Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

Improving the Yellow Brick Road:

Increasing the Number of Students with
Disabilities with a Confirmed
Post-Secondary
Plan
High Tech High Graduate School of Education

Molly R. Maher
Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 2

Focus of Practice & Why It Matters

The transition from high school to adulthood is one of the most critical milestones in a
person’s life. During the transition season, adolescents move from childhood towards
independence and self-sufficiency. According to Lerner and Steinberg (2009), “Transition also
has the most significant impact on the trajectory of a person and where they land in economic
status to their overall self-purpose.” Similarly, students with Special Needs have a greater
challenge in preparing for adulthood or even developing a post-secondary plan (p. 1). One of the
felt needs I observed at High Tech High Media Arts (HTHMA), a charter school located in San
Diego, is preparing students with Special Needs to create a plan to ramp on to higher education
and/or transition into full time work upon graduation.
I selected a group of students from my caseload to serve as my focus to gain a baseline,
implement a strategy for trial intervention and change ideas. My goal is to learn, test ideas, and
receive insight to increase the number of students with Special Needs who have a confirmed
post-secondary plan by May 1st, 2021. The group was specifically identified based on similar
learning differences (Specific Learning Disability), with marginalized or low economic statuses.
The felt need continued to surface during an interview, when a student shared “I am just
not ready, I feel so overwhelmed about applications, getting started, and knowing what I want to
do. I have been struggling in all my classes, all of high school, and feel like there are not a whole
lot of options for a kid like me with grades like mine…” (Student A). An outstanding trend in
our American society is that there are few options and opportunities for students with special
needs to have a role or an occupation/further education, causing a “graduating to the couch”
phenomenon (NSSA 2017).
Challenges begin to surface when the number of students with Special Needs without
jobs increase... magnifying other related issues. Some of those obstacles include greater financial
weight for families to support adult children well into their 30s and 40s, increased mental health
issues, and depletion of state funds and resources. (SNA 2020). In order to solidify individuals
with Special Needs as valuable and productive contributors in our communities, we must
continue to identify professional career options that support independent living along with
mapping educational pathways for individuals to excel and thrive.

Problem Statement
Students with mild to moderate disabilities are graduating from HTHMA without a
postsecondary plan.

Digging into Root Causes

Historically, students with disabilities have been excluded from a mainstream education
and schooling. Root causes can be traced before the 1960s. As a whole, our country did not
accept people with disabilities and removed them from daily life by sending them permanently to
institutions. This practice eliminated a role for people with disabilities to uphold. Many of the
obstacles we see today regarding students graduating to the couch and unable to secure
productive independent roles in our communities stem from the past. In the late 1960’s and early
70’s, a disruption in how America treated, educated, and supported people with disabilities
occurred during the Disability Rights Movement. Geraldo Rivera’s Willowbrook documentary in
Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 3

1972 (Obama 2020, Crimp Camp) exposed the institutionalization of people with disabilities.
People with physical and intellectual disabilities protested in Washington D.C. and eventually
grabbed the country’s attention to change their perspective. People with disabilities were
discriminated against and it was immoral to have them in “separate but equal” learning
environments. Historically, Americans with disabilities had to fight for simple rights such as
physical accessibility in all buildings and public transportation, the right to independence, and a
right to a public education. Laws were changed and enacted into Federal Law, including The
Architectural Barriers Act of 1968, Free Appropriate Public Education Act (FAPE) of 1975
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA) of 1990, and Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) of 2005. The legislation resulted in
watershed moments for our country’s education system and changed the way we approach and
support people with disabilities (Office of Civil Rights and U.S. Department of Education 2020).
Slowly but with significance, people with disabilities began to be seen.

