Despite legislation, services, and recruitment efforts, research has found that few youth with disabilities enroll in postsecondary schools -- only about 14%, compared to 54% for the general population. Enrollment in two or four year college programs, while a viable option for postsecondary training, is pursued by an even smaller percentage, with completion rates and direct post-training employment remaining dismally low.

To address the barriers that influence these outcomes, this project proposes strategies to be implemented in a community college setting that will:

• help students with disabilities, college personnel and employers determine and implement school and workplace accommodations; and
• provide adjunctive job placement and support for students with disabilities through mainstream college career planning and placement services and cooperative education programs.

The project will have direct impact on ninety (90) students with disabilities, thirty (30) per project year, who will be placed in paid positions in local businesses through the cooperative education and career placement programs of Montgomery College, a comprehensive community college serving over 22,000 students on three campuses in Montgomery County, Maryland. Over 700 identified students with disabilities will benefit indirectly from disability awareness and accommodation training that will be provided campus wide through a network of College faculty and staff who will receive "train the trainers" preparation through this project.

The project will include students with a wide range of disabilities, skills and interests who are either full or part-time enrollees in Montgomery College programs. Project outcomes of increased enrollment and completion of college courses and/or job placement will be achieved through the implementation of the following primary objectives.

The project will:

• Conduct disability awareness training and provide consultation on accommodations to no less than 200 College faculty and staff so that they are comfortable interacting with students with disabilities, competent to accommodate students' learning styles and particular disabilities, and capable of training others to do the same;
• Place ninety (90) students, at least twenty (20) for the first project year and thirty-five (35) per subsequent project years, into competitive, paid work experiences as an adjunct or an integral part of their educational experience;
• Insure the effective transfer of accommodations from the College environment to the employemnt setting for each of the paroject participants by providing pre- and post-employment support to the students, their employers, and appropriate Colelge personnel;
• Link participating students with support services in the community including vocational rehabilitation, social services and other necessary programs and services that have impact on their employment and educational experience;
• Develop and disseminate material on the replicability, effectiveness and maintenance of this approach through project evaluation activities.

The project is designed to insure the continuation of activities that are proven effective through continuing involvement of, training and support to, existing College departments. Montgomery College will collaborate in this project with TransCen, Inc., an organization with proven expertise in employment innovations for people with disabilities, as well as disability awareness and accommodation training.