appropriate to continue because they have not met one of the requirements for students with an IEP, with one or more modified courses. The ARD committee reviews the data to determine which students are eligible. Let us take a closer look at TAC 89.1070 statute. CFR section 300.101 and TAC section 89.1035a state special education services must be available to eligible students ages 3-21. 18+ adult transition services are for students with disabilities who have not met state graduation requirements under TAC 891070b2, or 3 A-D. While TAC 89.1070 identifies the eligibility requirements to meet general education graduation requirements, 89.1070b3 contains an additional graduation requirements for students who participated in one or more courses with a modified curriculum. Now, 89.1070 A-D list the conditions that must be met for a student who participated in a modified curriculum. A, consistent with the IEP, the student has obtained full-time employment based on the student's abilities and local employment opportunities, in addition to mastering sufficient self-help skills to enable the student to maintain the employment without direct and ongoing educational support of the local school district. B, consistent with the IEP, the student has demonstrated mastery of specific employability skills and self-help skills that do not require direct ongoing educational support of the local school district. C, the student has access to services that are not within the legal responsibility of the public education or employment to educational options, for which the student has been prepared by the academic program. And D, the student no longer meets age eligibility requirements. In Texas, an eligible student receiving special education services, who is 21 years of age on September 1st of a school year, will be eligible for services through the end of that school year, or until graduation with a regular high school diploma. Graduation codes revised in March 2021 refers to continued enrollment of students failing more EOCs than is allowable for general education students. In this case, the student with an IEP is eligible to continue without receiving a modified curriculum. - The chart you see on this slide was developed by Region 12 Education Service Center in Waco, Texas. The chart is used to determine the graduation type code for students served by special education, who are in the foundation high school program with, or without an endorsement. As you can see, the first question ask whether the student completed all of the state credits and any additional district requirements. If the answer is yes, then the next question ask, was any required curriculum content modified? If the answer is yes, the next question ask, did the student participate in the required End of Course examinations? If the answer is, yes, the question ask, did the student complete the IEP? The decision making chart takes the IEP team through a series of questions to determine if the student met the graduation requirements for participating in one or more modified courses. If the answer is no, and the student will not turn 22 years of age on or before September 1st of the next school year, the student is not eligible to graduate. A student in this category would be appropriate to participate in extended special education services under IDEA on a transition-based IEP, designed to meet the state graduation requirements for special education students. (lively upbeat music) We've covered the basic design of 18+ adult transition services, what it is, what it is not, and who is eligible, now let's talk about the basics of designing an age-appropriate adult transition program to deliver 18+ services for students 18-21. In 2021, Dr. Valerie Mazzotti and other national transition experts updated the secondary transition predictors for post-school success. Participation in general education is a research-based predictor of success in post-school education, employment, and independent living. In 2021, the research found that participation in career and technical education, known as CTE, was also an evidence-based predictor of post-school success. In addition, the study showed that participation in job readiness training in CTE was an indicator for our future participation in both post-secondary education or training. Paid employment, work experience, work-study programs were all promising practices for employment and post-secondary education. One interesting finding though, was the role of family expectations. Previously, family expectations were known as a promising practice, research results have elevated the family expectations to a research-based predictor of post-school employment. This finding draws attention to the need for intentional family engagement. While the quality of transition programming is a research-based predictor, student support is also a predictor. Examples of student support would be career counseling, help finding a paid job, training for job skills, or acquiring vocational education in CTE. The research on predictors for post-school success is intended to provide guidance to secondary education during the formative years in high school, the predictors you're looking at now should be evident in the high school programming. Remember, 18+ is not a recovery program to make up for research-based, and evidence-based, and promising practices that should have been implemented during the high school years. (lively upbeat music) In 2021, Dr. Dawn Rowe, and a group of national experts engaged in a review of research yielding 28,918 different studies, in fact, both Dr. Gushanas and I participated in reviewing the research literature on evidence-based and research-based practices and functional skills training. Functional skills are cross predictors that can be found in employment and post-secondary education and training, not just independent living. After a review of the evidence that each research provided, the practices were narrowed