Post-Secondary Outcomes Data Collection 2008 Jackie Burr, Oregon Department of Education

Effective General Supervision Part B / Effective Transition Indicator 14: Percent of youth who had IEPs, are no longer in secondary school and who have been competitively employed, enrolled in some type of postsecondary school, or both, within one year of leaving high school. (20 U.S.C. 1416(a)(3)(B)) Indicator 14 of the SPP requires that school districts must collect, and Oregon Department of Education (ODE) must report, the percentage of all students with disabilities who are no longer in high school (this includes drop outs, graduates, and students who have aged out) and who are competitively employed or attending post-secondary school.

What happened last year? Plan: exit interviews for all, pilot follow-up interviews —completed Plan: seek guidance from large districts to work out glitches—accomplished Plan: house data input for districts on secure site—not finished because of technical access issue Alternate methods provided for data submission—completed but inadequate Reporting will show the complete design of the program as if process went smoothly.

ODE must ensure that data are collected from each district each year. School districts are responsible for their data collection procedures, including staff assigned.

All exiting students will be given the opportunity to participate in exiting survey 2008 and follow-up interview in 2009. Districts will be provided with a list of students to be interviewed (including students who dropped out) to contact in 2008.

Why do we need to collect these data: Part of the State Performance Plan (SPP) as mandated by OSEP Must be publicly reported Why do we want to collect these data: Accountability Program Development Program Improvement Why do we need to collect this data: The Federal Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) requires that every state develop and submit a State Performance Plan (SPP) based on thirty-four priorities measured by indicators. Part of this is a requirement to report on these indicators at the DISTRICT level Why do we want to collect this data: The essence of this collaborative project is to assess the post secondary educational and employment realities of Oregon’s students today, so that steps can be taken, if needed, to ensure that all of our secondary level students are prepared to reach for and achieve their academic and employment goals upon leaving high school. Accountability—Are we being successful? How are we doing??? Where are our kids? Program Development—Do we have the programs we need for success? Program Improvement—Why are our students not employed or in school? What do we need to improve the programs so that our students will reach their postsecondary goals

What data are collected? Exit Interview 2008 Demographics and contact information High School experiences Goals and plans for the future Agency supports Independent living expectations Follow-Up Survey 2008 Outcomes School Job Both Experiences Agency supports Independent living Guidance materials are found on the TCN website (flyers handed out on Friday) Several options are available for collecting phone numbers of the student, family, friends that may be able to help locate the student the year after leaving school. When possible, other data sources will be used to complete some information on the student to reduce the time the district staff use All collected data will be analyzed and state reports generated, as well as district summaries

Live view of site What does it look like? Where will I find it? What will I do there? When will it be available?

Location of Resources Transition Community Network (http://www.tcntransition.org/) Instructions and script for interviews Practice materials and other training assistance Post card districts can send ahead of calls Post Secondary Outcome Data Application (https://district.ode.state.or.us) List of students who left previous year to interview Call logs with contact information Data entry District reports

Timelines UPDATE Fall 2007 Spring 2008 Exit materials posted Training for ALL districts Contact and IEP information entered online Exit Interviews: ALL Districts Open Oct - June Follow-up materials posted Assign personnel Review contact information – find additional sources Follow-up Interviews : Open April - June When will the exit materials be posted

Suggested Activities During initial fall IEP meeting, have parents/student sign agreement to participate Collect contact information in fall, update in the spring Conduct exit interviews in the fall with at-risk students in danger of dropping out

Strategies for Successful Data Collection Start the process in the fall Don’t do it alone Involve teachers as team members Understand the goals of the process Assist teachers in using data for program and service improvement in classroom and building Involve teachers in collecting data Assure teachers have administrative support.

Using Resources Effectively Sharing the results with a team builds understanding Students tend to speak more willingly with someone they know Students that are aware of the follow-up interview before they leave are more willing to participate the following year

Teacher’s feedback “Collecting the follow-up data for my seniors has become an intentional focus of my curriculum. I want these data for my own use, but also to use to motivate students to plan for their future. These numbers represent boys and girls that the other students know. They will become those numbers in a year. I want them to know I am following them, so they don’t let me down.”