Ladders to Success will provide services to students with disabilities making the transition from secondary to postsecondary education programs. The project's four main activities are:

• Improving Student Potential- Postsecondary institutions will adequately shape services and respond to the needs of students with disabilities only when those students advocate for themselves and develop self-determination skills, and do so well in advance of their actual entry into postsecondary educational environments. This goal has the following features:
  1. self-identification of learning styles and defining practical accommodations,
  2. instruction in the processes of preparation for an appropriate secondary education,
  3. realistic and non-restrictive counseling with regard to the selection of postsecondary educational programs and fields of study,
  4. active participation of students in the transition planning process.
  5. Inclusion of students, their families, their couselors and their teachers in the planning process,
  6. service and training provided to over 1,500 families in the first two years.

• Accommodating Diverse Learning Styles - Once entry and enrollment has been achieved, postsecondary instructional staff (professors, lecturers, teaching assistants, and counselors) will need training in the art and science of accommodating diverse learning styles. This goal has the following feataures:
  1. training developed and presented with the full participation of college (postsecondary education) students with disabilities. Emphasis will be placed on recruiting student trainers with disabilities who are of minority races,
  2. training developed and presented with the full participation of Disabled Student Services (DSS) Coordinators in the region,
  3. transfer of the knowledge of student accommodations to the employment setting,
  4. provision of disability awareness trainings to postsecondary education personnel,
  5. emphasis on practical ways to make accommodations for students with disabilities,
  6. emphasis on engendering ownership of the training process by postsecondary institutions, and subsequent adoption of the trainings,
  7. coordination with all four Tech Prep Consortia that serve King Count,
  8. service and training to over 1,000 postsecondary staff served by this training in the first two years.

• Evaluation - Several types of program evaluation will be conducted. They are:
  1. pre and post-evaluations will be conducted that key into consumer satisfaction. These evaluations will include qualitative information from both the trainers and the postsecondary staff trained,
  2. participating postsecondary institutions will be surveyed/interviewed pre-implementation to determine what services are currently being provided to students with disabilities and to develop a "disability knowledge base" to guide the training efforts,
  3. qualitative and quantitative instrument, will measure and help us determine functional student outcomes and the value/impact of the training.
  Siegel and others et.al. (1990) state that this type of data is necessary to provide the ammunition to champion improvements and changes in the manner in which education is provided to students with disabilities. The data obtained through longitudinal research should guide educators, administrators, and legislators as they write and modify education policy.

• Continuation - This project will strongly support local ownership of its efforts: Washington's Center for Change in Transition Services will assist in the main activities, and will offer assistance for implementation of the project in nine statewide Educational Service Districts. Project staff will maximize the potential of the project by actively participating in state and county activities and organizations pertinent to its mission (Tech Prep, Workforce Training Board, State Board of Community Colleges,etc.).

The project will potentially double the number of persons served during its final year. Information and materials produced by the project will be distributed to the Washington Association on Higher Education and Disability members throughout Washington. This group represents virtually all postsecondary institutions in Washington.

Project information will also be included three times a year in the Center for Change in Transition Services newsletter, Transition Center News. This publication is distributed to over 1500 secondary and postsecondary educators statewide.

To ensure the transfer of accommodations to the employment arena, representatives from businesses and industries located near the postsecondary institutions will be invited to participate in training opportunities. After the postsecondary training has been completed, documents produced will be distributed to regional VR agencies. Further, informational training on the project will be offered to VR staff.