A Brief Overview
- The pandemic and its impact on education may feel especially confusing for youth working toward graduation and life-after-high-school plans. Read on for information about how to support young people working on their diplomas and goals for college, vocational education, independent living, and more.
- The state continues to navigate questions related to graduation pathways and credit requirements for students impacted by COVID-19. This article includes links to resources where information is regularly updated.
- Students learning from home may need support to organize their days and incorporate the activities of daily living into their educational programs. This article includes some ideas for organizing at-home learning.
- Another article from PAVE provides more information about vocational rehabilitation options for young people, during COVID and beyond: Ready for Work: Vocational Rehabilitation Provides Guidance and Tools.
Full Article
The COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on education may feel especially confusing for those who are working toward graduation and life-after-high-school plans. Parents and students may be wondering what will enable students to complete work toward their diplomas, meet college admission requirements or continue work toward vocational and/or independent living goals.
Since March 2020, the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition (NTACT) has provided webinars and other materials to promote home-based learning for transition-age youth with disabilities. This article includes some of NTACT’s ideas. The agency’s website provides webinar recordings and additional materials: Transition Resources in the 2020-2021 School Year.
In collaboration with the Center for Parent Information and Resources (CPIR/ParentCenterHub.org), NTACT provides an interactive tool for young people: Secondary Transition Considerations and Guiding Questions for Youth Exiting from High School. Throughout the document, a young person is guided to a variety of links and resources based on the way questions are chosen and answered. For example, “Things you can do now to help meet your postsecondary employment goal” provides a set of suggestions:
“Make a list of your career interests, the best work location for you, and types of jobs that best fit your skills. If you aren’t sure what jobs or careers interest you, explore your options at ‘Get My Future’ on the Career One Stop website.”
Graduation requirements shift
The Washington State Board of Education (SBE) provides information about graduation impacts of COVID-19. SBE in summer 2020 began a rulemaking process to provide districts more flexibility to:
- Award credit based on demonstration of mastery or competency
- Offer courses that meet more than one subject area graduation requirement
- Waive the Washington state history requirement for some students impacted by school closures or other disruptions. Waivers are individually determined.
The State Legislature passed a law in response to coronavirus (EHB 2965) that supported emergency waivers for the graduating Class of 2020. The goal was to ensure that students on track to graduate would not be held back because of the pandemic.
Graduation standards and requirements also are impacted by a 2019 law that provides multiple pathways toward a diploma. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) offers a website page describing the Graduation Pathways, with toolkits for families and students.
For a student eligible for an Individualized Education Program (IEP), the IEP team determines what criteria are met for the student to earn a diploma and the timeline for graduation. Families are encouraged to reach out to IEP team members, district staff, and school counselors to collaborate on how the IEP and graduation targets are adjusted in light of the pandemic.
Recovery services and/or compensatory services may be available
The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) provides a 60-page booklet: Reopening Washington Schools 2020: Special Education Guidance. The guidance defines recovery services, as “additional, supplemental services needed to address gaps in special education service delivery due to COVID-19 health and safety limitations, of which districts had no control.”
Compensatory services are provided as a remedy when a school is found through a dispute resolution process to have denied a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). By federal law (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act/IDEA), a student with an IEP is entitled to FAPE, which provides an individualized program to enable progress appropriate in light of a student’s unique circumstances. Those circumstances include strengths and assets, disability condition, family considerations, the pandemic, and more.
Students in transition programs who aged out during Spring 2020 may be eligible for recovery and/or compensatory services. Other students who missed key learning also could be eligible. Families can reach out to their IEP teams and/or district special education program staff to discuss options. Data about school/family communications, accessibility of educational materials, and IEP/transition services provided/not provided will contribute to conversations about recovery/compensatory services.
Creativity may be needed to ensure educational access in all areas of learning, including those related to the transition into adulthood. OSPI’s guidance includes a section on Graduation & Secondary Transition, with step-by-step instructions for educators supporting youth with transition programming:
“Secondary transition is more than providing pathways for the individual’s movement from high school to employment,” the guidance states. “It is a comprehensive approach to educational programs, focused on aligning student goals with educational experiences and services. When we move these activities to the continuum of reopening models, we have to stretch our thinking about how this can be done.”
