Keene State College / MCST Transition Resources

"The notion of education implies that there's a path towards a definitive, finished state wherein an individual has become "educated." But in a world of accelerated change, with rapid disruption cycles in industry and with rising automation, that end state of being "educated" is just no longer meaningful. An individual must have learning agility - the ability to learn, adapt, and apply in quick cycles. "

My new film Intelligent Lives (working title, coming Fall 2017) will explore how our narrow views of intelligence have created unnecessary "ceilings" for people with intellectual disability, and how Micah and Naieer embody a new paradigm of what it means to be intelligent. The film features narration and a personal perspective from Academy Award winning actor Chris Cooper.

"The world of work has changed. A high school diploma alone no longer guarantees a decent living wage. A typical career path today does not necessarily follow the traditional course of high school, college, and long-term employment. Rather, according to the most recent available data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average worker today stays at each of his or her jobs for 4.4 years, with the workforce's youngest employees staying less than 3 years. That means that they will have 15 to 20 jobs over their working lives. One reality of today's workforce, however, that has remained the same is that youth need to develop skills to be employed. To be able to acquire these skills and effectively change jobs, and plan and manage multiple careers over one's life time, career development skills are important. The process by which youth get to know their strengths and interests, learn how different jobs connect with those interests, and build these career planning and management skills is called career development."

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 expression, "It takes a village to raise a child," is never more true than when talking about a child with a disability. Young people with disabilities need a support system that recognizes their individual strengths, interests, fears, and dreams and allows them to take charge of their future. Parents, teachers, family members, and friends in the community who offer informal guidance, support, and love can create the "village" for every child.

"The Wisconsin Let's Get to Work project is a five-year, national systems change grant that will lead to improved community employment outcomes for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities in transition."

"Hope Street Group (HSG) National Teacher Fellows (NTFs) are fulltime classroom teachers who serve as local and national spokespersons, trained to explore their state's education policy efforts and engage their peers in solutions-based conversations. This year, our NTF cohort consisted of 18 teachers and instructional coaches representing 17 states. Together, they collected data the United States Department of Education (USDOE), the American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE), and state leaders can use to inform their policy decisions in order to improve teacher preparation for future educators."

"What is an edcamp? Organic, participant-driven professional learning experiences created by educators, for educators."

An Open Letter to Parents of Students With Disabilities About to Enter College

"Digital literacy is the ability to find, evaluate, utilize, share, and create content using information technologies and the Internet. As a Cornell student, activities including writing papers, creating multimedia presentations, and posting information about yourself or others online are all a part of your day-to-day life, and all of these activities require varying degrees of digital literacy. Is simply knowing how to do these things enough? No-there's more to it than that."

"A career pathways system is a coordinated system of programs and services supporting students in the transition from school to the workforce, and it can be one part of a comprehensive system to support students' college and career readiness. The College and Career Readiness and Success (CCRS) Center's resource Designing a Career Pathways System: A Framework for State Education Agencies is a four-chapter module intended to help state education agency staff design, implement, and evaluate a career pathways system. Each chapter includes a facilitator's guide, slide presentation, and activity handouts. The four chapters include:"

"Call it "active learning," or "classroom participation" -- every teacher wants to know how to motivate students to particpate, and how to nurture more involved students and fewer apathetic ones. With a little extra planning, that is possible"