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Learning what your college has to offer is so important! Keene State has wonderful resources but not all colleges do. Students really need to do their research to be sure they are getting what they need and take their education into their own hands.

It is crucial to know what your college offers! Learning this prior to starting school is so incrediably important and will help the student be successful in school. Schools have so much to offer typically you just have to seek it out.

This is great for students who are planning on going to college to read. I know of some students who don't even want to research/contact any colleges regarding assistive technology or other assistance they might be able to provide. I hope that students do consider what resources are available at the school of their choice and that they've developed the self-advocacy confidence to seek out help when they need it.

"There are places in the world where kids go to school not in classrooms, but in the woods. The Forest Schools movement became popular in Scandinavia in the 1950s. Forest schools can take many forms - from just one day a week in the woods to schools where there are no buildings: all day, every day is outdoors. These schools serve mostly younger children - 4- to 7-year-olds - but there are some forest school programs that serve older students, too."

"The school field trip has a long history in American public education. For decades, students have piled into yellow buses to visit a variety of cultural institutions, including art, natural history, and science museums, as well as theaters, zoos, and historical sites. Schools gladly endured the expense and disruption of providing field trips because they saw these experiences as central to their educational mission: schools exist not only to provide economically useful skills in numeracy and literacy, but also to produce civilized young men and women who would appreciate the arts and culture. More-advantaged families may take their children to these cultural institutions outside of school hours, but less-advantaged students are less likely to have these experiences if schools do not provide them. With field trips, public schools viewed themselves as the great equalizer in terms of access to our cultural heritage."

This webpage is an excellent resource as it demonstrates what organizations are doing at the college level to assist in transtion. It is helpful to see the message that Vanderbilt is delivering to it's students about transitioning from high school to adult life.

This article outlines the reality of what high school means to so many youth. It is a challenging time they not only are dealing with social challeges about coming of age but the realitity of soon high school is going to end and they are going to either need to get a job or go to school. Money contraints are often a factor. This article suggests a transition program that helps students prepare for after high school life. Transitioning from high school to adult life is a huge jump many students are not prepared. A lot of students face the harsh reality when they go to college but in college they often have a support system of the school to help them what about the students who are not planning on going to school. Having a transition program will help all children not just children with disabilities. If i were a high school teacher i would be pushing that to be part of my curriculum.

Transitioning from high school to college is a huge transition. For many it is an exciting time but for others it is the fear of the unknown. You go from your parents being in charge of your everyday life to you being the sole oerson in charge. You suddenly have to be organized and in charge of not only your own learning but your living quarters. To be successful in college you need to make social connections, use the school they have resources to help you. This is a great resource to use with seniors in high school or juniors preparing to go to school. This gives them a taste of what to expect and that is okay to feel anxious and scared. Those are valid feelings but know who to contact at the school who can support you such as a RA or guidance. Schools have many resources discover them before you really need them so that you are prepared and feel secure that they are there if and when you need them.

"Most Likely To Succeed is the best film ever done on the topic of school - both its past and its future. The film inspires its audiences with a sense of purpose and possibility, and is bringing school communities together in re-imagining what our students and teachers are capable of doing. Run, don't walk, to bring this film to your school. After seeing this film, you'll never look at school the same way again."

"Transforming the neighborhood school: Madison's community schools initiative will bring services and support to students and their families"

The Wisconsin Post High School Outcomes Survey (WPHSOS) assesses the outcomes of individuals with disabilities one year after they have exited high school. Former students are contacted for a telephone interview to assess areas independent living, participation in postsecondary education, employment, and high school IEP planning.

Wall Street's excesses blew up the economy. Now the question is who pays to clean up the mess. Across the country, our children are already paying part of the bill -- as their schools are hit with deep budget cuts. A new report -- Starving America's Public Schools: How Budget Cuts and Policy Mandates are Hurting our Nation's Students -- released today by the Campaign for America's Future and the National Education Association, looks at five states to detail what this means to kids in our public elementary and secondary schools. (Full disclosure: I co-direct the Campaign.) The findings are sobering.

"Personalized learning places the interests and abilities of learners at the center of their education experience. Educators develop environments in which students and teachers together build plans for learners to achieve both interest-based and standards-based goals. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education worked with leaders at the Institute for Personalized Learning (IPL) to identify five K-12 schools for a 6-month research project documenting what personalized learning looks like in these schools. "

"This 19-minute video is intended for administrators, counselors, and district staff leading student engagement and dropout prevention efforts in their schools and districts, as well as secondary educators helping students transitioning into high school. The video draws from experiences and findings from researchers, practitioners, and students. It begins with an overview of the challenges facing students transitioning into high school and then focuses on three promising practices to help students manage the transition and stay on track to graduate: * Using data to identify students at risk of dropping out. * Providing academic supports to students who need help. * Connecting students to caring adults."

