Preparing Students
for College and Careers
Everyday Matters –
Ensuring Success for Transition Aged Youth
Texas Transition Conference
Margo Vreeburg Izzo, PhD
Izzo.1@osu.edu
February 21, 2013
21st Century Skills Defined
The skills students need to succeed in
the 21st Century:
• Life and Career Skills
• Learning and Innovation Skills
• Information, Media, and Technology
Skills
• Core Subjects with 21st Century
Themes (Partnership for 21 Century Skills,
st
www.21stcenturyskills.org)
2
Need for Information and
Technological Literacy
• Defined as the set of skills needed to find, retrieve,
analyze and use information.
• Individuals who are both technologically and
information literate will be able to use computers
effectively to find the information they need.
• Useful for people with disabilities because they
enhance communication, learning, writing, and
task management.
• Creates equal opportunities in education and aid
in transition from school to work.
33
Need for Career Planning
• Nearly 80% of students with disabilities plan to work
after graduation
• Only 70% were actually employed one year after
graduation, with many working part time
• 70% of students plan to pursue some type of
postsecondary education
• Only 35% were actually enrolled one year post
graduation
• Only about 20% of high school graduates live
independently following graduation
44
21st Century Curricula
EnvisionIT and E-Mentoring Curricula
• Teach IT skills.
• Help students build a self-directed
Transition Portfolio.
• Match students’ interests, abilities,
and personality to career goals.
5
Transition Curricula (cont.)
• Incorporates UDL Supports for all learners.
• Use the open source, fully accessible course
management system, ATutor.
• Allow students to become more engaged and
invested in their learning by using material that
is relevant to their lives.
6
21st Century Curricula
EnvisionIT
Mentoring
Curriculum
Transition
Assessment
7
Need for Mentoring
• Teachers are under pressure to provide one to
one attention for at risk youth
• Mentoring can be useful for youth AND adults
• Youth involved in mentoring are:
– 46% less likely to begin drug use
– 27% less likely to begin alcohol use
– 52% less likely to skip school
– 33% less likely to hit someone
– 59% get better grades
– 73% raise their goals
Sample IT Objectives in Curricula
Information Technology Objectives
1. Use rules for communicating
online by sending/receiving email.
2. Retrieve information from the
Internet.
3. Determine meaning of unknown
words using online dictionary.
9
Sample Transition Objectives
1. Complete three online self-assessments to
identify preferred learning styles, personality
traits, and career interests
2. Create PowerPoint slides that describe two
preferred personality traits
3. Compare four career choices that match your
personality traits
4. Summarize key point in a college preparation
chart such as: majors, application process,
finances, student activities, campus visits and
surrounding areas
Age Appropriate Transition
Assessments
– Develop realistic and meaningful goals
– Assist develop IEP postsecondary goals
– Provide information for present levels of
performance
– Learn about the individual student, his/her
strengths, needs, ambitions, interests,
preferences
– Connect IEP with future plans
– Inform the Summary of Performance
11
Online Assessments
• The VARK Questionnaire
• http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp
• The Myers-Briggs Personality Test
• http://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.
html
• The Princeton Review
• http://princetonreview.com/Careers.aspx
12
Riley Guide
• Assignment Overview
• Students use The Riley Guide to find
three websites related to their careers.
Then the students write one to two
sentences describing each website.
Core Standards and
Transition Assessment
Princeton Review: After completing the Princeton
Review students will be able to analyze their Interest
Color and list 4 occupations to explore
Core Standard:
• Reading Strand: Cite strong and thorough textual
evidence to support analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text,
including determining where the text leaves matters
uncertain.
Core Standards and
Transition Assessment
-Transition Portfolio, Activity 1a: Self Assessment: VARK After completing the VARK students will be able to analyze their
learning style and share strategies that enhance their learning
-Common Core Standards
• Reading Strand: Reading for Information 2, Determine two or
more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the
course of the text.
