The Black Hills Special Services Cooperative provides innovative and model practices for serving individuals with disabilities in a rural area of South Dakota. This article reviews the program's history and background, curriculum development, evaluation, and transitional and supported employment utilizing an entrepreneurial model of partnerships…

Young offenders present many challenges to the juvenile justice system, the school system and the labor system as they transfer from residential commitment to their home communities. The challenges can be overwhelming, potentially creating a sense of hopelessness for the community and for the youth. In response to the need for appropriate academic…

To provide transition opportunities for adult education students while preparing them for their General Educational Development (GED) test, Austin Community College (ACC) developed a program called GED Plus. A variety of information sources, including orientation sessions, brochures, telephone inquiries, and site visits to partner agencies, were…

This text aims to provide a comprehensive and cohesive look at theory and practice in transition of persons with mild disabilities. Part I addresses transition's rationale, definitions, components, legislative history, models, related models, and supports and barriers. Part II examines the relationship of secondary and postsecondary special…

The Family, Infant and Preschool Program (FIPP) is an outreach unit of Western Carolina Center located in Morganton, North Carolina. Using a needs-based, social support approach, it provides and mediates child- and family-level resources and services for approximately 300 families of handicapepd and at-risk children, 0-6 years old. The conceptual…

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of a 3-year federally supported project that provided 326 students, ages 18-21, with developmental disabilities employment training through five community colleges and three K-12 system adult education systems. Program sites were in California, Iowa, Ohio, and North Carolina. The program…

This Digest summarizes what is known about the successful transition of children with disabilities from infant/toddler services to preschool education. The ideal transition process is defined and characteristics of an ideal process such as meeting individual needs and providing uninterrupted services are listed. Also noted are issues in the…

Describes a continuing medical education program designed to provide physicians with the information and skills necessary for early intervention. The model provides competency-based training through an introductory seminar and a program of independent study in the areas of child-find, assessment, Individualized Family Service Plan development, and…

Several schools that eschewed the middle school model and remained K-8 discovered anecdotally that their students showed fewer behavioral problems and higher academic achievement than many students enrolled in middle schools. On the basis of studies that verified these observations, school district leaders in Milwaukee, Baltimore, and Philadelphia…

This document describes eight models of local and state special education efforts that are providing viable ways for parents to become more involved in their children's education. The models are designed to develop effective two-way communication and collaboration between parents and teachers, develop methods for parents to actively support their…

This document contains six papers on research about the school-to-work transition. Following an introduction (Nevzer G. Stacey), the first paper, "Determinants and Consequences of Fit between Vocational Education and Employment in Germany" (J. C. Witte, A. L. Kalleberg), concludes from a nationally representative longitudinal study of…

Cooperation between colleges and schools is considered in seven chapters. Attention is directed to academic standards, accelerating students, teacher preparation, experiments in transition, minorities, and special models. The analysis is intended to illustrate the great diversity of partnership activities in progress. In an introduction by Ernest…

The recent wave of accountability reform movements has largely overlooked the needs of middle and high school counselors, yet has generated daunting pressure for guidance programs to be standards-based and data-driven. Written from the perspective of a practicing, certified counselor, this guide contains essential information needed to implement…

This document presents all necessary materials for a complete course at the university level on the transition of students with disabilities from school to adult life. It includes an instructor's guide, a class syllabus, and 16 class lessons. The course is based on the "Taxonomy for Transition Programming," a model of effective transition…

This directory offers a sampling of 74 programs that offer alternatives to traditional special education models for children with disabilities and at-risk children. The programs are classified into nine broad categories of program designs and emphases: (1) alternative curriculum/instructional strategies; (2) instructional management systems; (3)…