Helping Youth Meet Their PROMISE

PROMISE: Promoting the Readiness of Minors in Supplemental Security Income

What is PROMISE?

Promoting the Readiness of Minors in Supplemental Security Income (PROMISE) is a five-year research project that advances employment and postsecondary education outcomes for 14–16 year old youth who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI). PROMISE began October 1, 2013 and will continue until September 30, 2018. The program is an interagency collaboration of the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Social Security Administration. Under this competitive grant program, state agencies have partnered to develop and implement model demonstration projects (MDPs) that provide coordinated services and supports designed to improve the education and career outcomes of children with disabilities receiving SSI, including services and supports to their families.

2017 represents the fourth year of the projects (the first year was primarily dedicated to recruitment and enrollment). Thanks to the ongoing efforts to support families and youth, we look forward to hearing about bright future outcomes for the thousands of youth and families being served by PROMISE.

Further information is available at the PROMISE TA Center:

PROMISE TA Center logo

 

PROMISE Success Stories

Model Demonstration Project Success Stories

The PROMISE MDPs were created to facilitate a positive impact on long-term employment and educational outcomes by reducing reliance on SSI, providing better outcomes for adults, and improved service delivery by states for youth and families receiving SSI. The six MDPs are comprised of 11 states:

Under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), projects are coordinating with vocational rehabilitation agencies so that youth are receiving pre-employment transition services, to include paid employment. By April 30, 2016, the MDPs recruited a total of 13,444 youth and their families with half of them receiving intervention services targeted around improving outcomes in employment and postsecondary education.

Personal PROMISE Success Stories

Cody—a Youth with Promise

Wisconsin PROMISE

Cody is excelling as a student at Burlington High School and employee at McDonalds. He plays video games, rides bike, and is learning to drive and weld. His goal is to be a welder after college. Cody was born with a brain tumor and has just one hand, but that’s not stopping him.

He’s a youth with Promise, on a journey to achieve his personal, educational, and career goals.

Watch Cody’s story on YouTube.

Xavi’s Story: Youth with Promise

Wisconsin PROMISE

She’s like most #teenagers… she hangs with her cats, dances with her friends, and loves Criminal Minds. She’s also going to have a lung removed. She’s a youth with Wisconsin Promise, on a journey to achieve her personal, educational, and career goals. Xavi shares her dreams, challenges, and the steps she’s taking with Wisconsin Promise to plan for her future.

Watch Xavi’s story on YouTube.

Dorian Shavis—A Firm Foundation

Arkansas PROMISE

As someone who expressed an interest in architecture, one of the Arkansas PROMISE youth participants expressed his desire to work at an architectural firm. Working with the local workforce board, Arkansas PROMISE staff set up an interview with a local architectural firm and secured an internship that resulted in the PROMISE youth and the firm staff learning from one another.

Watch Dorian’s story on YouTube.

More PROMISE Success Stories

You can find many more PROMISE success stories at:

Blog articles provide insights on the activities of schools, programs, grantees, and other education stakeholders to promote continuing discussion of educational innovation and reform. Articles do not endorse any educational product, service, curriculum or pedagogy.

Posted by
Information Technology Specialist, U.S. Department of Education

State Transition Services for Students with Disabilities: Preparing for Success after Graduation

Note: October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month

OSERS funds the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition (NTACT), a technical assistance center that connects the work of local education agencies, state education agencies, state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies, and VR service providers. NTACT provides support to these entities in implementing practices ensuring students with disabilities graduate prepared for success in postsecondary education and employment. We invite you to read more about the work of NTACT on their website. In recognition of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, this post highlights successes across the country, made possible by NTACT’s activities related to transition planning, graduation, post-school success, and data analysis and use. It also highlights critical resources developed by the center. Follow more activities from NTACT by searching the #transitionta and #NDEAM hashtags on social media.

Arkansas 

Arkansas’ core leadership team for its intensive technical assistance (TA) work with NTACT includes partners from education, VR, career technical education, and blind services. They are implementing the Communicating Interagency Relationships and Collaborative Linkages for Exceptional Students (CIRCLES) model of interagency collaboration in two school districts this year. Through these efforts, students and their families will be connected efficiently to services, transportation, work-based learning experiences, postsecondary education, and jobs!