to 45 different transition skills. The article is provided with this particular webinar so that you can see what we're talking about. The special education networks under the Texas Education Agency provide many resources for stakeholders to assist educators in implementing evidence-based and research-based practices. For example, the Texas transitions network website provides information on Student Engagement and IEP Participation, also the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction and known Video Modeling. It is important to understand that transition services for students 18-21 with disabilities are non-traditional. The transition-based services are designed to prepare adult students for life after public school, they should be designed for adults, be person-centered, and should not look or function like high school. The components of the 18+ program are age-appropriate transition assessments, and instructional environments, instruction in the community, adult schedules, post-secondary education, or post-secondary training, employment, transportation, self-determination, and agency connections. (lively upbeat music) - The transition assessments used in an 18+ program should be different than those used in the high school to develop the secondary IEP and transition services. Remember, the high school has students who are 14 and 16 years of age. Is it possible for the same transition assessments to be appropriate for a 20 year old? When the transition planning inventory, TPI, indicates the student likes to work outside and the student family interview identifies welding as the career choice, do I still know what to teach? By the time a student is in an 18+ program, we should be teaching very specific skills. I should not be trying to figure out if the student wants to be a welder graphic designer, or work at HEB. I need to know if he or she can pass the welding safety test. I need to know if he or she can pass the written welding skills test. Just like in the education profession, there are practice tests, so for the student who wants to be a welder, the industry-based practice test for welding would be a great place to start as in a transition assessment. Then I know the skills and the behaviors that the student already knows, and I know what his or her strengths are. I also know what the student does not know and what he or she needs to know to meet the demands of the transition goals and environments. Those instructional needs are used to develop the IEP of an adult student. Since the student mastered the TEKS to meet graduation requirements, they are no longer needed to be taught. In teacher education, and in professional development, our training is aligned with traditional expectations, traditional environments, and based on the state curriculum. The TEKS are public school standards for students K through 12, and are not the curriculum for 18 to 21 year old students with disabilities. The standards for transition services in an 18+ program are adult standards, such as the industry standards of the employment goal of the adult student, the standards of the post-secondary education college or university, and the standards or norms of the community, such as restaurant behavior. For example, the standards and skills taught to an 18+ student with a post-secondary employment goal to work in a veterinary clinic should come from the list of skills for a specific position in the vet clinic. The skills taught should not be what the 18+ teacher, who has never worked in a vet clinic, thinks the student should learn or what the vet clinic manager needs to accomplish on the clinic to do list. Just like formal education and K through 12, we teach standards and skills. The standards and skills are no longer TEKS, they are industry-based and community-based standards and skills aligned with the transition IEP for an adult student. In this example, the employment goal is to work in a warehouse. The transition assessment is used to identify which warehouse. The skills needed at FedEx are very different than the skills needed at the Home Depot Warehouse. Both of those are different than the skills needed to work in the warehouse for the school district. Standards to work in a particular industry can often be found on websites from the Department of Labor, the corporation or business, or by asking the warehouse manager for a copy of the industry based standards and job descriptions that can be used to teach skills for employment. What about the great transition assessments like the Enderle-Sevenson Transition Rating Scale, the ESTR, what if I have a student who is late to everything, and in high school, the teachers and case managers remind the student to be on time? In the adult world, if the manager has to remind the employee to be on time, the employee would be fired. Will the ESTR provide specific information to develop IEP goals related to punctuality in the world of work? The ESTR is a great transition assessment, but is not specific enough for an adult student. If the student is consistently late, then I need a transition assessment that assesses time management. If the student is always late turning in work, is the problem time management, or is the problem productivity? If I assess levels of productivity, then I will discover the barriers that prevent the student from being more productive and turning in work on time. The world of work is full of timelines. In this example, the employment goal is to work in a warehouse. The transition assessments are used to identify which warehouse, what position, and the role, responsibility, skills, and behaviors needed to obtain and keep the job. Why is specific information needed? It is because specific skills instruction is needed. Choose the transition assessments and tools according to the questions you need to have answered. (lively upbeat music) - We've defined 18+ transition services and programs, who's eligible, and some of the evidence-based