• Writing Strand 2e, Use precise language, domain-specific
vocabulary, and techniques such as metaphor, simile, and analogy
to manage the complexity of the topic.
• Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and
update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing
feedback.
-
Transition Portfolio
Students create a Transition Portfolio that includes:
1. PowerPoint Presentation
2. Job or College Comparison Chart
3. Resume
4. Cover Letter
5. Career Narrative
6. Job or College Application
7. Interview with a Professional
8. Job or College Checklist
9. Bookmarks of websites visited in career search
Portfolio PowerPoint
Students include:
• Results of online assessments:
• VARK, Princeton Review, Myers-Briggs
Personality Assessment
– Results of Internet Research on two – four
careers of interest
• Postsecondary goals
– Education/Training
– Employment
– Independent Living
17
Universal Design for Learning
 Universal design is an approach to designing
your teaching to benefit people of all learning
styles without retrofitting
 In addition to the assistive technology supports,
a variety of UDL supports are built into the EMentoring Program
 Teachers are encouraged to pick and choose
the extent to which each student will use any of
the supports
1
UDL – Guided Notes
• Guided notes are teacher-prepared handouts that
“guide” students through course content with key items
“blanked out” for the student to fill in the relevant term
or idea.
• Students are prompted to download the guided notes at
the beginning of each unit.
• Students may choose to print out and handwrite
answers or simply fill them in electronically.
• The resulting product is a complete set of notes to
study from that includes all critical content from the unit
1
UDL - Review Sheets
• Many students don’t have effective study skills. When
preparing for quizzes students need to know how to go
back into the course and look for important information.
• These scaffolded review sheets are designed to guide
those information retrieval study skills by providing
direct, explicit directions to find important information.
• Material on the review sheet directly reflects upcoming
quiz content and is topics are weighted accordingly.
2
UDL - Glossary Definitions
• The E-Mentoring Program will introduce words that the
student may not be familiar with. Words that are
highlighted with a superscript question mark will have
text box definitions.
• Students must hover their mouse cursor over the
question mark (not the whole word) to see the
definition.
• Model this to students and encourage them to use this
support to improve comprehension.
2
E-Mentoring Sample: Unit 1, Section 7
UDL - Transition Portfolio
• A UDL approach to teaching encourages multiple
means of student learning evaluations.
• In addition to quizzes, students complete many career
exploration activities that are saved and printed to
culminate in a student-centered career portfolio.
• These portfolios should be customized to the student
and students are encouraged to personalize their
materials to reflect their interests and personality.
• Note to teachers: Make sure all students have a three
ring binder to compile their materials in and access to a
printer.
Student Feedback of UDL Supports
• Of the students who used the
supports in 2006-07:
– 84.1% found Guided Notes either
very helpful or helpful
– 76.7% found Review Sheets either
very helpful or helpful
– 73.2% found the Glossary either
very helpful or helpful
Transition Gains Made through the
EnvisionIT Curriculum*
Knowledge of Finding Jobs
• Experimental students with and without
disabilities had significant gains in knowledge
in finding jobs post-test compared to control
students.
Finding information about colleges
• Experimental students with disabilities had
greater gains in reported ability to find college
information, compared to control students
with disabilities.
Izzo, Yurick, Nagaraja & Novak, (2010). Effects of a 21st Century
Curriculum on Students’ IT and Transition Skills, Career Development
for Exceptional individuals
25
Sample PowerPoint:
Maggie
My EnvisionIT
PowerPoint
Presentation
26
VARK
I have a Read – Write Learning Style.
I learn best by having something written
down in front of me.
I also learn best by writing things down
because I cannot remember things if I
don’t
I learn best by reading and writing.
27
Personality Type
 I am a I.S.F.J. Personality Type.
 I have a practical and conservative approach to
life.
 I am quiet and caring and possess a inner strength
and depth.
 I naturally put a greater value on what I see, hear
and feel, then on theories.
