Interagency Collaboration

• Virginia Intercommunity Transition Council
  • VITC Fact Sheets
    • Transition Services
    • Post Secondary Education
    • Employment
    • Living Independently
    • Student and Family Empowerment
    • The Student's Voice: Self-Advocacy and Decision Making
  • VITC Meetings
• Department of Rehabilitative Services

  • Virginia DRS Policy and Procedure Manual - Transition Services
  • Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center provides comprehensive medical, assistive technology and vocational rehabilitation services to persons with disabilities to help them gain increased independence and employment.
  • School to Work Transition Services
  • Post-secondary Education Rehabilitation Transition Program (PERT) jointly operated by the Virginia Department of Education and the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center. [Visit the PERT web site to see video!]
    • PERT serves school-aged students, who are in special education, usually age 16 or older in special education program within participating public schools.
    • PERT provides students with disabilities an education/rehabilitation service delivery system that supports the transition from secondary schools to post secondary training for independent employment and successful life adjustment.
    • PERT's continuum of short term services includes Exploration Evaluation, Counseling, Work Adjustment Training, Job Placement and Job Maintenance, and Independent Living Skills. These services focus on identifying appropriate choices for secondary students in their local communities.
    • Program features
      • Develops teams (special education, vocational education, rehabilitation counselor, and PERT) to focus on transition needs of students and participating school divisions
      • Features vocational assessment and exploration which utilizes hands on situational assessment and integrates vocationally relevant academic assessments.
      • Assessments of independent living skills, leisure skills and vocational skills.
      • Technical assistance in meeting the specialized needs of students and communities through team field visits and training opportunities. Implementation meetings in the community utilizing summary reports which identify appropriate training for the student while in high school.
  • Shenandoah Valley Regional Program Transition Partnership
• Virginia's Transition Forum

  • Virginia Transition Forum - 2006
• Office of Career and Technical Education Services of the Virginia Department of Education

  • Career and Technical Education Resource Center
    • Competency Based Education includes information on Virginia's Workplace Readiness Skills and All Aspects of Industry tasks and competencies that are required components of all CTE courses.
    • The CTE library has numerous resources addressing the needs of students with disabilities
• PEATC [ Parent Education Advocacy Training Center ]
  • PEATC assists the families of children with disabilities through education, information and training and builds parent-professional partnerships to promote success in school and community life through:
    • Information and assistance to families in understanding and negotiating the education and service systems for their children with disabilities;
    • Training for families and professionals that model partnerships and encourage active learning; and
    • Collaboration with and technical assistance to schools, state and local agencies, parent resource centersand community organizations.
• Virginia' s Community Services Boards provide mental health services to the residents of Virginia.
• Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services

Courses and Training on the WWW

• Nuts and Bolts of Transition
  • An online course on transition including the definition of transition, Key Components of Successful Transition; Building a Transition Curriculum; and Transition & the IEP from Virginia Commonwealth University's Rehabilitation Research and Training Center.
• Project TechLink
  • The purpose of TechLink is to disseminate information, through the World Wide Web (WWW) on transition and school to adulthood to teachers, parents and other related service personnel.
  • Project TechLink staff gathers state-of-the-art information on transition best practices for students with severe disabilities which can be accessed via the WWW.
  • Some of these practices include but are not limited to person-centered planning; development of individualized transition plans; interagency collaboration; collaborative transdisciplinary teams; community-referenced, functional, and age-appropriate curriculum; and community-based instruction resulting in paid integrated employment for students with the most severe disabilities.
• Preparing Individuals with Disabilities for the Transition from High School to College and Work from VTAlumniNET at Virginia Tech
• Transition Programming for Individuals with Disabilities listed at the Electronic Campus of Virginia [courses vary by semester].
  
  

  

Best Practices from Virginia's School Divisions

• Fairfax County Public Schools
  • CAREER & TRANSITION SERVICES -  The mission of Career & Transition Services is to empower a diverse population of students for transition to a variety of postsecondary options. Successful transition is facilitated through a continuum of instructional strategies, interdisciplinary team services, utilization of  technology, and community resources. The ultimate objective is to provide students with  requisite skills for self-determination,  independent living, further education, and  employment.  
• Rockingham County Public Schools - Transition Services