Transition Tidbits

During the 2023-24 school year, the in person meetings are focused on The Taxonomy for Transition Programming 2.0 (Kohler, Gothberg, Fowler, and Coyle, 2016) which builds upon earlier work and provides research-based practices for implementing transition-focused education.

The model has five primary practice categories:

Student-Focused Planning, and Student Development were the focus of the meeting on October 31. Thank you to all who were able to participate and to those who provided support to make their attendance possible!

Interagency Collaboration and Family Engagement will be the focus of out next meeting on February 15.

Program Structure is embedded in all sessions.

Join us for the Ohio Career-Technical Education Equity Lab - Southeast Region, an in-person workshop that aims to guide Perkins-recipients on a journey of continuous improvement through an equity lens. This workshop takes place at Washington County Career Center, on Thursday, Nov 30, 2023, starting at 9:00 AM.

The Office of Career-Technical Education will facilitate an all day Equity Lab workshop for Perkins recipient teams. In the morning, teams will be guided through a case-study scenario featuring a fictional secondary district and one high school in the district. Teams will do a deep-dive into using qualitative and quantitative data in efforts to uncover the root causes of disproportionalities. Teams will be guided to make a plan for the school to continuously improve by implementing equitable supports and removing barriers for all students to access career-technical education.

After lunch, teams will choose either a secondary Quality Program Review scenario or a Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment scenario. This will be followed by a team planning session.

Participants will be provided all needed tools, data, and materials. Districts and postsecondary institutions are asked to bring a team of 2-5 for full benefit of this workshop.

Any questions about the workshop should be directed to Becky Crance at Rebecca.Crance@education.ohio.gov

Register here.

Ohio’s career clusters, pathways and programs inform learners as they navigate their way to graduation and success beyond high school. The framework also provides a useful guide to bridge secondary and postsecondary learning and create individual student programs of study for a range of career options. Beginning as early as middle school, these courses help students discover their interests and their passions, and empowers them to choose the educational pathway that can lead to success in high school, college and career.

Ohio is proud of the most recent determination of Meets Requirements, the highest rating a state can earn. Ohio’s lowest scoring measures continue to be the percentage of students with disabilities who graduate by meeting the same requirements as students without disabilities and the percentage of students with disabilities dropping out. Ohio’s 67% graduation rate for students with disabilities for the Class of 2021 was the 12th lowest in the nation. Ohio’s 16% dropout rate for students with disabilities in 2021 was 23rd out of all states and territories. View Ohio’s full determination here.

The Ohio Family Engagement Leadership Summit is a free day of professional learning and networking with those dedicated to advancing effective family-school-community partnerships across Ohio and beyond. Our Summit brings research to action by providing schools, families, and community partners with the tools they need to work together to launch all children to success. If you are a teacher, leader, family liaison, parent/caregiver, or community partner looking for opportunities to find joy and power in partnerships, this summit is for you! The 2023 Summit was on September 22, 2023. It was a virtual event on Zoom from 9 AM – 3 PM ET. Stay tuned to hear about our 2024 Summit.

The Ohio Coalition for the Education of Children with Disabilities (OCECD) is a statewide nonprofit organization that serves families of infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities in Ohio, educators and agencies who provide services to them. OCECD works through the coalition efforts of over 40 parent and professional disability organizations and over 70 individual members which comprise the Coalition.

Our Mission Statement:

• To expand awareness of self-determination principals:
  freedom, support, control, responsibility, confirmation, relationships, dreams, and choice.
• To provide self-determination and training resources.
• To promote and recognize advocacy efforts and assist in organizing advocacy efforts throughout Ohio.
• To assist advocates to connect with and educate policymakers and achieve leadership positions.
• To provide self-determination best practice input to state and local governing organizations.

Sessions will deconstruct all of the components that go into the instruction IDEA requires us to specially design starting from the Evaluation Team Report (ETR) to how we monitor and report progress. How do you know what to teach? How it should be written and who is responsible? How do you really make it special for each student? How does SDI work in a co-taught classroom? While we'll address compliance and technical components of SDI, these sequential sessions will also provide opportunities to immediately practice and apply learning within a cohort model.

One hour virtual sessions will be held for seven consecutive weeks. Choose either the AM Cohort or the PM Cohort and register here for the series.

The Department of Education and Workforce is forming a Student Voice Workgroup to inform education policies, practices and resources. The purpose of the Student Voice Workgroup is to provide a forum for Ohio students from different grade levels, backgrounds, cultures, school size and regions within the state to provide the Ohio Department of Education with feedback, suggestions, reactions, insights and opinions concerning education policies, initiatives and efforts. Students involved in the workgroup will have an opportunity to share their opinions on how things work in schools. They will have space to learn about changes in government policy and ask questions about how a policy or resource will impact their schools. Students will also be empowered to share suggestions for how they believe the state can make their school experience better.

The Department will hold virtual meetings at least quarterly and co-facilitate the meetings with students. Student Voice Workgroup meetings are closed meetings; only those invited will be allowed to attend.

The Student Voice Workgroup will cover various topics such as literacy, student safety and wellbeing, life after graduation, workforce readiness and other topics that the students consider to be of importance in their own educational experiences. The Department will facilitate this space for students to share and lead conversations in a group of their own peers.

The Student Voice Workgroup will represent the diversity of the state of Ohio. The Department is aiming to select students that:

1. Reflect diverse student populations (including but not limited to, racial/ethnic background, intellectual/physical ability, socioeconomic background, academic performance, etc.).
2. Are in mixed grade levels between grades 8 through 12.
3. Are enrolled in a variety of school choice options (traditional public schools, chartered nonpublic schools, community schools, vocational schools, remote learning).
4. Represent each SST region in the state of Ohio.

The Department is requesting nominations from school leaders to comprise the workgroup of 15 to 20 students in grades 8 through 12. The Department will support student leadership opportunities for selected students and their schools by providing funding for a school membership to the Ohio Association of Student Leaders (OASL).

All school leaders must complete the Student Voice Workgroup Nomination Form to nominate students by Nov. 30. Please help us spread the word to school leaders to assist in the process.

During each Dream Job webinar, we hold a live conversation with professionals in a variety of CTE career pathways. The webinars teach students about nature of the job and the importance of employability skills for college and career readiness.

In Ohio, students with disabilities ages 14 or younger, if appropriate, formally enter into the secondary transition planning process. A truly successful transition process is the result of comprehensive planning that is driven by the student’s preferences, interests, needs, and strengths. This comprehensive planning moves students toward successful future outcomes in competitive, integrated employment, education, and independent living.