 I am protective of people who I am close to, and
always use my personal values to make a choice
that is right for me.
 I can be relied on to be thoughtful, cooperative
and considerate in the way I deal with people in
my life.
28
My Style Color: Yellow
My style color is yellow.
I perform my job responsibilities in a
manner that is orderly and planned
to meet a known schedule.
I prefer to work where things get done
with minimum interruption and change.
29
My Interest Color: Blue
My interest color is blue.
I like jobs and careers that involve
creative, humanistic thoughtful, quiet
types of activities.
Some jobs that might suit me are child
care worker or photographer.
30
My Postsecondary
Employment Goal
After High School, I will obtain a job at a
Child Care Center.
I love to work with children and to travel.
My second career interest is to be a
photographer.
I could take pictures of the kids and give
them to their parents.
31
Education/Training Goals
and Services
 Postsecondary Education and Training Goal
After high school, I will enroll in child care classes
at Columbus State Community College.
 Annual Goal:
 I will complete the Delaware Area Career Center
course in childcare by completing all
assignments/quizzes and planning lessons.
 Transition Services:
- Volunteer in our church preschool program
- Apply for Rehabilitation Services
32
Education:
Child Care Worker
Minimum Requirements- High School
Diploma
Maximum Requirements- Bachelors or
Masters Degree in Child Care
33
Effective Procedures Beyond
the Classroom
• Linking up students with the district’s
Transition Coordinator to assist
students with follow-up activities
• Sharing Transition portfolios
PowerPoint presentations at IEP/IPE
meetings
34
Case Study – Student 1
• African-American male
• Cognitively Delayed, Speech Disorder, ESL, PostTraumatic Stress
• Before EnvisionIT - wanted to be a doctor
• After EnvisionIT - he is planning on attending the
career center for Facility Maintenance (more realistic
goal)
35
Case Study – Student 2
• White male
• Learning Disabilities in reading and writing
• Before EnvisionIT - no clue what he wanted to do for a
career; knew he wanted to attend OSU
• After EnvisionIT –
– He feels that he knows what careers match his
interests and preferences
– He wants to be a computer designer or a
photographer
– Is working on scheduling job shadowing
experiences with the district’s Transition
Coordinator
36
EnvisionIT Pilot Sites
2007-10
• Ohio State School for the Blind (OSSB).
• One Career Tech High School.
• Two large urban districts.
• Ideal implementation at OSSB –
integrated across 9 – 12th grades!
37
EnvisionIT Results
Transition:
• 61% of experimental students who were
undecided at pretest had a career goal posttest.
• Only 5% of experimental students who had a
career goal pretest reported being undecided
posttest compared to 13% of control students.
Information Literacy Results:
• Experimental students performed significantly
better on the IT Literacy posttest compared to
control students
– F = 10.99 (272), p=.001.
Pre-Post Mean Increase of Information Literacy
by Group, Reading Level and Setting
Results for 2007-08:
Experimental: n=153
Control: n=134
-Statistical significance (p < .05)
for all categories except
• SwD and AIMS Intensive
• Raw data gains suggests
Experimental
that EnvisionIT increased
Control
IT literacy
10
8
6
4
2
Izzo, Yurick, Nagaraja, Novak, 2010,
Effects of a 21st Century
Curriculum on Students IT and
Transition Skills.
0
Rural
Suburban
AIMS Benchmark
AIMS Strategic
AIMS Intensive
10th-12th Graders
SwoD
SwD
Total Sample
-2
39
Pre-Post Mean Increase by Group
Goal Setting, Finding Jobs & College Info
Results for 2007-08
Experimental (n=153)
Control (n=134)
Statistical Significance (p=.05)
• Goal setting for SwD
• Knowledge of finding
jobs for Swd and SwoD,
• Knowledge of finding
college info for SwD
Izzo et al. 2010, CDEI 33(2)
40
AIMSWeb Reading Results
• Six 9th graders who are deaf/HH, five 12th
graders from tech program
• 8 of the 11 students moved at least 1
classification posttest.