Separate but Not Equal

In the current public education system, beginning as early as elementary, students were
tracked and placed into one of three educational areas: advanced, general, or supplemental
classes. Initially, the classes were designed to help scaffold curriculum and allow those with
slower or faster processing rates to learn at their own pace. Other programs within the public
sector have classrooms designated for students with moderate to severe disabilities where there
are no general education students present. Often classrooms designated to serve students with
disabilities are secluded from general classrooms, frequently isolated or located apart from
general flow. The practice of exclusion is problematic in that it limits exposure to norms, social
interactions, and other soft skills that are indirectly learned in a mixed inclusive classroom
setting. In the podcast, Unboxed, Alex Patton interviews LeDerick Horne, a person who firsthand
experiences the segregated classroom and brings attention to the negative impact of today’s
‘separate but equal’ model. Horne says,
“...year after year of being treated like a second class citizen in my own school; and of
course it wasn’t just the bus, but the bus mattered a lot. And so some of the first steps
towards integrating our schools for kids with disabilities was that, yeah, you’d build a
classroom all the way at the end of the hall, sort of tacked onto the building. It had its
own bathroom, right? It was self contained and the busing system was built to be the
exact same way. This all has an impact on my self-worth and ability, in these classes it
was clear to us we were not as good as the other kids and what they could do…” (Horne
05:33).

As an unintended result of ability placements, schools often limit access to fair education by
placing students in lower-performing classes which consequently lowers students’ self-esteem
and lowers performing expectations.

Preparation and Curriculum

Students with disabilities receive an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) that promotes
their ability to learn, access the curriculum, and drives their educational focus. Often an IEP is
misdirected causing the support team to exert energy on a particular academic goal. That goal
Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 4

frequently interferes with the primary priority which is a student gaining skills for independence.
Reaching concrete milestones such as developing writing skills, mastering reading fluency and
comprehension, navigating public transportation, practicing self-advocacy by asking teachers
one question per week...even learning to tie one’s own shoes are skill sets that would better
prepare students with disabilities for post-secondary plans. Discovering the piece to the missing
puzzle occurs when the IEP team shifts its focus from only offering academic support to
including specific instruction on real life skills. Students will benefit when the balance of
traditional teaching is coupled with mastering skills necessary to thrive in communities. There is
often a lack of real world experiences provided for students in high school. Students will
continue to grow when schools integrate educational vehicles that allow them to succeed, fail,
compare and compete. Providing a reality check in order for students to evaluate themselves and
identify areas of growth opportunities in a responsibility of an education system. Hamilton
(2016) expresses, “Education must never be only about preparation; it must also be about
engaging with the world, its questions, and the knowledge associated with those questions in the
here-and-now, not just because “you’ll need it someday” (p.1). Curriculum needs to be designed
to foster the skills needed for a student with disabilities to transition to their next steps.
Developing an appropriate and functional curriculum requires educators to understand
what skills sets are needed in the post secondary school system and workforce. By helping
students focus on developing and mastering the necessary skills required to gain college
acceptance and/or employment in their communities should be the driving priority of the IEP.
Reinforcing a case study conducted by Conley and other contributing members of his team,
linked the importance of “reaching out to postsecondary partners to find ways to work together
directly and gain mutual understanding of each other’s expectations for students”; meaning we
not only need to deepen our understandings, but emphasize the connection between high school
and post-secondary programs including career readiness demonstrates an educator's desire to
prepare students for success after graduation (Conley et al., 2010). Likewise, it is optimal for
students with disabilities to see people like themselves in the workforce succeed. This practice of
modeling helps the student identify the work-related skills needed to thrive after high school.

Society’s Role for People with Disabilities

Both the Fishbone and Interrelationship diagrams [see appendices] examine barriers to a
strong transition and the reinforced notion that society’s lack of role and high schools’
preparation are the primary and secondary causes outweighing all other contributing barriers.
The root cause begins with society having a place for people with disabilities and their
capabilities. In the documentary, Crip Camp, James Lebretch, a person with physicalities
explained his experience giving a direct view of how displaced people with disabilities are in our
society, “I wanted to be part of the world; I wanted to engage, I wanted to socialize, I wanted to
contribute! But I didn’t see anything or anyone like me. I had to fit into this world that was never
built for me. The message was clear for people like me, either fight to survive or you will die”
(Obama 2020, 2:20 and 40.00). When the curriculum is restructured to meet the requirements of
a post-secondary program or education, students will be better prepared for adulthood and
increase their ability to reach independence and secure employment;ultimately changing
society’s view and perspective of individuals with disabilities.
Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 5

