Centre
for Students with Disabilities
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Evaluating Postsecondary Supports For Ontario Students With Learning
Disabilities ,
Centre for Students with Disabilities
Evaluating Postsecondary Supports For Ontario
Students With Learning Disabilities ,
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Outline
Review reference and access to study
Outline research purpose, method and key findings
Describe Summer Transition program
Model of use of service
Highlighted recommendation
Discussion how to start a STP
Centre for Students with Disabilities
Evaluating Postsecondary Supports For Ontario
Students With Learning Disabilities ,
• The purpose of this study was to evaluate the
educational quality of the existing student service
programs designed to ensure PSE access for students
with LD and/or ADHD, who are an under-represented
and at-risk population at a Ontario College and
University.
• Full Report: Released April 16, 2012 via the Web:
www.heqco.ca
• http://heqco.ca/SiteCollectionDocuments/EvaluatingPS
ESupportsForStudentsWithLearningDisabilities.pdf
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Why services for Student with LD in PSE?
 Fewer students with LD attend PSE and are less likely to be
retained until graduation compared with their peers without
disabilities. (Gregg, 2007; Horn & Berktold, 1999; Newman, ,
Wagner, Cameto, &. Knokey, 2009)
 Postsecondary completion has been found to have an
equalizing effect on employment outcomes for persons with LD.
(Madaus, 2006)
 Persons with disabilities account for an estimated 10 per cent
of the postsecondary population, and approximately half of this
population are persons with LD (Henderson, 2001; LOTF, 2002;
Murray, Goldstein, Nourse & Edgar, 2000).
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History Of LD and PSE Ontario
• 1997, $30 million Learning Opportunities Task Force (LOTF),under the
leadership of Dr. Bette Stephenson
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1998-2002 --Eight pilot projects are chosen at 13 institutions, which are intensely
research focused and outcome driven in terms of documentation
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2002- LOTF report and recommendations
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2002- Learning strategist and Assistive Technologists hired across province
•
2003- Durham College and UOIT first summer transition program(pilot institution)
•
2004- The Transitions Longitudinal Study began , completed in 2011
•
2006 – provincial funding for Transition programs
•
2008 - HEQCO research project
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Research Design and Purpose
Research Design
• Qualitative and quantitative
• Research was conducted over
2 and a half years
• Study conducted on a shared
campus environment at
Durham College and the
University of Ontario Institute
of Technology (UOIT).
• 151 students participated /117
interviewed or focus Group
Research Question
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
College and University difference Do the
STP and/or enhanced services for LD
and/or ADHD students positively affect
their academic performance as well as their
engagement and retention rates?
Did successful students with LD and/or
ADHD report enhanced institutional
engagement, and more proactive
behaviours in seeking supports, than
unsuccessful students?
Did any specific intervention or
instructional component correlate
positively with students’ experiences or
outcomes?
Did students who created a web page
(student homepage) report experiencing
any differences in their engagement with
professors?
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Key findings that we learned
Summer Transition Program
enhanced engagement
STP and ongoing counselling
improved academic
performance
College and University
students experience barriers
and there are solutions
Disability
Service engagement matters
Students are perseverant and
make multiple attempts
College and University
Learning supports
engagement matters
Professors engagement
matters
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Registration VS USE of Service
Registration
Barriers to engagement
• Documentation/assessment
• Registration with the
Disability Centre does not
• Willingness to seek service
willingness to disclose to
imply that students seek
professor
accommodations, disclose
• fear of discrimination from
to professors or use
peers or professors; all of
services.
these influence students’
• The related factors that may
willingness to use
encourage registration are
service and disclose – what
parental cohesion
service? .
(Tsagris, 2010)
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Are your barriers similar?
• Experienced Barriers:
– Intake and documentation, assessments
– These barrier were increased for students not
transitioning directly from high school. ie from
workplace or alternative high school programs
What are the intake barriers experience at other
institutions?
Is the assessment issue reliant in your province?
Centre for Students with Disabilities
Summer Transition Program
• College and university students with LD
and/or AD/HD share similar benefits from
STP.
• The study’s findings demonstrate that the STP
improves the quality of students’ transition to
PSE by first facilitating an earlier intake
requirement and then helping students acquire
psychoeducational assessments.
• STP students complete this process before the
academic year begins in September.
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Additional effort and time
• Students attending both kinds of institutions reported that their
disabilities increased their academic demands.- time management and
organization
• They need to make additional effort and time commitments, as well as
making additional use of supports and accommodations to help
compensate and accommodate these disability-related challenges.
• Upton and Harper (2002) surveyed 937 students with LD and ADHD and
documented how they had to work harder and spend more time to fulfill
the same expectations as their non-disabled peers, despite their equal
cognitive ability.
• DuPaul (2006) reported that students with ADHD described experiencing
more academic problems than students without the disorder and they had
less adaptive academic coping behaviour.
