AGE APPROPRIATE TRANSITION ASSESSMENT: Some insights and practical information

1. AGE APPROPRIATE TRANSITION ASSESSMENT: Some insights and practical information Korteringlj@appstate.edu NATIONAL Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center (nsttac.org)

2. WHY DO AN AGE APPROPRIATE TRANSITION ASSESSMENT? • Efficient process that is predictive • Great way to develop rapport w/ students • Students enjoy it • Generates useful and relevant information • Legally required in meeting the requirements of Indicator 13 (see http://www.nsttac.org ) • Helps you understand the student in a new way • Provides students with an opportunity to learn about themselves while making connections between school and future careers

3. CONCEPTUALIZING THE ROLE OF TRANSITION ASSESSMENT

4. WHAT CAN STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT • Do I have a chance at success in college or further training ? (measures of potential to learn and achievement) • What factors are influencing my career ambitions? (family and student background, work history, peers) • What are my interests? (We have countless ways to assess this) • Do I have any special talents that an employer might value? (measure of aptitude and skill) • Why am I having problems on my current job? (we have ways to assess one’s work adjustment) • Can you help me understand my personality relative to school and work? (we really like the SSQ for this)

5. WHAT CAN TEACHERS LEARN • Identify student interests which are key to motivation • Identify outside features that may hinder a student’s ability to pursue a realistic career • Identify ways to help individual students to be more successful in their classes • Identify reasons why individual students are having problems with certain content or teachers

6. AREAS OF ASSESSMENT INFORMATION • Achievement and Mental Ability scores from the current psychological report, especially academic and learning potential • Physical functioning - endurance, mobility, and performance • Family and student background – learning about factors affecting their career ambitions • Job Samplings – recreate community jobs in your school • Work Site Evaluations – placing students on real community jobs • Work Adjustment – how well are students adjusting to the job site

7. VOCATIONAL ASSESSMENT: + and - • Time efficient and cheap:) • Fairly predictive • Non-academic focus • The right instruments are reliable and valid • Students love it while learning about themselves • You learn about students • Indicator 13 requires it • Snapshot of reality • Often requires training and experience for proper interpretation • Requires a conceptual understanding of career development • Some tests or tools are dated and have limited information (manual) • Many instruments promise everything in a short time (think diet pills)

8. TRANSITION ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY • TAKING THE TESTS TO SEE HOW GOOD OR BAD THEY ARE

9. WHERE DO STUDENTS LEARN GENERAL EMPLOYABIITY SKILLS? WHERE DO THEY LEARN SPECIFIC EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS? HOW DO THEY OBTAIN WORLD OF WORK KNOWLEDGE? WHERE IS THE MATCH.COM SITE? HOW DO I HELP THEM WITH COLLEGE PLANNING OR FURTHER TRAINING? HELPING KIDS SOLVE THE ‘PRODUCTIVE’ CAREER PUZZLE

10. WHAT STUDENTS SAY ABOUT THE ASSESSMENTS: • 90% or more report enjoying the process, recommending it for their friends, and report having learned something about themselves • 85% report what they ‘liked’ best about the process (learning about themselves, learning about jobs, or enjoying it) • 65% report what the liked least (questions were to many or took too long, process was boring) • Note: N of 124 and growing

11. IMPACT ON CAREER DECISION MAKING: • NOsignificant impact on various indices of career decision making relative to a job they identified as suitable: • Perceived preparedness for a selected job; • readiness for that job; • ability to find job; • knowledge of that job’s requirements; and • knowledge of how to find that job • Note: N = 32

12. GENERAL CHALLENGES YOU WILL ENCOUNTER • Response sets (e.g., flat score or other unique response patterns) • Youth’s with little or now world of work knowledge or experience which affects scores • Interests or preferences are the least stable of measures, yet the most often measured • Impact of limited access to role models (parents, siblings, other adults in their life) • Impact of their handicap • Impact of one’s gender and culture • Matching results to actual programs • The issue of self-reported vs. performance measures • Inaccurate understanding of talents and limitations • Emerging sources of influence including television and the internet

13. CONSIDERATIONS RELATIVE TO THE SDS – various forms • The ‘Rule of 7’ • Round pegs fitting best in round holes concept (person/environment match) • Uneven distribution of job and personal types (rule of asymmetrical distribution) • Hexagon concept • The single most widely researched career assessment

14. REALISTIC Holland’s Theory INVESTIGATIVE ARTISTIC CONVENTIONAL SOCIAL ENTERPRISING

15. HOLLAND CODES AND NATIONAL DATA (2004) • Realistic jobs account for 30% of jobs (though this is declining), S for 20% (fastest growing), I is at 18% (growing), E and C about 15% (slight growth) • Artistic jobs are 1% (very stable rate) • I jobs pay over twice the money as other job areas • SR jobs are the highest area of growth • 75% and 85% of men are in R or E jobs, respectively • Women have a much more even distribution led by C, R, & S • By 2015 the distribution of jobs is projected as SRICEA • Today it is RECSIA

16. NEW WORK WORLD • Emerging knowledge-based economy • Emerging labor pattern of job changes (average of 11 or more for today’s youth) • 21 of the 25 fastest growing occupations require 2 or more years of college • In 1970, 36% of us had not completed high school and 38% had only a high school education; today the respective rates are 15% and 60% • College grads are really the only ones experiencing wage growth (dropouts real median income has dropped by over 20% since 1980)

17. TOOLS OF THE TRADE: Formal and Informal • I RECOMMEND THE USE OF BOTH • FORMAL INSTRUMENTS HAVE EVIDENCE (general reliability and validity, outside use) • INFORMAL ARE MORE PRACTICAL IN NATURE AND LESS EXPENSIVE (often free) • IF YOU WERE A PARENT OF A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT, WHAT TYPES WOULD YOU WANT TO BASE THEIR EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM ON?

18. SAMPLE TESTS AND RELATED TOOLS • General interview or survey about school, interests, work history and family jobs at: • Student Style Questionnaire (Pro-Ed in Austin, TX) • Self-Directed Search Forms Explorer, E, and R (several vendors) • Transition Planning Inventory (Pro Ed in Austin, TX) • Some measure of actual talents or aptitudes (Differential Aptitude Test, Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, Occupational Aptitude Survey and Interest Schedules - 3, General Aptitude Test Battery & Wiessen Test of Mechanical Comprehension) • Information from current psychological report (e.g., IQ and achievement scores) • Two (free) online resources: http://www.caseylifeskills.org/ • and http://www.pepnet.org/itransition.asp

19. OTHER USEFUL RESOURCES • A Counselor’s Guide to Career Assessment Instruments (National Career Development Association) • Informal Assessments for Transitions: Independent living and community participation (Pro Ed) • Assess for Success: A practitioner’s handbook on transition assessment (Corwin Press) • Assessment for Effective Intervention (Spring of 2007 issue) • Handbook on Measurement and Evaluation in Rehabilitation (Aspen Publishing) • O’NET website: http://online.onetcenter.org/

20. COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS • Is there a single, inexpensive, easy to use tool I can use with all my students? • Do I need parental permission to use these assessment tools? • What tools can I use with students having intellectual disabilities or more severe disabling conditions? • Is there anyone who can help me with this stuff? • Do I need parental permission for these assessments? • What about these free meals you offer?