Preliminary Theory of Action

The purpose of my project is to increase the number of confirmed transitional plans for
post-graduation for students with disabilities. My Driver diagram helped identify change ideas to
help incorporate and embed college readiness skills and events. Specifically, the drivers I
identified are changing student mindsets, increasing transitional planning collaboration with
parents and students, increasing the number of programs students apply to, exposing students to
real-life experiences, and connecting students with experts in their field of interest. I will
implement changed ideas based off of my drivers by doing the following:

1) I plan to implement action by using belonging-intervention strategies, I will

connect with graduates who had IEPs in high school who are successfully
working or currently in a higher education program.
2) I will then coordinate time for students currently at HTHMA to ask questions
about our volunteers' journey after high school. By using and creating One
Pagers, Empathy Interviews and Interest/Inventory Surveys to centralize student
passions to drive their engagement and areas of study. These tools will help
students identify the passions, interests, and skills they want to deepen as they get
older.
3) I will set up one on one Zoom meetings to work and establish a time for parents to
share their input regarding their child’s future, answer questions, and provide the
resources for next step programs.
4) Finally, I will coordinate trips to campuses, enrolling students to the Department
of Rehabilitation, complete applications, and incorporate parents and guardians
through the process. I will use surveys to measure student progress and will be
collaborating with the Director of College Advising at HTH, community college
admissions departments and student services (Mesa, Southwestern, and
Grossmont), and the Student Services Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor to help
clarify the college and career path easiest for my students.

Methods
My mission is to increase the number of students with IEPs to have a confirmed
post-secondary plan upon their graduation or by May 1st. A “confirmed post-secondary plan” is
a transformational development for a student who recently graduated. This monumental event is
significant for students with disabilities because it is the period where they are expected to
independently navigate the real world. According to Lerner (2009), “The transition to adulthood
is central to both the reproduction of the social class hierarchy and the alleviation of poverty, and
the transition is fundamentally institutional. The transition to adulthood is pivotal in the
reproduction of socioeconomic status (SES) and in social and economic mobility.” When
students with disabilities graduate or age out of high school, their service plans and support
system ends (p.1). The push is to secure a confirmed acceptance from a university or vocational
program so we can begin preparing our students for new environments, associates/classmates,
and expectations.
I conducted research on five senior students and tracked their progression as they passed
or failed milestones that would either promote their likelihood of gaining an acceptance into a
Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 6

program or limit their options. In order to facilitate and create opportunities, I developed a forum
for students to gather critical information. Small groups of individuals were assembled for
meetings and interviews where I collected data from surveys and tracked key events. I invited
previous High Tech High graduates with disabilities who went to college or vocational school
along with admission counselors from local community colleges to serve on a panel where
students could ask questions and share concerns. I also managed meetings between student
families and the coordinator at the Department of Rehabilitation and financial aid counselor to
share processes and deadlines for acceptance. I concluded my research by interviewing all of my
students and their parents.