"The National Technical Assistance Center on Transition (NTACT) developed the Transition Gradebook as a school-level tool for recording individual students' transition-related activities, including the required pre-employment transition services (Pre-ETS), and various risk and protective factors associated with dropout, graduation and positive postschool outcomes. The Transition Gradebook is a locally served database application that records transition-related activities from five major areas from NTACT's Predictors of Postschool Success-specifically, Career Awareness, Work Experience, Inclusion, Student Supports, and Collaboration. It also tracks whether a student has received instruction in self-determination, social skills, life skills, and/or transportation skills. Finally, the tool also records some of the risk and protective factors associated with school completion: specifically in the areas of attendance, behavior and course performance, as well as other factors that impact school engagement and postschool outcomes."

"Students learn best when they are in environments in which they feel safe, supported, challenged, and accepted. Research shows that when schools and districts focus on improving school climate, students are more likely to engage in the curriculum, develop positive relationships, and demonstrate positive behaviors."

"The Institute on Disability is pursuing the expansion and further development of Assistive Technology (AT) services and training in the state of New Hampshire. Assistive Technology is integral to the daily lives of many New Hampshire residents. Awareness of and the ability to try assistive technology devices are important aspects to making a decision whether a particular technology is "the right fit." The IOD is actively involved in partnerships on campus, throughout the state, and on a national level to promote access to assistive technology services." This site is full of great information about assistive technology. The resources tab is where you want to direct most of your attention as many of the documents and resources that are identified are very practical and geared toward use by special education service providers, students, and parents. Of particular interest to schools is instructions for how to create a low cost case for the iPad for use in schools. Check it out! Application to Transition Practice The information provided on this site will help to support transition practices in the classroom (direct teaching of transition skills), in work-based learning experiences, and living. There are many suggestions for how to physically adapt assistive technology hardware to meet an individual's need in the workplace. Also, in the resources there is a resource list of "reviewed" iPad apps for use to assist individuals with disabilities to become more independent is environments both within and outside the classroom. For example, the dragon app is free and it can be used to dictate and transcribe text. Various apps used for study skills and time management and organization could be very useful for students with LD and ADD in a variety of environments. It would be important to introduce individuals to some of these apps while they are in high school so they can learn about how they might help them in college, daily living, or employment settings.

The Institute on Disability is part of the University Center for Excellence on Disability at the University of New Hampshire. "The Institute on Disability is pursuing the expansion and further development of Assistive Technology (AT) services and training in the state of New Hampshire. " This department at the University of New Hampshire provides information about disability services that are provided for their current students as well as information concerning training programs for professionals. Professionals can register to attend the assistive technology workshops to learn about the newest programs that will help students with disabilities in their education. As a special educator, I would use this website to attend workshops on the most current assistive technology resources. This would keep my knowledge up to date and give me the opportunity to experience new and different programs. Then, when I have new students who may need different assistive technology both in high school and transitioning to college, I will be better equipped to tech them how to use the program.

Summary:
This web-article is from United Cerebral Palsy and is centered around transitioning from school to work and using assistive technology throughout. The article highlights some of the barriers associated with this transition. They talk about how often-times students transition from school to work and their assistive technology equipment does not follow them, or they are not taught how to utilize the technology for their jobs.The article also has a very useful list of suggestions for how to make this transition more successfull.

Professional Practice:
I think it is really easy for us to narrow our scope and only focus on students in school, or only at the age level that we are planning on working with. This article reminds us of some of the issues associated with transition that we may have not even begun to think about. Whenever anyone is working with students at the high school level they need to be thinking about how to make the transition to college or work as smooth as possible. This includes making plans for how to allow the student to keep using their assistive technology.

"The Great Schools Partnership is pleased to offer a series of free webinars on critical school-improvement topics for educational leaders and teachers."

Lead the Way: Engaging Youth in Health Care is the School-Based Health Alliance's online youth engagement toolkit. This resource is designed for individuals who work in school-based or community health centers who want to engage youth in their mission and work.

The XQ Institute is in service of parents and pioneers, entrepreneurs and teachers, business leaders and administrators, youth and education experts-who are joining a movement to rethink America's schools. Together, we can use our knowledge, rigor, and creativity to create a new model for school itself.

"Many students still struggle to graduate on time within traditional school systems, particularly racial and ethnic minority students, English language learners, and students with disabilities. States and schools are shifting their focus to ensure college and career readiness is a realistic and attainable goal for all students. This brief provides an overview of competency-based education (CBE), one model to support college and career readiness for all"

"Whether your child is having a positive or negative experience in school, it's important to make the most of your parent-teacher conference. Here are tips to help you and the teacher work together toward success for your child at parent-teacher conferences."