Official Site of The State of New Jersey
Transition to Adult Life
The first listed purpose for the federal law known, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), is “to ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living.” The COVID-19 pandemic has had major impacts on all students, especially young people with disabilities. According to the Center on Reinventing Public Education’s (CRPE) research, “the pandemic disrupted students’ transition services and progress toward traditional graduation requirements.”
Promising Practices
1. New Jersey Partnership for Student Success
The New Jersey Partnership for Student Success (NJPSS) initiative asks the citizens of our great state to engage as individuals or as members of organizations in academic and non-academic wraparound recovery efforts in their communities.
2. Person-Centered Approaches in Schools and Transition (PCAST)
Person-centeredness begins with a fundamental belief that all people, no matter their distinctions or disability, are whole and complete. It is an understanding that all people have real strengths and gifts that are of value, and are needed by the communities they live in. Each person is born ready to belong and to be fully included in their homes, schools, and communities with the appropriate person-centered supports in place. (PCAST: NJDOE)
3. Community-Based Instruction (CBI)
CBI is an evidence-based practice that supports the transition from school to adult life and promotes the successful inclusion of students with disabilities in their communities. When the community is regularly utilized as a learning environment, it provides practical and meaningful opportunities for students to develop skills through authentic experiences. This helps to promote greater independence, interdependence, and enhanced quality of life through the acquisition, application, and generalization of skills utilized within careers, postsecondary education/training, and community activities.
Key Definitions
Transition Planning is a formal process of long-range cooperative planning that will assist students with disabilities to successfully move from school into the adult world.
Transition Services means a coordinated set of activities "designed to be within a results-oriented process, that focus on improving the academic and functional achievement of the child with a disability to facilitate the child's movement from school to postschool activities.This is based on the individual student's needs, taking into account the child's strengths, preferences, and interests" (IDEA, 2004).