Limitations
There are several imperative factors that directly affected and potentially skewed my
results. First and foremost, because of the pandemic, all meetings and connections were virtual.
Virtual versus in-person communication lessened the effectiveness of many planned events,
strained effective two way non-verbal communication, and delayed timelines. Many activities
were lost in translation or required extensions. It was necessary for me to shift from meeting in
whole group settings to individual sessions in order to more effectively measure communication
comprehension. One on one zoom meetings provided better responses and increased
participation. Naturally, there were adverse results to meeting individually in a virtual setting as
opposed to in-person groups. Students lost the ability to see how others problem-solved different
steps and were unable to gage if they were on and or off track. Typically “in-person” learning
environments allow for an energetic and/or anxiety induced atmosphere, causing students to
either pick up the pace or to reach out to adults who may support them throughout their
applications’ endeavors.
During hybrid learning, students were asked to participate in five or more hours of school
day online causing ‘zoom burnout’. Zoom burnout is a slang term referring to a student or person
who has reached their maximum capacity of receiving or engaging from a computer or screen. I
noticed when I set up meetings in the evening, students were less likely to participate and I
would have to call or text their personal numbers to attend, causing the level of engagement to
decline. Questions and answer sessions were adversely affected and it was difficult to gage
interest, measure comprehension or identify emotional well-being. Students complained about
the surveys I gave them and retorted, “every teacher makes us do a survey, I am over doing
surveys!” (Student D, personal communication, April 2021). Surveys were frequently rushed,
incomplete or completely dismissed. I decided to change how I conducted my data by adding an
exit survey and interview over the telephone, however, my results may be skewed since students
were reflecting on experiences that occurred four to five weeks prior to the conversation.
Students felt challenged by the timing of my research requests and expressed frustration that I
was adding more stress to their workload. FASFA’s priority deadline is March 2nd, and
collectively college, community, and scholarships’ applications and early admission are due from
October-February. The time pressures resulted in students spread too thin and were forced to
prioritize class assignments, college applications or work with me! I witnessed student’s
meltdowns and displays of avoidant and oppositional behavior. Some of my results are directly
impeded due to the participant's mental state causing compromised accuracy and honesty. As an
educator, I often pivot from a planned learning session if I sense students are disengaged or
distracted and employ alternative teaching strategies. Because students would frequently
Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 7

terminate their video feed, I was unable to read body-language resulting in reduced curriculum
mastery. It is difficult to measure the impact of lost comprehension, motivation or outcome at
the hands of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A significant portion of students altered their initial plans of applying/attending a four
year university due to pandemic regulations in the state of California. Parents expressed, “I am
not going to pay or have my child secure a loan to pay for tuition and room and board if
in-person learning is restricted and the whole ‘college experience’ is compromised. Even a
hybrid model is ridiculous! We will send our child to community college until universities are
committed to in-person learning.” (Parent A, personal communication, April 2021). Many
students who secured acceptance and finances to 4-year programs are initially attending a
community college within San Diego and plan to transfer after 2 years, or are deferring for a year
because of the COVID limitations restricting in-person learning.
There is no doubt that the “pandemic effect” will have an unprecedented adverse impact
on many families, students and particularly graduates from the class of 2021! Economists are
already comparing the pandemic to the Great Recession of 2007-2009, stating, “When financial
aid resources are dwindling, schools start rejecting financial-aid applicants and favor full-pay
students instead.” (O'Shaughnessy 2020). Concerns arose that many students may not gain
acceptance to their desired university because some families rely heavily on FASFA support,
funds from transitional services, or scholarships. Another outcome of the pandemic lies in how a
number of families suffered financially. Income stability was obliterated and so many students'
financial situations changed dramatically. Certain industries were destroyed by closures, jobs
were eliminated resulting in plummeting incomes and liquidation of any household savings.
Some students' roles will shift from pursuing advanced education to becoming a financial
contributor to pay household bills. Students felt stresses they could not anticipate nor control.
Twenty percent of the students within the case study have yet to confirm a post-secondary
plan. This outcome is typical since the case study and research concluded in mid-April.
Approximately 1 in 5 seniors finalize post graduation plans in late May to early June. The study
does not follow the students into their first year of college where there is always a possibility of
withdrawal or drop out even though a confirmed transition plan was in place. Graduating with an
advanced degree from either a community college or 4-year university looks differently for
Special Needs students. An established risk level for students who have learning and soft skill
disabilities and possess academic and interpersonal competency to remain in an advanced
educational program often experience success. NSSA (National Soft Skill Association), a
program who works with adults with disabilities, research states, “About a third of the students
with disabilities who enroll in a four-year college or university graduate within eight years. For
those who enroll in two-year schools, the outcomes aren’t much better: 41 percent graduate,
according to federal data.” (November 2017). According to Table 1 and Table 2, statistically
within the San Diego college community, the sole area of my students’ selection, 13% of
students attending a four year university and 45% of students attending community college are at
risk of dropping out after their first year or dropout later due to costs and timeline of their
graduation. This particular outcome could pose a risk factor and cancel the object of my
research. Statistical data retrieved from both Scoir and Collegefactual are listed in Table 1 and 2
and are the percentages of first-year dropout rate, four year graduation rate, acceptance rate, and
tuition cost for San Diego’s universities and community colleges. Students participating in the
case study not only will have 33% chance of graduating a four year university, and a 41% chance
of graduating a two year educational program; they will also have to beat the odds of the highly
Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 8

competitive area of San Diego. Again, research shows that many students with disabilities will
drop out due to lack of support, competency, or for personal environmental factors (finances,
family, or transportation reasons, etc.).
Table 1

