Tag: transition planning

I have found over the years that post-school (aka postsecondary) outcome goals are frequently misunderstood by IEP teams when (to me) they seem to be pretty straight forward. Often they are confused with annual goals/objectives. Here’s how they differ: post-school outcome goal statements answer the question “what will the student be doing one year after exiting public education (post 21)?” Annual goals and subsequent objectives answer the question “what will the student be doing one year from today that will lead him/her to attaining the post-school outcome?

The litmus test for a true and correct post-school outcome statement is this, it MUST contain language specifying that the outcome will be measured after exiting the domain of public education (e.g. graduation, aging-out.) Like all goals contained in an IEP, post-school outcome goals must be measurable, observable and must describe an action, not a process.

The following statements are examples of acceptable post-school outcome goals in the area of postsecondary education/training:

• After graduating with a diploma, student will attend college to earn a degree in his/her chosen field of interest.
• After exiting public education student will participate in community-based learning activities.

The following is a non-example of a post-school outcome goal:

• After finishing high school student will explore options for further education or training in a field of interest.
• After exiting public education student is interested in learning about options for continuing education located in the community.

The first examples of acceptable post-school outcome goals describe an action that is observable and measurable and can be answered “yes or no” after graduation or aging out. The second non-examples describe a process that is not measurable or observable (expressing interest, exploring, pursuing, etc.)

In most cases, IEP annual goals and objectives are intended to span one-year. Progress must be monitored and reported at the same rate as non-disabled peers; usually this is 3-4 times each year. Annual goals may change annually; when the annual goal does not change, the objectives leading to the attainment of that goal must change annually. For example, if the annual goal is for the student to acquire the skills necessary for attending college, it may remain unchanged throughout high school. In that case, the objectives must change to specify the skills that the student will develop each year. Post-school outcome goals may or may not change on an annual basis. What is critical is that the annual goals in the IEP align with and support the attainment of the post-school outcome goals.

It’s hard to believe that what we envision in May as an almost endless summer is coming to a close. Schools will reopen across the country during the coming month with students older (and hopefully wiser) and one year closer to the end of high school. The importance of the question “what’s next?” comes back with a vengeance, imposing a range of emotions on parents and students from excitement and anticipation to worry and panic as the inevitable exit from high school comes closer on the horizon. What to do? When to do it? How to do it? Who does it? are critical to transition planning and these questions need to be visited and revisited at least annually once a student becomes “of age.”

As students progress through the transition planning years, the conversations about outcomes should be increasing in frequency and specifics. The first and most important question to be decided is when will a student leave the domain of public education, and how will they do so? The second part of the question is easier to answer since the options for exiting are clearly defined as graduation with a diploma, or by aging out of IDEA entitlement services. For some students, the exit ramp from public school is identified early on; typically, it is anticipated that students who have significant disabilities and who will qualify for adult services will remain in public school until they age out. For other students, however, the question may not be so easily answered, and quite possibly may become the silent elephant in the room at annual reviews, with parents assuming that their child will remain a public school student, while the team is anticipating graduation with a diploma at the end of 12^th grade.

It’s not only important for the IEP team to ask parents and students to share their thoughts on long term outcomes, it’s the law that they do so. Long term outcomes, aka post-secondary outcome goals, must be identified by considering a number of factors including student and family preferences, student strengths and abilities, and through age-appropriate assessment. Once identified, the post-secondary outcomes are documented annually in the student’s IEP. These post-secondary outcome goals then serve as the infrastructure of the transition plan and drive the development of the annual goals and objectives in the IEP. Essentially, the annual goals and objectives in the IEP must be developed to move the student toward attainment of post-secondary outcomes.  

So, circling back to where I started, beginning no later than the IEP that addresses the transition from middle to high school, parents and student should state what the post-school outcome is that they anticipate, specifying the path of graduation or aging out, that the student will take to get there. Once stated, the team should be asked if they are on board with the plan. Unfortunately, every spring I receive calls from the parents of seniors distraught over the news that they just learned that the plan developed by the team is to have their child graduate at the end of the school year, while they frantically proclaim that their child is not ready for the adult world.  Ask sooner rather than later so that you don’t find yourself in this situation. Wishing you all a great new school year!