practices, we now need to spend just a little bit of time unpacking some assumptions and dispelling a few myths related to 18+ services. - A common assumption is that 18+ programs are only for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, or students who are in functional instruction classes. However, neither Federal Law nor Texas State Law has language indicating that extended special education services are limited to a particular disability group. Other students may be eligible to continue the IEP based upon educational needs related to the disability and transition services, for example, as noted earlier, students receiving modified curriculum who did not meet the additional state graduation requirements may be appropriate to continue special education services in an 18+ program with a transition-based IEP. There may also be other students with educational needs, such as students with an emotional disorder, deafness, visual impairment, or orthopedic impairment. Decisions about eligibility for extended services under IDEA are individualized and made by the ARD committee. We cannot group decisions and say, only students with intellectual and developmental disabilities are eligible for 18+, nor can we say students with emotional disorders will never qualify for 18+ services. Some school districts say we do not teach academics in 18+ programs, because the student has demonstrated mastery of the TEKS, does not mean the student does not need any academic instruction. Although we no longer teach the TEKS, we do assess and address academic skills. Transition assessments help to identify which academic skills are needed, and in which environments. Let us look at the next slide for example of 18+ academic goals. Here are two examples of age-appropriate academic instruction, one is for a student who will participate in post-secondary education and attend a community college to obtain a certificate as a veterinary technician assistant. The other is for a student participating in post-secondary on-the-job training to work at a warehouse. Students who participate in the veterinary technician program must pass the state examination for the certificate. If the student qualifies for disability services, the community college will allow an accommodation in class to have the material in an audio version, and for the student to provide the test answers verbally. However, the industry-based certificate does not allow a reading accommodation. Other academic skills include reading the medical charts and taking notes, instruction in test-taking, reading charts, and strategies to take notes, whether by hand or electronically, can be taught as an academic goal specific to the transition goals. For the student participating in on-the-job training, when she arrives at the warehouse, she will be given a list of the assignments for the day, and she must also recognize and code shipments. These are examples of academic skills. Other examples would include texting, reading texts, reading recipes, corresponding by email, and other functional independent living skills. Did you notice the academic goal for writing assignments listed in the first scenario? Did you know that most post-secondary institutions have a department known as the academic success center? For any student who has a writing assignment, the student can go to the academic success center to obtain help, to plan, write, and edit the assignment. Some districts believe that students in the 18+ program should have a half day schedule. This is based upon a common statement that students 18-21 are not typically in school from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm. Although this is true, there is more to the schedule of an adult of that age. Although college students who attend higher education do not attend classes 8:00 am to 3:00 pm, many students have a full load of courses with homework and studying during the other periods of the day, they may even attend college and work part-time. If the student is not attending post-secondary education, the young adult is typically employed in a full-time, 40 hour a week job. It is not typical for a young adult without a disability, age 18-21, to sit at home with nothing to do for a half day, Monday through Friday. - Here's a question, can a specific student in an 18+ program have a reduced day? The short answer is yes, but the rest of the answer is the decision must be data driven, and by the ARD committee. Remember the decision about the instructional day is an individualized construct for instruction, support, and transition services. Data must be used to make the decision, so how do we do that? Well, first we give age-appropriate transition assessments to identify the students' instructional needs, their strengths, their preferences, and interests related to transition services. Second, the results of the transition assessments are used to develop the measurable post-secondary goals for transition and the annual goals related to employment, post-secondary education, and independent living. The amount of time on the schedule of services page is determined by the students' individual needs and the number of minutes of direct instruction, practice, and progress monitoring needed to ensure success. If the ARD committee determines the amount of instructional time will be reduced, then it must be justified in the deliberations of the IEP and supported by data. Here is another common myth where outcomes do not measure the standards for success. The myth goes like this, we have our 18+ students in the community 100% of the day, and we have charts showing that we've increased time in the adult environments. So yes, we are very proud that we are out 100% of the day in the community. Well, my question to you is what are the results? Let's look at example of results driven 18+ programming. Increasing time in the community is always a good thing, because you're teaching adult students in their future