Table 2
Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 9

Findings
The mission of my case study is to analyze, examine, and reflect on the existing systems
in place for students with Special Needs and to determine if changing small elements and factors
within the system could broaden the opportunities for students with disabilities. “Change ideas”
or previously listed methodology was implemented and describes the intention, issue, and results
that guided the next steps in my research. As milestones were realized in the research journey,
major themes surfaced. These epiphanies will later serve as a pathway to create a smoother
transition for students with disabilities into adulthood.

Parent Involvement
The five students participating in the case study all experienced different transitional
outcomes. A major yet consistent finding illuminated throughout the ‘change ideas’ and planned
events was the students’ parents’ level of involvement and personal level of knowledge in
post-secondary educational programs. Building off of the findings from Landmark, Zhang, and
Montoya, “Parental involvement is critical because parents serve as role models for their children
in setting and working toward transition goals. Other benefits of parental involvement include
better school attendance, reduced dropout rates, higher education assessment scores, and
improved student attitude and self-confidence, parental involvement is a straight correlation to a
student’s ability to their level of achievement and at large, their trajectory.” (2007, p. 68). If a
parent was able to attend informational sessions and provide the student’s personal information,
the student was more likely to complete application deadlines. Applications and processes are
time sensitive; specifically FASFA, scholarships, and admittance to transitional programs. When
parents engage and support their child in meeting time sensitive due dates, those students are
more likely to apply to multiple educational institutions, search for scholarships, and prepare for
household budgets for tuition requirements.
Students were also at an advantage if their parents were familiar with navigating college
websites and admission requirements. Parents with older children who had attended college were
much more comfortable with applications, essays, scheduling interviews, scholarship and grant
processes, etc. Parents who personally attended advanced educational programs after high school
had the expectation for their child to follow suit, influencing their child’s sense of belongingness
and confidence. Parents who were new to the process often missed deadlines which negatively
impacted their child’s opportunities for acceptance or financial aid.
Strong communication between parents, children, and secondary learning institutions was
a significant indicator on whether or not a student would receive timely acceptance letters into
community colleges or traditional universities. A parent who had frequent contact and
communication with the case carrier and college director, attended informational sessions and
exchanged information regarding requirements and pending documentation was more likely to
yield a positive outcome. Information shared by the school provided reminders, deadlines,
breakdown of steps to accomplish a task, and allowed the parent to learn from experts from
various areas of post-secondary life. Simultaneously, when a parent was not involved or declined
communication opportunities, they often missed application deadlines and expert connections
resulting in confusion and loss of financial aid and admissions opportunities.
Generally speaking, students with disabilities need more support from professionals and
trusted adults comparatived to general education students in an academic setting due to learning
Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 10

differences. Transferable principle applies to the transition process, students with disabilities
need more support from adults. The transition process can be daunting and overwhelming to a
student with disabilities and they greatly benefit when both home and school are in consistent
and frequent communication, ensuring progress is moving forward and on track.

Student Self-Awareness
When a student is more self-aware of their personal interests including strengths, skill
sets, areas of vulnerability, and comprehension of the college process, they are more likely to
utilize available resources and support systems to gain acceptance into higher education schools.
These students appeared to be more confident in defining their career path and were able to
identify a corresponding community college or university to match their areas of interest. The
group of students demonstrated strong rapport and communication skills with trusted adults and
was able to measure their college entry process by checking in often, comparing themselves to
peers on the same track and flex if milestones were not being realized. Alternatively, students
who displayed a lack of self-awareness, particularly in the area of vulnerabilities, often
disengaged in the process and found their progress stagnant. Often, students who procrastinate,
miss deadlines and express frustration towards their future and self-worth; unable to envision
their future story as college students or employees in the workplace.
Students were surveyed in December 2020 asking if they had a confirmed post-secondary
transition plan in place. 85.6% of those students responded that plans were in motion for
attending a community college, university or securing employment. In reality, not one student
had a confirmed acceptance and only one person actually completed an application.