Alaska

Alaska’s Interagency Transition Council (AITC)—a product of the state’s TA partnership with NTACT—has supported four times the number of Transition Camps, hosted by Alaska’s state VR agency, Tribal VR, and local education agencies this year. Transition Camps provide three full days of career development and work readiness activities, and focus on entrepreneurship and subsistence living, as well as more traditional employment opportunities. The AITC is also engaged in a summer work program, through which 166 students completed more than 6 weeks of summer employment. Additionally, half of students supported in internships through state VR have achieved full or part-time competitive employment—one participant in this program achieved their GED and five are currently enrolled in postsecondary education. Finally, the Tribal VR agency in Nome, Alaska supported an enterprise to provide students work-based learning experiences while in high school.

Nevada

Nevada’s VR Bureau and Department of Education have partnered to develop interagency agreements at the local level and to host cross-agency professional development activities. These steps are part of their overall efforts to increase the number of students with disabilities accessing pre-employment transition services (Pre-ETS), intended to greatly improve integrated employment outcomes. Since initiating these efforts, the state has recorded a 69% increase in the number students engaged in these services, which prepare them for competitive integrated employment. They had set out to increase this number to 600 students by June 30, 2017, a goal which they have far exceeded. Currently there are around 883 students in the state receiving Pre-ETS!

North Dakota

NTACT has assisted North Dakota’s education and VR agencies to develop a training guide for job coaches. One large and three rural districts will participate in this professional development opportunity, intended to increase the number of students receiving quality job coaching and workplace readiness skills, thus preparing them for competitive integrated employment.

Resources from NTACT

Posted by
Project Coordinator at NTACT

No Limits in My Life

By Elizabeth Rouse, Central College Class of 2020

Note:
October 12 is World Sight Day and October 15 is White Cane Safety Day / Blind Awareness Day

Elizabeth Rouse

Elizabeth Rouse

Elizabeth Rouse is a 19-year-old sophomore at Central College in Pella, Iowa. She is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in English with the intention of attending law school in the fall of 2020. In her free time, Elizabeth participates in Bridge Club, belongs to the sorority Zeta Upsilon, and volunteers as a YoungLife leader in her local high school community. 

When I was about five-months-old, my daycare provider noticed I was not tracking things with my eyes in a way that was similar to other babies my age. After a visit to my pediatrician that led to a visit to a genetic specialist at the University of Iowa, my parents discovered that I have Leber’s Congenital Amaurosis (LCA), a genetic disease that stopped the rods from forming in my eyes. This recessive genetic disease is not common. About 3,000 people in the country have it. My vision is 20/400 in both eyes, and it is something that cannot be corrected with glasses. The “cure” is genetic replacement therapy. Being legally blind has proven to be a challenge, but my parents never allowed me to use it as an excuse to sit on the sidelines. They pushed me to excel in everything I chose to do, and they helped me and others who supported me to succeed.

In elementary school, my accommodations were simple. Verbalizing by the teacher, brailled calendars, and other classroom items supported my participation in classroom activities, and, of course, I used a white cane in the hallways. I had a paraprofessional, a wonderful woman named Bonnie, who learned braille and went to trainings to best support my needs and those of my teacher. Over the years, my friends and classmates got used to my needs and pretty much got out of my way in the hallway, limiting the use of my cane indoors. This helped me feel much more like the other students. I am very grateful that my school was small enough to allow me to get to know everyone and create such a level of comfort and success.

In middle school, the challenges began to come more frequently as the curriculum got harder and travel became more a part of my daily experience. My paraprofessional continued to support my needs but in a different way. She went to my classes with me to help me learn how to develop specific skills, such as taking notes. Additionally, class materials, such as quizzes, written up by teachers ahead of time, were sent to be brailled by the Iowa Department of the Blind library services. Any materials needing to be brailled that could not be planned ahead of time were transcribed on sight by my paraprofessional.

My textbooks were also available in braille, but these presented a challenge in and of themselves. Because braille takes up a ridiculous amount of space, a normal sized textbook for history or science could be anywhere from 25 to 40 volumes in braille. This made carting my materials from class to class a bit more difficult. The administration in my school allowed me a rolling backpack to lessen the stress on my back. Additionally, I was given a bigger locker than most of the other students to compensate for my larger amount of materials. While I did not want to use my white cane, I found I had to use it to get used to traveling in the middle school as well as let others know of my presence. Eventually, I was able to use it infrequently, as I had done in elementary school.

