DCDT 2007-2008 OFFICERS & REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES
Sherrilyn Fisher
PRESIDENT
Dale Matusevich
PRESIDENT-ELECT
Dalun Zhang
VICE PRESIDENT
Colleen Thoma
PAST PRESIDENT
Elizabeth Evans Getzel
SECRETARY
Darlene Unger
TREASURER
Mary Morningstar
NORTHWEST
Lori Peterson
Jamie Van Dycke
SOUTHWEST
Peg Lamb
NORTHEAST
Kathe Wittig
SOUTHEAST
Stacie Dojonovic
NEWSLETTER
EDITOR
Jane Razeghi
EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR
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The Division on Career Development and Transition (DCDT), a division of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), is pleased to announce the 2009 recipients of their awards for people who have made outstanding contributions in the field of secondary education and transition for students with disabilities. The awards were presented by Colleen Thoma and Sherrilyn Fisher during the DCDT business meeting held during the 2009 CEC Conference in Seattle, WA. The following individuals received the DCDT awards: Marc Gold Innovative Practices in Transition Award 2009 Winner: Barbara Guy Barbara Guy is the Transition Consultant for the Iowa Department of Education. Dr. Guy was nominated by her colleagues at the Iowa Department of Education for collaborative efforts to improve transition services for all students with disabilities. Iva Dean Cook Teacher of the Year Award - 2009 Winners: Sandy Martin & Jane Collins- Illinois  Jane Collins is a teacher of students with disabilities at the Normal Community High School in Normal, Illinois and Sandy Martin is a school-to-work vocational coordinator with the Vermillion Association for Special Education in Illinois who use a student-led IEP process with students with disabilities throughout their school district and share their work generously with others through a website available to all. http://www.vermiliontpc.com/iep/student_directed_iep.htmEmployer of the Year Award - 2009 Winner: Bill McGrath, JC Penney store, Flagstaff, AZ and nominator Stephanie Rust. Bill McGrath is a store manager for JC Penney company who is one member of a collaborative venture dedicated to providing opportunities for youth with disabilities to transition to employment. This is not a new project; in fact, they have been in existence for over 18 years. Mr. McGrath was nominated by Stephanie Rush from the Flagstaff Unified School District as a shining example of an employer who truly opens doors to successful futures for youth with disabilities. Oliver P. Kolstoe Award - 2009 Winners: Drs. Stan Shaw & Joan M. McGuire, University of Connecticut These two individuals were nominated by no less than five of their peers, including Dr. Gary Clark, Dr. Kristine Webb, Dr. David Parker, Dr. Lyman Dukes and Dr. Joseph Madaus.One nominators wrote "Drs. McGuire and Shaw have helped to bridge the chasm between public school personnel and postsecondary education disability services professionals as they respond to parallel but separate mandates for individuals with disabilities" Donn Brolin Award for State/Province Leadership and Services- 2009 Winner: Barbara Palmer, Principal Consultant, Colorado Department of Education Barbara Palmer works as a consultant, focusing on mentoring transition personnel across the state of Colorado. As her colleagues Barbara Goldsby, Maureen Wirth and Katie Kozney wrote
in their nomination letter, "Barbara has been committed to ensuring
Colorado youth obtain effective transition services. She has the
ability to see challenge as opportunity while never losing perspective
that everything she does must result in better outcomes for kids. Patricia L. Sitlington Research in Transition Award- 2009 Winner: David Test, Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Dr. Test is an example of the true spirit of research done "Pat-style." He has a research agenda that has spanned more than 15 years and that has had a significant impact on the field including research on supported employment, transition IEPS, the self-determination synthesis project, and most recently, evidence-based practices in the field of transition. In addition to the aforementioned awards, the DCDT Awards and Nomination committee also recognized the following for DCDT Distinguished Service Awards for their participation on the DCDT Board: Elizabeth Evans Getzel, Secretary Ronald Tamura, CEC representative assembly Peg Lamb, DCDT Northeast Regional Representative Mary Morningstar, Northwest Regional Representative Tom Holub, CEC representative assembly Michael Ward, DCDT webmaster Gwen Williams. DCDT newsletter editor Kathy Kolan CEC representative assembly Sherrilyn Fisher, DCDT President |
Updates from National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center (NSTTAC)
EventsNSTTAC co-hosted the 3rd Annual Secondary Transition State Planning Institute, on May 12 - 14 in Charlotte in collaboration with the National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities, the National Post-School Outcomes Center, and the IDEA Partnership's Community of Practice on Transition.For more information go to www.nsttac.org. NSTTAC will be hosting it's Mid-Year Check and Connect Institute with States on October 28, 2009 in Savannah, Georgia, in conjunction with DCDT's Bi-Annual Conference (October 29 - 31)
Evidence-based Predictors- NSTTAC presented information on its updated findings regarding predictors of post-school outcomes at CEC's Conference in Seattle, WA on April 4, 2009. The PowerPoints are available at http://www.nsttac.org/ebp/PredictorResources.aspx.
Partnering - NSTTAC's partnering with other technical assistance centers funded by OSEP to work with States as they receive American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) funds over the next several months. |
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 IDEA Partnership's National Community of Practice (CoP) on Transition Announces Exciting New Tools and Opportunities
In January 2009, DCDT was invited to attend the IDEA Partnership meeting in Washington, DC. DCDT's partnership with IDEA provide connections with over 55 other national organization and associations seeking to promote IDEA's " participatory framework for advancing research and policy to practice". You can find a list of partners at http://www.ideapartnership.org/partners.cfm.
