Project Excel
Springfield, Massachusetts

Contact

Mary A. Moriarty
Coordinator of Disability Services/ADA Coordinator/Project Director
Springfield Technical Community College
1 Armory Square
Springfield, Massachusetts 01101-9000
Phone: 413-755-4449
Phone: 413-755-4883
Fax: 413-731-0978
E-mail: marym@mail.stcc.mass.edu
E-mail: kkozuch@stcc.mass.edu
Website: www.stcc.mass.edu/projectexcel/excel.html

Mission

The Office of Disability Services strives to achieve equal educational and program opportunities and full participation within the college community for persons with disabilities.

The Office works in a proactive manner within the college to identify and remove physical, programmatic and attitudinal barriers and maintains an ongoing review to ensure that new barriers are not erected. To this end, the Office seeks to implement the college's commitment to excellence in education in a barrier-free environment.

Organization

Organization Type: Community college or two-year college

Geographical Area:  Urban area

Primary Setting:  Community college

Funding: External funding source:  Other:  United States Department of Education, National Institute on Postsecondary Education, Libraries and Lifelong Learning PR Award #R309F60067

Consumers

Target Population: Adults with disabilities, postsecondary education students with disabilities, teachers or faculty, postsecondary education, business people or employer

Disability Areas: Deaf, hearing impairment, orthopedic impairment, multi-disabled, severe emotional disturbance/emotional disability/behavior disorder, specific learning disability, visual impairment, autism, traumatic brain injury, epilepsy

NTA Framework Categories

• Career Pathways and Contextual Learning
• Structures and Policies

Description

College students with disabilities at Springfield (MA) Technical Community College who were career undecided were given the opportunity to participate in a three-year project funded by the United States Department of Education, Post Secondary Institute on Lifelong Learning. In the first year of the project, 50 students who identified as having a disability were surveyed to assess their knowledge of the abilities and skills necessary to fulfill their vocational goals, and were asked to identify any obstacles to employment they felt they would encounter in reaching these goals. Intensive career and job placement guidance and support were provided to these students over three years. The project has been successful in the areas of retention, job placement, and participation in volunteer, internship, cooperative education and work study placements to enhance career development.

Unique to this project is the use of a holistic delivery mechanism where specially trained faculty and counselors work cooperatively to deliver, not only traditional advising and instructional activities but also adaptive academic support, career planning and job placement as an educational team. Additionally, a faculty/staff development program, including workshops on uses of adaptive technologies for the workplace, metacognitive strategies, and ADA workshops on the rights of students with disabilities and college services, took place. The project then surveyed both faculty and staff to assess any changes in attitudes and practices of those participating relative to the project's intended goals of successful career development.

A key feature of the project was the use and promotion of adaptive equipment to enhance the learning and employability of persons with disabilities. In order to sensitize employers to the capability enhancement that can result from reasonable accommodations for workers with disabilities, a video was developed as a job-placement facilitation tool and won national acclaim.

Finding effective career planning tools that can accommodate the unique needs of students with disabilities in higher education is not easy. Project EXCEL staff have proven that effective and comprehensive career planning and identification of experiential work experiences can increase the employability of graduates with disabilities. As the population of students with disabilities continues to rise on college campuses across the country, career guidance personnel need to be aware of their unique needs and how to address them efficiently and cost effectively.

Evidence of Success

• Seventy-two percent of first-year EXCEL participants were retained throughout the three-year period while only 52% of the first-year nonparticipants (control group) were retained.
• By 1999, 34% (N=17) of the Year One participants had graduated from STCC, 6 of whom were also continuing their education. Thirty-eight percent were still enrolled.
• Sixty-six percent of the second-year EXCEL participants were retained while only 43% of the second-year nonparticipants were retained.
• For Year One students, 52% (N=26) of the EXCEL students were working, 15 students in full-time positions and 11 in part-time positions. Only 22% (N=11) of the control group students had jobs; 8 students working full-time and three students working part-time.
• Students who had more contact with the development coordinator were more likely to be employed (Pearson's R=.259, p=.069), and students who had more contact with the career counselor were more likely to be employed (Pearson's R=.266, p=.062).
• In a student follow-up survey of satisfaction of services, students were asked to give satisfaction ratings on a 4-point scale with 1 as the lowest satisfaction rating and 4 as the highest for those services they had used. The results are as follows:

• One-on-one career counseling with the student/staff development coordinator received a mean rating of 3.86. Twenty-eight of the 35 respondents indicated receiving this counseling.
• "Help choosing which classes to take" and "workbook exercises from Narrowing Down the World of Work" had means of 3.78 and 3.75, respectively.
• "Informational interviews with individuals working in your chosen career fields" (mean= 3.12)
• "Use of Cooperative Education Job Bank binders" (mean=3.80)
• "Use of the job bulletin board in the Adaptive Computer Lab" (mean=3.78)
• "Use of Quick Results in Your Job Search manual" (mean 3.75)
• "Referral to Future Works, state employment agency" (mean=3.18)
• "Computer tutoring" (mean=3.73)
• "Use of adaptive and assistive technology in the Adaptive Computer Lab" (mean=3.71)