When I started high school, I was terrified. As I have an older brother, I knew some of the classes I would have to take would be a bit difficult. I am forever grateful to the teachers I had my freshman year as they made my transition to and experience in high school much less stressful. I specifically remember having a biology teacher who went above and beyond to make sure I was included in the learning experience just as much as the other students in my class. The teachers and I learned how to learn together in many ways. Flash drives for exchanging content and assignments became an important tool for us.

Additionally, I was a bit nervous about extracurricular activities. Most of my friends were athletes, but I could not participate in volleyball, basketball, or other fast-paced sports. However, this caused me to seek participation in other activities. Throughout high school, I was an avid member of the choir and theatrical programs in my school. I led my team in a battle of the books club competition, and I was the president of Family, Career and Community Leaders of America. I was super stoked my sophomore year when I decided to become a member of the wrestling cheerleading squad and found much success.

I graduated in 2016 valedictorian of my class and received multiple high-value scholarships to different universities. I chose Central College in Pella, Iowa. As a sophomore, I could not ask for a better place for me to earn my undergraduate degree. I plan to major in English with minors in theatre and religion. My long-term plan is to go to law school.

What I have learned in my life is that the only limits I have are those I put on myself and there is nothing embarrassing about asking for help. My journey so far has helped me understand that achieving greatness is not tied to my gender, race, socioeconomic status, or any accommodation I may have gotten in order for me to have a level playing field. Greatness is achieved because of effort and discipline. Those come from my own desire to be the best at what I choose to do, vision excluded.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog post. If I could teach everyone in the world one thing, I would like to project that just because a person has some limitation that is out of their control does not mean they are less of a person. Given the right tools and supportive people who want to see them succeed, the possibilities are limitless.

Blog articles provide insights on the activities of schools, programs, grantees, and other education stakeholders to promote continuing discussion of educational innovation and reform. Articles do not endorse any educational product, service, curriculum or pedagogy.

Posted by
Central College Class of 2020

Know It 2 Own It: Advocating for Your Rights on Campus

As we approach the end of the school year, most high school seniors are preparing for graduation and their future. At this time, I’m reminded that each passing year, more and more students with autism and other disabilities are attending college with their peers. For many of them this will be their first time away from home, a time for excitement and a time for independence. It will also be the first time where they will be responsible to advocate for their own needs at school.

The transition from high school to college can be tough, especially for students with disabilities; however, when students know their rights and where to get help, the transition can be made a little easier. Some students, such as Elijah a high school senior from Jacksonville, Florida, learn the importance of advocating for themselves and their needs for accommodations while still in high school. Here is his story and his wish for all students with disabilities.

A student’s ability to advocate for himself is important to succeed at the college level. Every year, I have an opportunity to meet and work with a group of about 15 autistic college students from various backgrounds and ranging in age. Some of them are traditional college students, others are accessing college through a Transition and Postsecondary Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities (TPSID) program or a modified course of study. All of them say the same thing – it can be hard.

Part of my job at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network is to provide incoming students with training in self-advocacy through our Autism Campus Inclusion program and give them the tools and resources they need in order to effectively advocate for themselves and get the most out of their college experience.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, colleges and universities are required to remove any barriers impeding the student, whether these are architectural, communication related, or transportation and to provide reasonable modifications to rules, policies, or practices. It is, however, the student’s responsibility to know his or her rights and how to advocate for appropriate accommodations. These accommodations could include:

  • Wearing noise-cancelling headphones in class,
  • Using laptops for note-taking
  • A place to doodle, fidget, pace, or sit on the floor in order to focus and learn.
  • Live in a single dorm room, even as a freshman if needed
  • A quiet testing space
  • Alternative formats of classroom materials, textbooks, and tests

In addition to getting the word out about self-advocacy, we’ve created resources such as Navigating College and Autism Campus Inclusion (ACI) to assist students with disabilities as they navigate through higher education.

Autistic and other students with disabilities will often face barriers from the day they set foot on campus. In order for these students to succeed in college, we say, self-advocacy is needed. You have to know your rights, have a plan for getting the accommodations and modifications that are appropriate and needed, and be prepared to face an array of challenges. However, by creating a community on campus and bringing students together to share their experiences we remind one another that self-advocacy is easiest when we know we aren’t alone.

The opinions expressed and materials contained in this blog are not an endorsement by the U.S Department of Education and herein do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the United States Department of Education.

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Posted by
Deputy Executive Director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network