The Partnership is the U.S. Department of Education's investment in the value of stakeholder expertise. DCDT shares IDEA's belief that those who are closest to the work can be valuable partners in finding new approaches to implementation challenges. We're excited about this important connection and will also be working on efforts to strengthen the career development transition outcomes of youth with disabilities through federal and state stakeholder information exchange, and building a digital library of resources. DCDT partnered with VECAP at this meeting to lead a national Transition and Career Assessment Practice group. Joan Kester and Stacie Dojonovic both VECAP and DCDT members will be leading this effort. VECAP members, Ashley McFall and Marsha Legg, have signed on to routinely monitor and manage the group online. The DCDT members who have agreed to lead the work of the DCDT transition assessment practice group are Kathy Wittig, Diana K. Björkman Wade, Bridget Green, Audrey Trainor and Gary Meers. We invite and encourage ALL DCDT members who share are interest in transition and career assessment to join our efforts!
NEW Please Join Transition & Career Assessment Practice Group
You're Invited to Connect to the Transition & Career Assessment Practice Group! DCDT, in partnership with the National Community of Practice on Transition (IDEA Partnership, www.ideapartnership.org) and the Vocational Evaluation Career Assessment Professionals (VECAP) (www.vecap.org) is developing a Transition & Career Assessment Practice Group, comprised of national transition stakeholders from various roles, to work collectively on transition and career assessment strategies and practices across transition stakeholders nationally. We'd like to invite you into this work, so if you are interested in learning more about these efforts and connecting to the work, please provide your contact information at the following survey site: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/102936/tca. If you have any difficulty linking, please copy and paste the address into your URL. If you have additional folks who may be interested, please forward this email and invite them into the work. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Stacie Dojonovic at stacie_dojonovic@fcasd.edu
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Youth Voice
Paul Vogel, Student Representative
 Although strides have been made in the area of youth leadership, an emphasis still needs to be placed on disability leadership development. With the various changes in services and inclusion for people with disabilities, there has been a major loss in the sense of identity, culture, and sense of community for youth with disabilities. With the inclusion movement, many youth with disabilities are unaware of the widespread issues that face people with disabilities. Additionally, many youth are often provided with little if any advocacy or leadership training. Often we leave the safety of our school support systems and realize the harsh reality of "the real world." Without advocacy and leadership skills, we will continue to struggle to maintain a job and independence. This need has encouraged the creation of various youth leadership development programs across the state and nation. The National Youth Leadership Network (NYLN) has been in existence for nearly 12 years. They focus in the areas of leadership development, education, employment, independent living, communication, and awareness of disability issues. Previously, the NYLN held conferences in Washington, DC to help develop the leadership skills of youth with disabilities. NYLN currently creates newsletters, writes policy statements, and holds teleconferences about topics that are important to youth with disabilities. For more information on the NYLN, visit http://www.nyln.org/ In my home state of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Youth Leadership Network (PYLN) has worked to be fully involved in working on a statewide and local level to provide support for transition efforts for youth and being involved with Pennsylvania's interagency transition team. In 2008, the PYLN published a transition toolkit for youth. This document provides a "how to" guide for the transition process to students from middle school to high school on the local level. Currently the PYLN has been involved in creating new and exciting materials. A Healthcare Toolkit is being created to assist youth in managing and maintaining their health and wellness. Additionally the PYLN is creating a website that will host these tools along with a variety of videos meant to support youth in their transition. Wisconsin, Virginia, and California (just to name a few) have also done great things in the area of youth involvement. Go to www.sharedwork.org to learn more! Local education agencies have started to create leadership opportunities for youth in their areas through their local transition councils. Involving youth with disabilities in leadership initiatives is crucial. Leadership development is important in one's individual success and the success of the population at large. Without support from policy makers, funding sources, and advocates the survival of these programs is impossible.
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NEW Partnership Users Guide to the NSTTAC Evidence-based Collection on Secondary Transition
The
materials and tools in The Partnership Users Guide to the NSTTAC
Evidence-based Collection are the result of the collaborative work of
partner organization representatives, (including DCDT representatives!)
technical assistance providers, and a number of state and local
organizations and agencies to provide efficient access to and use of
the NSTTAC Evidence-based Collection. The Partnership User Guide to the
NSTTAC Evidence-based Collection is designed to assist you in learning
more about Secondary Transition Evidence-based Practices for its
implementation on all levels-- federal, state, and local. The
following tools are available at
http://www.ideapartnership.org/page.cfm?pageid=60 for download: NSTTAC
Fact Sheet on Evidence-based Practices in Secondary, Best Practices in
Secondary Transition Accessing and Using Evidence-based Collection Presenters Guide Best Practices in Secondary Transition Accessing and
Using Evidence-based Collection, Dialogue Guides for NSTTAC
Secondary Transition Project
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| DCDT values every member and is continually trying to determine additional activities and resources that can benefit our membership. Please let us know if you have suggestions for activities, publications, or member support strategies by emailing us at dcdtmembership@yahoo.com.
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Warm Regards,
Meg Grigal, Marketing Chair
DCDT
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