What about college admission requirements?
Students who are college-bound may have questions about admissions requirements and whether they can still be met. The National Association for College Admission Counseling has encouraged colleges to be flexible and has created a central resource for information related to Coronavirus and College Admission.
How can I help my student organize the day to include learning?
NTACT offers a range of downloadable Transition Focused Instructional Resources, including tools to help with scheduling and others for helping young people stay socially connected. In a March 24 webinar, the agency encouraged creative ways to support regular work in each of the key areas of learning for a student with an IEP:
- Life skills
- Self-determination
- Self-advocacy
- Desire to work
- Enriching experiences
- Appropriate goals
Teachable moments might include real-life situations related to the pandemic and a new routine. Students still can have the opportunity to make choices and to live with the consequences of choices and actions. For example, a student-made meal might not be gourmet but can be enjoyed on its merits of life-skill-building and risk-taking.
How can the IEP support work at home?
NTACT recommends development of a consistent routine and documentation of daily work and any progress or regression. To help with planning, anyone supporting the student can take a close look at the current IEP.
The Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance, which are built from evaluation results, can provide inside about the student’s strengths, interests, and capacities. Annual goals will highlight the areas of specially designed instruction being provided through the IEP. Consider how instruction might be adapted for at-home instruction—or whether a more suitable goal might be considered. School staff and family members can collaborate to set up a shared approach.
For a student older than 16, a post-secondary transition plan is included in the IEP and includes projections about adult goals and the skills being worked on to get there. NTACT provides Choice Boards to support ongoing work in three key areas that are aspects of a transition plan:
- Career exploration
- Education and training
- Independent living
The Choice Boards are pre-loaded with resource linkages and suggestions.
Think into the future
PAVE provides a webinar and a comprehensive article about life-after-high-school planning with further guidance about the transition process in general. More time at home together might give families a good opportunity to sit back and consider key questions to help the student make future plans:
- Where am I now?(strengths, interests, capacities—the Present Levels of Performance in the IEP)
- Where do I want to go?(aspirations, dreams, expectations—Transition Plan Goals in the IEP)
- How do I get there?(transition services, courses, activities, supports, service linkages, community connections, help to overcome barriers—Annual Goals, Accommodations and other provisions included in the IEP)
What can we do at home today?
Consider how transition programming can be adapted to current circumstances so a young person continues to be connected to important relationships and inspired toward the future. Daily successes are to be celebrated, and high expectations elevate everyone. Below are some typical home-based subject areas that might support learning and skill-building, with a few linkages to resources that might help.
- Leisure and Recreation
- Cooking
- Games
- Reading/audiobooks—Audible Stories
- Podcasts and music
- Virtual Travel—common sense education offers virtual field trips
- Home Maintenance
- Organizing
- Cooking
- Cleaning
- Yard Work
- Personal Care
- Exercise—Planet Fitness offers “Home Work-Ins”
- Personal Care—gottransition.org offers ideas to assist young adults in taking charge of their healthcare
- Finances
- Budgeting—Cents and Sensibility from the Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation provides an approach for individuals with autism.
- Practice with money by paying for things throughout the day
- Communication
- Letter and email writing
- Webinars
- Phone calls/interview a friend or relative about their career path and write about it?
Other places that provide vocational questionnaires and forecasting tools
- AgExplorer.com helps students imagine themselves in fields related to farming and beyond
- ExploreWork.com helps students with disabilities consider their strengths and interests and how to relate them to work options
- RAISECenter.org offers a variety of tools related to vocational rehabilitation. (RAISE stands for Resources for Advocacy, Independence, Self-determination and Employment.)
- CareerOneStop.org, sponsored by the US Department of Labor, provides career assessments through its website and a mobile app.
- Options for further information related to higher education
- ThinkCollege.net
- OffToCollege.com
- ParentCenterHub.org provides a library of college preparation resources related to specific disability categories
For additional ideas about supporting a student with in-home learning please refer to PAVE’s Links for Learning at Home During School Closure.
Please note that any resource list provided by PAVE is not exhaustive, and PAVE does not endorse or support these agencies. Links are provided for information only.