• 3 of the 11 students moved from
intensive to benchmark.
• The range of improvement was 5% to
44%.
41
Pre-Post Reading Results of Students
with HI or LD using AIMSWeb
Assessment
100%
90%
80%
% Correct
70%
60%
Correct Pre
Correct Post
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
42
E-Mentoring
2009-2010 Results (N=97)
• Information Technology Literacy gains
statistically significant for experimental
group
• Trend data reveals that Transition
Knowledge did increase, just not enough to
attain statistical significance for
experimental group. Evidence to suggest
that intervention helps students with and
without disabilities improve Transition
Knowledge.
43
2010-11 Descriptive Characteristics by Group
(N=120)
EXP (n=38) CONT (n=82)
Percent with Disabilities
31.58
28.05
Percent without Disabilities
68.42
71.95
Percent Male
44.74
47.56
Percent Female
55.26
52.44
Percent African American
44.74
46.34
Percent Caucasian
50.00
43.90
Percent Hispanic
2.63
3.66
Percent Asian American
0.00
1.22
Percent Other
2.63
4.88
Conclusion: Though CONT group is twice as big as EXP group, the
groups are proportionately balanced in their composition.
44
2010-2011
IT Literacy Gains
N=120
12
10
8
EXP
CONT
6
4
2
0
IT LIT PRE
IT LIT POST
Conclusion: Experimental group increased IT Literacy significantly
compared to control group.
45
2010-2011
Transition Knowledge (TK) Gains
16
14
12
10
EXP
CONT
8
6
4
2
0
TK PRE
TK POST
Conclusion: Students in the experimental group increased
their performance significantly on the Transition
Knowledge test, as compared to the control group.
46
2010-2011
AIMS Web Reading Gains
Conclusion: Intervention helps students with disabilities in reading as
measured by their AIMS web score.
For EXP group change in AIM score was similar between students with and
without disabilities.
For CONTROL group change in AIM score was much worse for students with
disabilities.
47
Scale-UP EnvisionIT:
2012-2016
•
•
•
•
•
2013-14: Final Revisions to Curriculum
Recruitment of Pilot Sites in 2012-13
Title 1 districts
TA provided by UCEDD and state dep’t
Texas UCEDDs:
•
•
Center on Disability and Development, Texas
A&M, College Station TX
Texas Center for Disability Studies, U of Texas at
Austin
48
Discussion
• E-Mentoring curriculum makes a positive difference
in the lives of students with and without disabilities.
• Project utilizes experimental pretest-posttest design
in school settings. Challenges:
– Student attrition and engagement.
– Teacher fidelity.
– Technology access.
• Learning supports are essential as is teacher-led
instruction in gaining positive results for students.
49
Student Quotes about
E-Mentoring:
• “I like having a mentor who
understands me.”
• “My mentor gave me motivation, I
learned about college.”
• “We taught each other things.”
• “It is helpful to be encouraged.”
• “My mentor gives me helpful
feedback on my coursework.”
50
Mentor Quotes about
E-Mentoring
• “Being blind growing up, without any
blind/VI mentors around, I really felt like
I wanted to contribute in some way. I
think this program is great and I hope it
continues.”
• “The mentor role is rewarding.”
• “Teachers are reporting gains in
student progress in school and other
areas.”
51
Student Comments:
• “Before E-Mentoring, I had no
idea what I wanted to do, I was
interested in so many different
things. It helped me decide what
careers best suited my skills.”
• “E-Mentoring allows me to have
some flexibility to change my
mind in the future.”
• “Before I wasn’t searching the
Internet in the right way, but EMentoring taught me how to
search differently.”
Additional Resources
• Nisonger Center:
• http://www.nisonger.osu.edu/specialedtransition
• NSTTAC: http://www.nsttac.org/
• DCDT: www.dcdt.org