• Compared to nonparticipants, first-year EXCEL students had higher mean grade point averages of 2.70 compared to nonparticipants’ mean GPA's of 2.33 (F=3.043, p=.084)
• Higher GPAs were positively correlated with the number of contacts students had with the development coordinator such that the students who had more contacts had higher GPAs (Pearson's R=.271, p=.057)
• Compared to a mean GPA of 2.04 of nonparticipants, second-year students had a mean GPA of 2.50 (F=2.237, p=.139). Using a significance level of .1, the grade point averages differences between EXCEL students and nonparticipants are not statistically significant. However, with another year in the program, the difference may become significant.
• Baseline information was collected anonymously from faculty relative to their current level of comfort, their beliefs and attitudes concerning career education and job referral of students with disabilities. Fifty-six percent of the full-time faculty members who attended meetings with Project EXCEL administrators returned the surveys. Using a Likert-scale inventory, the faculty were surveyed prior to involvement to establish the pre-grant climate attitudes on campus toward students with disabilities. A second attitudinal survey was conducted at the end of the second year of the study to determine any changes in beliefs or practices that arose from professional development activities conducted as part of the study. (Note: Respondents to the second survey did not necessarily respond to the first survey. Therefore, this study represents a time series analysis of the same general population with two somewhat different samples.) Of the 19 statements to which respondents were asked to agree or disagree, only 4 showed statistically significant differences between first year and second year. The results are as follows:

• In the first year, 39.7% of faculty disagreed and 36.2% agreed with the statement that "services for students with disabilities are commonly known on the STCC campus." Only 7.1% of second-year respondents disagreed while 40.5% agreed (chi square=18.27, p=.001). However, most of the change was movement toward neutrality, not agreement. These results indicate that prior to educational training and workshops, a substantial proportion of faculty did not think services were commonly known, and now they are simply unsure whether the services are known or not.
• In the first year, 14.1% of the faculty disagreed with the statement, "many students with disabilities are enrolled in unrealistic career track programs." In the second year, 47.3% of the faculty disagree with the statement (chi square=17.06, p=.002). This may indicate that faculty members are beginning to believe that perhaps most career tracks are not unrealistic for students with disabilities.
• In the first year, 20.7% of the faculty strongly disagreed with the statement, "faculty are knowledgeable about issues that relate to disability." Of second-year respondents, only 2.5% strongly disagreed. Again, the primary shift was toward neutrality, but with continued exposure to professional development activities, the attitudes could shift to agreement.
• Eighty-three percent of first-year respondents agreed (47% of those strongly agreed) with the statement that "a potential employer should have the right to ask questions about the applicants' disabilities and how they will affect their job performance." Sixty-eight percent (26% strongly agreed) of second-year respondents agreed with the statement. These numbers are still high, but there was a movement away from the extreme position. All presentations by EXCEL staff referred to the illegal nature of asking questions regarding a student's disability.
• An attendance scale (number of professional development activities faculty attended) was cross-tabulated with the statements in the surveys and found two statistically significant correlations.

· The more sessions respondents attended, the more likely they were to disagree with the statement "employees with disabilities require more time of their supervisors than employees who are not disabled" (Pearson's R=-.44, p=.006).

· The more sessions attended, the more likely respondents were to agree with the statement "it is reasonable to require an employer to have a height-adjustable desk for an employee who uses a wheelchair" (Pearson's R=.29, p=.081)

· In response to the directions to indicate "the number of students with disabilities [they] have referred to employers," 52.4% (N=20) of first-year respondents had referred students with disabilities to employers compared to 58.6% of second-year respondents. Given the low numbers of faculty respondents, these differences are not statistically significant.

· The number of students with disabilities referred to employers was cross-tabulated with the number of educational sessions faculty members attended. While one might assume that faculty members who attended more sessions might refer more students with disabilities to employers, no significant correlation resulted.

• Overall, significant measurable changes in faculty attitudes were not found in the study. However, there was a move from negativity to neutrality on many of the items measured. This leads the researchers to believe that there might be continued movement over a more extended period of time. It is more likely that gradual changes will occur more because of increased awareness, experiences with students with disabilities and a collaborative team effort between faculty and staff.

Success Story

Year-One Participants

"L" was a General Studies transfer student who was referred to our office by her advisor. "L" had a long history of manic depressive illness, having spent a several years in residential care before returning to complete public high school. She also has had multiple psychiatric hospitalizations that included suicide attempts and is taking medications for her psychiatric disorder. She was diagnosed with Chronic Demyelinating Polyneuropathy while in college.

