Baltimore Start On Success
Baltimore, Maryland
Contact
Deborah Johnson
Curriculum Specialist, Special Populations and Equity
Office of Career and Technology Education
Baltimore City Public School System
200 East North Avenue, Room 317
Baltimore, Maryland 21202-5984
Phone: 410-396-8550
Fax: 410-396-8491
E-mail: djohnson04@bcps.k12.md.us
Mission
Urban districts face unique challenges in providing effective transition services to youth with disabilities. Concerns impacting transition include large populations of special needs students, inadequate personnel preparation and limited family involvement. These factors combine with ongoing fiscal resource issues to create potential barriers to preparing youth with disabilities for post-school employment.
The Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS), in collaboration with workFirst, Inc., implemented the Start on Success (SOS) program to prepare urban youth with disabilities for competitive employment. SOS was designed to use the expertise of the partner agencies to ameliorate some of the transition barriers and improve the post-school outcomes of its participants.
Organization
Organization Type: Education Agency: Local; Rehabilitation Agency: State, Local; Business; Other: National Organization on Disability
Geographical Area: Urban area
Primary Setting: Community-based training site, Hospital setting, High school, Self-contained class in public school, Competitive employment worksite, Supported employment worksite
Funding: Federal School-to-Work Implementation Grant
Consumers
Target Population: Secondary education students with disabilities
Disability Areas: All disabilities
NTA Framework Categories
Description
Start on Success (SOS), a program developed through the National Organization on Disability (NOD), is an introductory on-the-job intern-program for high school students with disabilities. Currently, projects are operating in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Alabama. The factors that precipitated the development of SOS correspond with local concerns related to dismal post-school employment rates of youth with disabilities.
The Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS), in collaboration with work First, Inc., implemented the Baltimore Start on Success program to prepare urban youth with disabilities for competitive employment. Fifteen students who attend Frederick Douglass High School receive work-based curriculum combined with entry-level job opportunities within the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS). The project outcome is the placement of all participants in competitive or supported employment or training upon school exit or graduation.
Research indicates that high school work experience is one of the best predictors of postsecondary employment of youth with disabilities. The SOS project provides an opportunity to improve participants' employment outcomes while identifying "new collaborative ways" to use the expertise of partner agencies to transition urban youth with disabilities from school to work.
Beginning in February 1999, the second cohort of 15 seniors who were receiving special education services participated in a semester-long community-based work experience program designed to prepare them for post-school competitive employment. These students received school-based functional academic and life skills instruction combined with paid entry-level job opportunities on the campus of the University of Maryland Medical System. Students attended school half day and used public transportation to go to work for the second half of the day.
BCPSS conducted the employability skills instruction, workFirst, Inc. coordinated the vocational supports and linkages, and UMMS provided the worksites for this group of transitioning seniors. Undergraduate and graduate social work students were trained and compensated to work as job coaches. In June 1999, at the end of the school year, workFirst, Inc. assisted participants in obtaining competitive employment and/or training and will provide "booster shots" of employment support over the next year.
Over 50% of second-year costs were provided through fees for services and in-kind contributions. BCPSS provided program management and school-based coordination. UMMS contributed office space and internal coordination services. Division of Rehabilitation Services (DORS) funding was accessed to support post-school placement and training. NOD raised the remaining funds from private foundations to ensure the continued success of this replication project.
The Year III Baltimore SOS program will expand to serve students with more significant disabilities who attend a different school. Twenty-five exiting seniors will participate. Commitments for additional worksites have been made by the University of Maryland at Baltimore (UMAB) whose campus of professional schools surrounds UMMS. School-based instruction in community participation skills and work-related computer literacy is to be implemented this year.
Evidence of Success
Updated 10/27/00