KU advances tools and supports to improve postschool outcomes for students with disabilities with $1.8M federal grant

LAWRENCE — For the 3 million students who graduate from high school each year, transitioning to what’s next can be an even bigger struggle, particularly for those with disabilities, who have historically been less likely to graduate from high school and attain positive postschool outcomes. 

To address this gap in student outcomes, the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition: The Collaborative (NTACT:C) has provided evidence-based tools and resources to state and local education and vocational rehabilitation agencies to ensure students and youth with disabilities have what they need to be successful in adult life. 

A grant recently awarded by the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services will ensure work toward improving student outcomes continues. The University of Kansas is one of six universities to receive funding for the NTACT:C project and will receive about $1.8 million of the five-year, $20 million total grant.  

Valerie Mazzotti, an affiliated researcher at the KU Center on Disabilities (KUCD) at the Life Span Institute and Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor of Special Education, is the primary investigator of the project at KU. She said this work is critical to connecting youth and families across the country to resources they need. 

“The research tells us that when students with disabilities get the services and supports they need in high school, they're more likely to have positive outcomes,” Mazzotti said.  

Mazzotti said that prior research has demonstrated 23 in-school predictors of postschool success for youth with disabilities transitioning from high school. Those predictors or factors include skill-building in self-determination and self-advocacy, social interaction and collaborative interagency supports from vocational rehabilitation, career technical education, local employers and other partners. Building on these predictors of success has demonstrated positive outcomes in a variety of areas. 

“When they (students/youth with disabilities) leave high school, they're more likely to have more opportunities for postschool employment, education, and community living and engagement,” Mazzotti said. 

Mazzotti will oversee universal technical assistance and professional development for the project. Her team will manage the website; conduct systematic reviews of published research; provide universal, targeted and intensive technical assistance per request by states and local education agencies; and along with the other universities, develop products that translate evidence-based practices into accessible resources. 

Continued funding for this work will "ensure that all of our shareholders, whether that be state-level personnel, local-level personnel, and/or students and youth with disabilities and their families, can really digest the work,” Mazzotti said.  

Over the past four years, NTACT:C resources have been downloaded 545,600 times by nearly 30,000 individuals in all 50 states and 10 U.S. territories.  

Monthly webinars average over 300 in attendance and include topics such as how to support students in foster care, supporting health care during transitions, the role of centers for independent living, how to optimize employment support and services, and more. NTACT-C also offers a 12-week professional development program, which has been attended by more than 600 individuals from 29 different states.  

Mazzotti is a former special education teacher. Her experience in the classroom has helped inform her career as a researcher.  

“I saw that we really need to ensure that teachers are looking ahead beyond just a school year,” she said. "The ultimate goal is to ensure that students with disabilities have positive outcomes.” 

This is why, Mazzotti said, in addition to earning good grades in school, transition services and support are so important for all students.  

“For example, if they go to college and they don't know how to advocate because they have to advocate for themselves ... they may not get the services and supports they need to ensure college success.” 

Karrie Shogren, director of KUCD, and Dana Lattin, research project director, are co-Investigators in the project. Others KUCD staff involved in the project include Janie Claywell, associate researcher; Darcy Fredrick, project coordinator, and Lauren Bruno, assistant research professor.