Table 3

The disconnect to ‘what a confirmed plan’ was concerning, the students in the case study lacked
the understanding or perhaps awareness of where they actually stood in the process of the
application. When one of the students was later asked to elaborate on their answer they replied,
“I know what I want to do and where to go, I want to become a social media influencer at
UCLA.” (Student B, personal communication, April 2021).
Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 11

It became necessary for the research to adjust in order to scaffold and redirect student’s
personal awareness and their ability to navigate college acceptance requirements. Students
completed surveys to help identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas of interests. Once results
were revealed, they matched what colleges offered a course of study that would support their
unique path. After building personal awareness and articulating more concrete education/career
paths, the research focused on finances and tuition. Most students determined living at home and
receiving aid was the most viable option to finance college. As students began to understand the
college acceptance process and personalize it into their future story, they engaged in question
asking, attended informational sessions, and requested parent(s) to meet with the case carrier and
college director. Making a post-graduation plan real is pivotal for all seniors including those
students with disabilities. It is the moment that students begin grappling with what futures will be
outside the traditional academic and social boundaries of high school and how they will propel
into adulthood with an ultimate goal of self-support and stability.

School Structures
Time is of the essence. The clock begins ticking as 14 and 15 year old Special Needs
students enter high school as Freshmen. It is critical for students to receive a clear message; they
must develop and master skill sets that prepare them for flourishing in the real world. Education
systems must include academic classes, but it is also imperative for teaching to facilitate
financial literacy, employability skills, along with instruction on soft skills including problem
resolution, personal advocacy and negotiation.
Educators have the ability and responsibility to add support for students in order to
enhance learning and aid in the mastery of tasks (scaffolds). My findings support the conclusion
that time management and painting a realistic picture of what it takes to get accepted into college
or secure a job after high school is critical to the success of students once they earn their high
school degree. Unanimously, parents and students alike expressed, “They wish they had more
time or that they were told earlier'' referring to the different components of the transition process;
FASFA application, scholarships, transitional services, and IEP purpose (Student C, personal
communication, April 2021).
Individualized Education Plans include a legal requirement called Age of Majority. Age
of Majority mandates that a student must be present during their IEP to ensure they understand
they will resume all of their decision making and rights once they reach the age of 18. Most 16
year olds are at the end of their sophomore year/beginning of the junior year when they enter the
Age of Majority. It is at this exact opportune time, that educators need to plant the seeds of what
life looks like after graduation and begin making transitional plans a priority. Setting the high
standard as a precedence rather than an exception will help support a student with Special Needs
to propel into successful adulthood.
Opportunities of securing college acceptance are increased when a student’s FASFA,
transitional application, and at least one college (community or four year university) is
completed by December of their senior year. When “year-end” deadlines are missed, successes
are reduced due to difficulty in trying to complete time sensitive admissions requirements while
finishing high school graduation requirements and projects. Competition for early acceptance,
financial aid enrollment/transitional services all become scarce the further students move from
the December timeline. Students who are able to complete processes within the fall of their
Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 12

senior year are likely to receive status of acceptance and financial aid in a more timely schedule,
which ultimately gives that student space to revise or amend future plans.