environments and not at the high school, however, the amount of time out in the community is not always a good metric to determine program progress. The metric for employment is the number of students in paid employment each year. Do you have a chart that shows the number of students employed each year, and that the number of students employed are steadily increasing over time? Another metric is related to post-secondary education. Do you have a list of the post-secondary education and training options in your community? How many students are enrolled or participating in post-secondary education or training? Of the students exiting or aging out, how many are enrolled with agency services in place so that they can participate in post-secondary education or training after they leave high school? Another metric is agency clientship. Yes, clientship, too often we set the standard as having given contact information to students and families or setting up interviews. If the student's not a client by the time they exit public school, the student support system is no longer in place, therefore you've lost one of the predictors for post-school success. How many students are clients of agencies based upon need? That means connecting to more agencies than Texas workforce vocational rehabilitative services. Has the number of students reaching clientship increased every year over time? Make sure that the program metrics are results-based. It is important to remember that the 18+ adult transition program is designed to be results oriented. The 18+ staff should collect data to determine if students are making progress with the transition goals. The matrix on this slide shows a tool used by an 18+ program to close the gap between instruction and transition goals. Notice the example on the slide, it's important to collect this data, because the data tells the story. Do you see any positive or negative trends in the 18+ services? Notice that each of the students has employment, that's a positive result. Some of the students are already connected to agencies, that's another positive result. By the time the student is in an 18+ program, the agency connections should have already been completed. In the far right column, under next steps, you will see the 18+ teachers identified the gap as connecting students to agencies and other community service providers. Of the four students, only two students are connected to agencies. You'll also notice that sales where the services are not completed are left blank, and there's a reason, make it a practice not to enter results until the activity is completed. For example, if we're working on it, then it does not count as progress. Where is the gaping hole in their 18+ services? If you said post-secondary education training, you're right, no one is attending or even applied to attend post-secondary education or training. Another problem is the connection with agencies, it's not sufficient to simply hand contact information to families, navigating agencies systems can be daunting, and it's beneficial to assist the students and families in the application process. There are two areas in this 18+ program that need improving, the connections to post-secondary education training, and agency clientship. (lively upbeat music) - Vickie, thank you for sharing valuable information on the basics of 18+ programs for adult students ages 18-21. Let us take a look at some additional resources that educators and LEAs can use to support and have a greater impact on their 18+ programs. The resource toolkit for visiting 18+ sites was developed by Education Service Center Region 13 in Austin, Texas. Educators often ask, when they are trying to develop or improve an 18+ program, where should I visit? This is an excellent question to ask if the person knows what an evidence-based 18+ program looks like. Be cautious when visiting, because a district's 18+ program can look very good on the outside, yet have very few transition results for adult students. The resource toolkit for the 18+ site visits will help you identify which districts to visit. When you visit 18+ programs, the tool will assist you in evaluating whether the district you visit is an 18+ program you should replicate. Pay attention to the triangle symbol on the 18+ site visit tool. The triangle indicates a misalignment with evidence-based practices. You do not want to replicate that program or practice, because you want to achieve positive post-school results in your 18+ programs. The QR code and hyperlink are connected to two research-based articles. Both articles should be a guide to the development and implementation of an appropriate and effective 18+ program. The article by Dr. Valerie Mazzotti et al is the 2021 update on secondary transition predictors of post-school success. The second article by Dr. Dawn Rowe et al is a 2021 update on evidence-based and research-based practices and functional skills. Most of the skills taught in 18+ program are functional skills. In the webinar handouts, you will find the short self-assessment developed by the Garrett Center on Transition and Disability Studies at Sam Houston State University. Using the quick self-assessment tool, identify the strengths and needs based upon what you have learned in this webinar. This concludes today's webinar, before we end, we want to notify you that this is a TEA copyrighted presentation, if you need more information, please contact copyrights@tea.texas.gov. - Thank you for taking the time to watch this webinar from the Texas Transitions Network. We hope that the guidance and resources provided will assist you in implementing either a new 18+ program or improving an existing one. Contact your local Transition and Employment Designee, the TED for your district, or your Education Service Center Transition Consultant for questions or for more information using the website links on the screen. Thank you so much, everyone. - [Christina] Thank you. (lively upbeat music)