Her work history consisted of employment as a deli clerk at a food store. Frequently during her work with the development counselor, she worked on issues that arose with her supervisor, her co-workers, and customers. She reports not having had vocational guidance while in high school and little career focus. "I know I want to work with troubled kids." Supportive counseling was essential in helping her to maintain the job as a deli clerk while she completed her studies.

Services from the project began in February 1997 with one-on-one career counseling (bi-weekly meetings) and "L" continues to receive services even after graduation. "L" also received support from an adaptive lab technician, academic accommodations, tutors, and the project's job developer. She was an active participant in the project. After in-depth career exploration, "L" decided to pursue a human service track with a goal of becoming a teacher. She actively began looking for work shortly before graduation in May 1998, with the project assisting her with her interviewing skills and providing her with resume writing training. She continued to receive job counseling and support after graduation. "L" received her first offer of employment in July 1998. She accepted a position as a full-time residential staff person at a local human service agency that paid $8.27/hour. She remains there almost two years later and has received annual pay increases. "L" has also acquired certifications through the agency to further enhance her resume. She has had no recurrent hospitalizations in almost 3.5 years.

Case Two

"M" is a single mother of a 7-year-old girl who came to school after leaving the military. She had been working at United Parcel Service as a truck driver but had sustained an injury that left her unable to continue at that job. She was separated from her job with UPS and received a workers' compensation package. She came to school in 1995 through the Division of Continuing Education with no career direction. In the military she had served four years in the health field as a medical corpsman. Before entering the Army, she attended a four-year school but was an undeclared major and withdrew after the first year due to poor grades.

As part of the project, "M" participated in extensive career counseling that included job shadowing and interviewing with several people in health-related occupations. After determining that she enjoyed intellectual challenges, including a strong interest in the sciences, and had a sincere interest in working with people, it became clear that she would enjoy a career in a health-related occupation. She also ascertained that she needed to get a degree within three years, due to financial concerns for caring for her daughter. She was sustaining herself and her daughter on child support payments and through financial support from her family. While she would have liked to continue her education, she needed to be marketable by 1999. Since she had prior work experience in a hospital setting, a career in the medical field best suited her needs.

In order to learn more about her potential career path, "M" did numerous interviews with practitioners in the field and on campus. She also utilized the information in the project's Career Center for labor market info, educational requirements, etc. After reviewing the information from the interviews and the research books, she chose to enter the Respiratory Care program. While enrolled in the program, she started clinical affiliations the first semester and after the second semester, she put together a resume and sought employment as a respiratory technician. In July 1998, she began working per diem locally with a wage of $13.54 per hour. She has maintained that position through her final year in the program and accepted a full-time position as a respiratory therapist in July 1999. Later in 1999, she successfully passed the licensing exam for her national boards. Her annual salary is $31,748/year.

Case Three

"S" entered STCC in Fall 1997 determined to quickly make some career choices and finish his education in two years. He had been a small-business operator for the last 20 years and was returning to education after more than 20 years. He was also the single parent of two school-aged children. He had a severe learning disability, which showed itself primarily in reading. To succeed, he would need his books to be read to him or to avail himself of assistive technology. He would also need content tutoring to get through his classes.

Working quickly, "S" chose to enter the Mechanical Technology program in the fall semester. Taking a minimum of 18 credit hours per semester, "S" graduated from the program in May 1999 with honors. Because of the intensity of his coursework, "S" was unable to work while in school. In his final semester, he continued working with the project's staff on his resume and interview skills. He often role-played practice interviews with the staff and organized his job search with their assistance. "S" easily got interviews from the resumes that he sent out in response to job leads, but was unsuccessful at landing a job. Project staff identified some issues in his nonverbal communication during interviews and suggested alternative ways to answer questions. At first, "S" was reluctant to make changes. His difficulty was in understanding the implementation of the suggestions. With much support, "S" did incorporate some of the suggestions into his demeanor.

At times, "S’s" job search was frustrating, as he had not envisioned being out of work for two months following graduation. He worked with the staff to expand his job search to the southern states and the U.S. government. After a successful job interview in Maryland, "S" accepted a position with a southern home remodeling company as a designer at a self-reported salary of $40,000/year. "S" began his new job in September 1999.

Products

A comprehensive career development program for meeting the needs of students with disabilities in the classroom • Kozuch, K. • American College Personnel Association Commission for Career Development Newsletter, 1, 6 • (1998)

Students with disabilities in the classroom: A resource guide for faculty and staff • Kozuch, K. • (1998)

Narrowing down the world of work • Kerner, T., & Kucinski, C. • (1997)

Quick results in your job search • Kerner, T. • (1998)

ACCESSing Ability (film) • Kerner T., & Moriarty, M. • (1997)

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Updated 10/31/00