Maryland Transition Initiative
Baltimore, Maryland
Contact
Dennis Snyder
Project Director
Maryland Transition Initiative
2301 Argonne Drive
Baltimore, Maryland 21218-1696
Phone: 410-554-9417
Fax: 410-554-9412
E-mail: mcsnyder@aol.com
Website: www.msde.state.md.us
Mission
All students with disabilities are entitled to a free and appropriate public education that includes the necessary services to transition into their identified next environment. The agencies that provide those transition services must work cooperatively to develop a system of service delivery that is efficient, effective, and fiscally responsible. The Maryland Transition Initiative is charged with assisting all participants to identify their goals, identify new resources, combine existing resources, and implementing systemic change for a more efficient delivery system.
Career Connections (Maryland’s School-to-Careers):
Career Connections will support education reform, economic development, and work force development in Maryland through the creation of a new learning enterprise jointly designed by community partners. Local teams composed of employers, parents, teachers, students, employees, labor leaders, and other community members will create opportunities for students to pursue multiple paths to productive careers. Each student will participate in a challenging, purposeful program of study that takes place in both school and work settings to blend theory and application. High expectations, coupled with adequate support, will challenge each learner to achieve mastery of the academic work and life skills required to pursue flexible career paths and life-long learning in the 21st century.
Organization
Organization Type: Education Agency- State; Rehabilitation Agency- State
Geographical Area: State or commonwealth
Primary Setting: State-wide through local subgrants
Funding: External funding source- State School-to-Work Implementation Grant & State Transition Systems Change Grant
Consumers
Target Population: Adults with disabilities, Youth who have dropped out of school, Postsecondary education students, Secondary education students, Elementary education students, Teachers or faculty, Community service providers, Parents, Business people or employer, Teachers or trainers, Other trainers, Other youth
Disability Areas: All disabilities
NTA Framework Categories
Description
The Maryland Transition Initiative and Career Connections are structured to provide local implementation grants. During the planning for the first round of subgrants, there was a commitment by MTI and Career Connections to engage, as much as possible, in a joint process. This commitment engendered local collaboration regarding development of systems change initiatives that incorporates a multi-disciplinary approach to successful transition from school to careers for ALL students.
Representatives from both grants jointly developed the grant application, coincided public dissemination of Request for Proposals (RFP), and conducted joint technical assistance for development of the implementation grants. Technical assistance was provided by staff from Career Technology and Adult Learning (the lead agency for the Career Connections grant within the Maryland State Department of Education) and MTI regarding the required integration of the grants. Request for Proposals went out to local areas.
The development of a comprehensive grant application for both grants required a level of collaboration greater than previous competitions. The collaboration was required not only from various disciplines within the education framework but also from the community, employers, parents, and students. The required collaboration also moved from the secondary and post-secondary environments to include middle and elementary schools. The Maryland Transition Initiative and Career Connections Service Delivery Areas (SDAs) are aligned for easy joint implementation of systems change initiatives. Local Labor Market teams throughout the state have representation on all committees from special education, career and technology, post-secondary, guidance, rehabilitation, and the employer community.
The priorities from the RFPs were indicated as follows:
The purpose of the RFP was to expand effective strategies to provide students with access to career-based education and work-based learning. The strategies and effective practices address the goals of preparing every student who exits the entitlement of public school to transition into career-oriented employment or further education, and providing every student with learning rich work-related experiences that combine work and school-based learning and connecting activities.
Multi-disciplinary representation from Career Connections and MTI was required for successful grant applications. Career development was supported by both MTI and Career Connections staff, and integration of activities was required.
Subgrant proposals for MTI and Career Connections were reviewed and rated by a multi-disciplinary team that included MTI and Career Connections representatives. Award letters to the lead agency were signed by both grants. Six-month and yearly site visits to funded sites are conducted by representatives from both groups.
These joint grant activities have resulted in an ever-growing collaborative spirit throughout the state that reflects an inclusive philosophy and truly inclusive activities for students with disabilities in Career Connections.
Evidence of Success
RFP subgrants:
Success Story
An Integrated Grant Process Between Career Connections and the Maryland Transition Initiative
When local entities were invited to submit proposals for the Maryland Transition Initiative (MTI) subgrants, they were required to integrate their planned activities with the larger Career Connections grants (the federal School to Work Opportunities Act state grants). The values of inclusion, higher standards, professional development and systemic change all needed to be addressed in the grant application. In Mid-Maryland (a two-county service delivery area), this challenge was addressed in a unique and comprehensive manner.
The Mid-Maryland Career Connections grant (originally submitted and funded during the 1995-96 school year) included creation of a student portfolio. This portfolio would be introduced in ninth grade and be used throughout the students’ high school experience. The grant identified the development of the portfolio as a year four and five activity (1999-2000). The grant also identified the pilot target population as those students who had college as a goal, with subsequent rollouts to other populations.
A multi-disciplinary team, with representatives from both counties, was organized to identify activities within the larger Career Connections that the smaller MTI grant could address. The MTI grant added the requirement that the activities must address the needs of students with disabilities. The work group developing the MTI grant proposal identified the expansion of the Career Portfolio activities as its focus.
The MTI subgrant was awarded during the 1997-98 school year. National research was conducted to identify a framework for the Career Portfolio. The team decided to build the portfolio on the Maryland Skills for Success (Learning Skills, Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, Technology Skills, and Interpersonal Skills), the state board-identified skills that all students must master to graduate from a Maryland high school. Use of this framework allowed the Career Portfolio to be completed by a broad range of students, from gifted and talented students to students with disabilities who would be exiting with a certificate at age 21.
The team leveraged first-year MTI funding to develop the model portfolio, bring together a work team that created rubrics and indicators for success, and purchase 2,000 student and teacher binders. The entire portfolio is linked to the Maryland School Performance Program. This accountability and school reform measures at both the state and local level.
Pilot groups were identified in both counties. The original plan was to pilot the Career Portfolio with a limited number of 11th and 12th grade students, some who receive special education services and some general education students, in both counties. Because of the extreme interest from the initial invited group of pilot participants, the group has expanded to members of the Freshman Scholars’ program (all ninth graders with a 2.8 grade point average after the first semester) at two high schools, three classes of students with significant disabilities who will stay in school until age 21, and a cohort of students with mild and moderate learning disabilities who receive itinerant special education services.
The work group has developed student, teacher, employer, parent, and administrator evaluation forms and processes. Implementation of the Career Portfolio will begin in the spring of 1999. Initial evaluations will be conducted during the summer, with plans being developed for additional implementation during the 1999-2000 school year.
In addition, the two-county work group is exploring the possibility of making the Career Portfolio an electronic product and a hard copy binder. This would further promote the Skill for Success of Technology Skills.