Dive Brief:

• For students with disabilities, the opportunity to develop confidence in themselves can help make the college transition less uncertain. This includes supporting their self-advocacy skills, as well as allowing them to explore what a college environment looks like before they start that part of their education.
• Schools can effectively prepare students by weaving these elements across a general education curriculum, with an additional focus on ensuring students feel fluent with note-taking accommodations, said Stacie Dojonovic, executive director of the Council for Exceptional Children’s International Division on Career Development and Transition. 
• These skill sets and others can help students with disabilities enter the next stage of their academic career with the tools to help themselves succeed, Dojonovic said.

Dive Insight:

There are several ways schools can help students with disabilities prepare for postsecondary education through the general curriculum, said Dojonovic, who also works as an assistant teaching professor at The University of Kansas’ School of Education and Human Sciences in the Department of Special Education.

To start, schools can offer courses and lessons on financial literacy, self-advocacy and independent living — and they can work with local colleges and universities to create workshops that talk about disability services and college expectations.

One of the best models she has seen is the Florida Center for Students with Unique Abilities, with more than 30 programs across the state that help link students and families with employment opportunities and other services to support their college experience.  

For all the ways that schools can help students, there are practices Dojonovic said they should avoid. One includes “overly scaffolded learning,” which supports students but never helps them develop the independence to handle responsibilities. Another is not teaching students the difference between legal protections afforded in college — and how those differ from those they had in high school.

Ultimately, she said, even the best-intentioned schools need to make sure they have well-trained educators who are steeped in skills to support students with disabilities and manage this curriculum to ensure these pupils succeed in college — and the path they choose next.

“Ensuring that students with disabilities are adequately prepared for postsecondary education requires not only well-structured K-12 curricula but also highly trained educators who specialize in delivering evidence-based practices in transition services,” she said. “This calls for intentional personnel preparation and professional development that includes the development of research informed, transition-focused competencies.”