Project Description:
Our KU Team will lead, support, and facilitate application and dissemination of effective practices across the Center via UTA and providing targeted and intensive professional development (PD) and technical assistance (TA). Our work will be guided by the principles of knowledge mobilization (Farley-Ripple & MacGregor, 2024) and implementation science to support state education agencies (SEAs), local education agencies (LEAs; including public charter schools) and their VR partners engaged in the complex work of improving transition service delivery to improve in-school and post-school outcomes for students and youth with disabilities. Our KU team will bring expertise to help ensure SEAs, LEAs (including public charter schools), and their VR partners have the capacity to implement and use effective practices to provide person-centered, student-centered, and family-centered transition services. Our knowledge mobilization activities will address PD and TA needs at the classroom, school, district, community, and state levels when developing, refining, and disseminating materials at all levels of TA (i.e., universal, targeted, intensive). Our focus will be tailoring services to specific contexts and actively engaging stakeholders to build collaborative partnerships at each level of implementation throughout the process. We will also focus on developing and disseminating materials using best practices in plain language communication, tailored to the needs of different stakeholders (e.g., SEAs, LEAs, teachers, VR counselors, students with disabilities and their families). Our team will also refine and expand the Center website (see www.transitionta.org) to be a primary method of dissemination and stakeholder engagement with an easy-to-navigate design that meets industry-recognized accessibility standards. The Kansas University Center on Disabilities has a plain language team, our Information Dissemination Team (https://kucd.ku.edu/information-dissemination), inclusive of people with lived experience of disability and special education services, who will support this work, ensuring stakeholder input and designing with the needs of the ultimate beneficiary, students and youth with disabilities.
Target Audience:
Professionals and Para-Professionals, Family Members/Caregivers, Adults with Disabilities, Children/Adolescents with Disabilities/SHCN
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Disadvantaged Circumstances, Specific Groups