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Student evaluation process and
points of intervention
• Disability counselling
• Updated assessment
• Improved disability
knowledge/awareness
Disability
Acceptance
Trial and
Error
• Cost-benefit analysis
• Lessened transactional
friction & barriers
• Professor training
• Improved campus
accessibility
Independenc
e and
Decisionmaking
• Summer transition outreach
• Engagement with campus
student services, professors
, schools/faculty advisor
• Public awareness
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Self-Determination
Centre for Students with Disabilities
Self-Determination
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wPxq-NOZjg
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Summer Program Plus Service
• For STP students with enhanced services
increase academic positive outcomes
• academically successful, their services use
decreases on average across semesters.
• Conversely, for STP students who are
categorized as academically unsuccessful, their
enhanced services use increases on average
across semesters.
• This pattern is not seen among NSTP
participants.
• Attending the STP Lowers Barriers
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Student Homepage :
Integrating Technology and Content
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What is a ‘student Hompage ’?
• A Student Homepage is electronic file – designed by students
to share information with their professors
• Why use a student Profile?
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Why a Student Homepage ?
• Engagement Tool: technology generation
• Instructional method: assistive technology and
disability awareness
• Communication method: as a self- advocacy tool
between students/faculty
• Training method: used for faculty
• Laptop Institution: integration with curriculum
• Homepage improved motivation/interest
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Motivation and Perseverance
• An overarching trend in both college and
university students’ stories was their
determination to achieve their goals regardless of
the time or effort required.
• Their persistence is evident instatements such as
the following:
“I’m going to keep going until there’s no other way
[but] that I have to drop out, until I’ve failed every
single course. Otherwise, I’m going to stay in, and
I’m going to do my best”(Ernesto: University,
NSTP).
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Previous Attempts
• For many participants with LD and/or ADHD, their
academic journeys often included multiple
attempts at PSE; 42.4 per cent of college students
and 23.1 per cent of university students had
made a previous PSE attempt.
• “Future Research” Particular attention should be
paid to issues related to academic performance,
retention, delayed entry to PSE, prolonged time
to complete programs and multiple PSE attempts.
Centre for Students with Disabilities
Best Practices: Articulation
• A substantial portion of our college cohort
stated that they planned to complete college
and then attend university.
• This approach, which helped compensate for
their disability, was sometimes a formally
arranged bridge program, sometimes a
student’s own plan.
• This “stepping stone” approach was a method
used by participants to ensure success by
pursuing their education in increments.
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Comparison of College and University
• University students more frequently reported
an experiencing of professor resistance when
requesting accommodations compared with
college sample
• College and university student expressed how
neutral professor made them uncomfortable
and viewed them as a lack of interest or not
caring- (findings similar to Skinner, 2010)
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Areas For Growth
• Lobby regarding Assessment issues
• Share with professors importance of their
response in enhancing service use and overall
disability acceptance
• Colleges and universities must plan to support
LD and/or ADHD students who are not
transitioning from high school and those who
make multiple attempts at postsecondary
education
• Developing a Transition program at your
institution?
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Starting your own STP
• Start small
• Get other departments and team members
involved
• Chart a small Fee
• Use the report to get administrative support
• Request curriculum materials from form
colleges and universities and use what you
do one on one with students already
Centre for Students with Disabilities
References
Gregg, N. (2007). Underserved and unprepared: Postsecondary learning disabilities. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 22(4), 219–228.
doi: 10.1111/j.1540-5826.2007.00250.x
Henderson, C. (2001). College Freshmen with Disabilities, 2001: Biennial Statistical Profile. Washington, DC: American Council on Education, HEATH
Resource Center.
Horn, L., & Berktold, J. (1999). Students with disabilities in postsecondary education: A profile of preparation, participation, and outcomes. Washington, DC:
U.S. National Center for Education Statistics.
Madaus, J. (2006). Employment outcomes of university graduates with learning disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 29(1), 19–31
Murray, C., Goldstein, D., Nourse, S., & Edgar, E. (2000). The Postsecondary School Attendance and Completion Rates of High School Graduates with
Learning Disabilities. Learning Disabilities Research, 15(3), 119–127.
Newman, L., Wagner, M., Cameto, R., Knokey, A.-M. (2009). The Post-High School Outcomes of Youth With Disabilities up to 4 Years After High School. A
Report From the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2) (NCSER 2009-3017). Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.
Nichols, E., Harrison, A., McCloskey, L., & Weintraub, L. (2002). Learning Opportunities Task Force, 1997 to 2002: Final Report. Toronto, ON
Tsagris, D . ( 2010) . Tsagris, D. (2010). Exploring the use of an internal student homepage for students with learning disabilities in a postsecondary web
community. Unpublished doctoral thesis. University of Calgary, Alberta.
Tsagris, D., Muirhead, B. (2012). Evaluating Postsecondary Supports for Ontario Students with Learning Disabilities. Toronto: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario.
Centre for Students with Disabilities
Deborah Tsagris EdD
Bill Muirhead PhD
Disability Counsellor
Centre for Students with Disabilities
Durham College and University of
Ontario Institute of Technology
T: 905-721-2000 ext. 2006
E: deborah.tsagris@dc-uoit.ca
Associate Provost Academic and
Information Technology
University of Ontario Institute of
Technology
T: 905-721-3163
E: bill.muirhead@uoit.ca