Conclusion
High school structures often lack annual reviews and reflections for Special Needs
students. The goal is to have ‘seamless transitions’ in place for seniors where each part of the
system has a purposeful role where communication is transparent and remains flexible between
the student, parent, educators, counselors and specialists. During most of the case study trials, it
was apparent that many professionals were entering student transition discussions uninformed
and unprepared. Most concerning was the level of teacher/professional turn-over at the school
the students in the case study attended. During a 4 year period, leading up to the class of 2021
graduation, there were 3 new college directors, 4 new senior inclusion specials, and a new
college support specialist. Given these alarming statistics, it is not surprising that students
suffered communication break-downs and processes were constantly in the state of development
and revision. The high turnover in educational professionals at my job site during the case study
resulted in a loss of learned systems. Roland S. Barth describes the situation as ‘craft
knowledge’, “This June, thousands of teachers and principals will retire. With them will go all
they have learned over the years, forever lost to the profession. The following September,
newcomers will arrive to spend their careers painfully learning what those who just left had
already figured out” (2006, p. 9).
Many professionals supporting students within the case study were new to the job,
causing them to experience first-hand the breakdown in systems and structures. Ultimately,
students suffered because critical materials and deadlines weren’t outlined and presented in a
timeline for students to be successful. Throughout the process, both a professional and student
exclaimed, “I wish someone would have told us that we needed to start FASFA back in October,
and not in January''. (Student B, personal communication, April 2021). Because of remote
learning imposed by the pandemic, all communication had to happen electronically by email,
zoom or telephone. Educators no longer had the benefit of simply going into a classroom and
asking the student where they stood on a project or deadline. Countless hours were spent chasing
after students, leaving emails, voicemails and text messages in order for them to complete one
process or one application. Additional time was dedicated to creating excel spreadsheets to track
messages and progress, the process was unending and frustrating for all participants. Time and
resources spent recreating the wheel and building structures, could have been better used serving
the student.
Navigating the established structures were outdated and did not flow with the sequential
steps of the transition process. We asked students to complete a college application in October,
but did not require them to have any of the components needed to complete an application...
making “App-Day'' a complete waste of time for the majority of the students. To experience
success in completing just one college application, a student must have their FASFA, transcript
and a narrow list of proposed colleges.
Similar to the philosophy of Neubert and Redd, we need to do a better job of connecting
the three major participants of home, student, and school. Mastering these connections along
with developing a clearly defined system of transitioning a student into adulthood,
post-secondary education, and employment sets the table for success. “...Each of these systems
play an important role in helping youth bridge the gap as they exit school and seek connection
Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 13

with services that will enable them to maintain employment and careers. However, without
careful and well organized collaboration, the result can frequently be disjointed, uncoordinated
service and/or interrupted delivery of services that consequently lead to poor employment
outcomes (Neubert, D. A., & Redd, V. A., 2008, p.6). The goal of creating a seamless transition
can begin when we restructure our systems, collaborate, and clearly communicate with all parties
involved.
The four years of high school should be viewed as one continuation of a student’s
education and transition. Elena Augilar’s work surrounding learning environments declares,
“Better schools will come when better structures are built. Those structures have no inherent
merit, however: their sole function will be to provide apt and nurturing conditions that will
attract students and teachers and make their work together worthwhile and efficient” ; a stronger
program will emerge once teachers, administration, special needs educators, and transitional
personnel look at the big picture and then break down each component of the process into grade
levels (2016, p. 217). Better outcomes will be implemented for students when front line
educators are empowered to perfect and revise the structures resulting in a more efficient and
effective environment. Moreover, educators need a starting point where they can take, borrow,
trash, or build upon; one starting point a college counselor, high school Special Education
teacher, parent, student, or transition coordinator can use is ‘The Yellow Brick Road to Success’. The goal
is for a school to become experts in providing the steps and guidance for students to transition and
graduate high school with tools and skills that will continue to not serve them throughout their adulthood,
but to also allow them to have doors open for them so that they can meet their potential in both education
and employment. Lastly and foremost, when a school is able refine and tune the transition process, they
are able to bridge or lessen the equity gap of achievement for students with disabilities by addressing the
barriers that stand in the way for both students and parents and become a imperative role that will
smoothly exit and connect students to their next chapter of life.
Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 14

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Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 15

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Rubric
Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 16

Appendix A - Diagrams Used

Driver Diagram

Fishbone Diagram
Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 17

Interrelationship Diagram
Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 18

Appendix B - Instruments Used

Student Empathy Interviews and Demographics Breakdown

Student Empathy Interview

Baseline Survey

FASFA Tracking System

Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 19

Appendix E - Tables Used

Table 1

Table 2
Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 20

Table 3
Running head: POST-SECONDARY PLANS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 21

Appendix F - The Artifact

The Yellow Brick Road to Success