Implementing the Transition Mandate

Abstract For more than a decade, professional literature has been available demonstrating which transition services lead to successful student outcomes. However, only a few studies have investigated how to effectively deliver these recommended services. The North Carolina Transition Services Survey was designed to evaluate the impact of the federally-funded transition systems change grant. Data regarding the current status of providing transition services to all youth with disabilities was gathered via a questionnaire completed by 76 of 119 (63.8%) school systems. A post-hoc analysis of these data was conducted to evaluate the relationship between different types of transition services implementation strategies (i.e., a coordinated program, presence of Transition Coordinator, and/or Transition Teacher) and the delivery of best practice services (i.e., transition planning, interagency collaboration, community-based training, trial worksites, inservice, and post-school data collection). Results indicated that public school systems which focused on implementing a coordinated transition program, rather than hiring transition personnel, tended to provide a more complete array of “best practice” transition services.