special education

CIRCLES: An Implementation Guide

Tiana Povenmire-Kirk, Ph. D.

Karen M. Diegelmann, Ph.D.

David W. Test, Ph.D.

Claudia Flowers, Ph.D.

Nellie Aspel, Ph.D.

Jane M. Everson, Ph. D.

Disclaimer: This document was produced under U.S. Department of Education, Institute for Education Sciences Grant No. R324A110018 awarded do Dr. David W. Test and Dr. Claudia Flowers at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education.

Table of Contents

A Note from the Authors………………………………………………………………..	3
Why CIRCLES? ………………………………………………………………………... Current Model……………………………………………………………………..	5 7
CIRCLES in a Nutshell…………………………………………………………………. Community Level Team………………………………………………………….. School Level Team……………………………………………………………….. IEP Team…………………………………………………………………………. Teams vs. Committees…………………………………………………………….	7 8 8 9 10
CIRCLES In Action…………………………………………………………………….. District Leadership Team…………………………………………………………. Community Level Team…………………………………………………………..	12 12 12
Making CIRCLES Work for You………………………………………………………. Convening and Training the Community Level Team…………………………… Training Your Teachers…………………………………………………………... Convening and Training the School Level Team………………………………… Making the Most of Your Student Level Team…………………………………...	17 17 20 22 26
Evaluating CIRCLES-How can you tell it’s working? ………………………………… Measuring Self-Determination……………………………………………………. Measuring IEP Participation..…………………………………………………….. Measuring Student-Agency Involvement………………………………………… Measuring Interagency Collaboration…………………………………………….	27 28 28 29 29
CIRCLES for Diverse Students and Families…………………………………………... Strengths-Based Approach………………………………………………………... Promote Self-Determination……………………………………………………… Increase Family Involvement……………………………………………………... Enhance Social Capital and Develop Community Networks of Support…………	30 30 31 31 32
References……………………………………………………………………………….	34
Appendices Table of Contents…………………………………………………………..	37

A Note from the Authors

Thank you for your interest in transition planning using the CIRCLES model. We’re glad you’ve chosen to join us. I want to talk to you for a moment about road trips. As we, as a group, climb the steps to our tour bus, many of us, caught up in the excitement of the moment, may realize that our travel bag may be lacking or stuffed with inappropriate items. Others, who are better planners, more organized, or less swept up in the moment may ask, prior to arriving at the bus stop, where we are going. These “planners” will then check the weather for the duration of our stay. Still others joining us on our road trip will want to know things like where we will stop, how often, and what activities we will partake in on our journey. Do we need black tie attire? Will we be hiking? Biking? Swimming? Those of us who were so excited about the road trip that we forgot to think about the destination may realize we packed poorly for a hiking trip to the mountains, that our Prada high heels and DKNY cocktail dress may leave us ill-equipped for that journey. It helps to stop and think, not only about where we want to end up, but about the best ways to get there and the tools we will need along the way.

Transition is like a road trip; the transition plan is like the GPS map of how to get there. We will have stops along the way, and may change direction or take detours, like a seventy-five-mile trek to see the world’s largest ball of yarn. When you get back on the road, you would be wise to check in and be sure you are still going to the same place. A bad transition plan is as useless as a GPS with outdated maps or one that is mis-calibrated and tells you are in the middle of a field instead of on I-10. A good transition plan, on the other hand, can make your journey feel like a five-star vacation arranged by a seasoned group of travel agents and managed by a highly skilled personal assistant. The CIRCLES model for transition planning is that travel agent and personal assistant. It ensures that our students know their destination, understand how to pack and what they need for their journey, and where to stop along the way. So hang on, get ready, and join us for this road trip, we’re glad you’re here.

Why CIRCLES?

As you know, special education services are intended to provide individualized support to students with disabilities as they work their way through the education system; one way to measure the success of these services is by evaluating post-school outcomes for students with disabilities. Currently, post-school outcomes for youth with disabilities are measured by level of engagement in three areas: (a) postsecondary education or training, (b) employment, and (c) if appropriate independent living (IDEA, 2004). Helping students transition from the special education system to the adult world of work, postsecondary education, and independent living is critical to post-school success for youth with disabilities.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) requires a written component outlining services and activities for transitioning youth with disabilities from high school to adult life be included in the Individualized Education Program (IEP) no later than the student’s 16th birthday. IDEA 2004 defines transition as a coordinated set of activities that facilitate the child’s movement from high school to adult life and address areas of: training, education, employment, community integration, adult services, and independent living. IDEA 2004 further dictates the transition planning process should be based on the child’s individual strengths and needs, and should include representatives from any agency likely to provide adult services to the student during or after transitioning out of school. But let’s face it, if you’re reading this book, then you know all of that. What you want to know is how to do this well.

As we discussed in the Note from the Authors, each student’s post-school goals serve as a road map – we need to know where the student is going if we are going to plan how to help them get there. Consequently, post-school goals should be written prior to developing the remainder of the IEP to ensure the high school experience and transition services can support both the educational goals and post-school goals of students with disabilities. IDEA (2004) further states schools “must invite to the IEP meeting a representative of any participating agency that is likely to be responsible for providing or paying for transition services” [34 CFR §300.321(b)(3)]. Inviting agencies to the IEP does not let schools off the hook if an agency fails to provide services agreed upon and included in the IEP. If a given agency fails to provide services promised, the school must “reconvene the IEP meeting and identify alternative strategies to meet the transition objectives” [34 CFR §300.324(c)(1)]. It is clear, then, that IDEA requires adult service provider involvement in planning and providing transition services, and that the school is ultimately responsible for following up and ensuring all services deemed necessary are provided.

Interagency collaboration is defined here as a process through which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts; agency representatives come together to achieve, collectively, more than they could each achieve working independently. Bruner (1991) defines collaboration as:

. . . a process to reach goals that cannot be achieved acting singly (or, at a minimum, cannot be reached as efficiently). As a process, collaboration is a means to an end, not an end in itself. The desired end is more comprehensive and appropriate services for families that improve family outcomes. (Bruner 1991, p. 6)

Interagency collaboration has been identified as an evidence-based predictor of improved education and employment outcomes for students with disabilities (Test, Mazzotti, et al., 2009), and is considered a substantiated transition practice (Landmark, Ju, & Zhang, 2010; Kohler, 1996). However, few models exist that support interagency collaboration. CIRCLES is a model that has experienced success in increasing interagency collaboration, improving student self-determination, and increasing student participation in IEP meetings. For those interested, a brief summary of CIRCLES outcome data is included in Appendix A.

Current Model (Or What Does Not Work)

Numerous models to provide transition planning services exist, but most fall short of accomplishing the goal of seamless service provision that truly prepares students for life after high school. Current transition planning practice in many districts involves the special education teacher contacting representatives from each agency, through email or phone calls, that might be responsible for paying for or providing transition services to their students and inviting these representatives to every IEP meeting where their services might be helpful (Povenmire-Kirk, et al., 2015). Due to the large caseloads and catchment areas of many such agencies, representatives are seldom able to attend, and if they are, they rarely stay for the entire IEP meeting, which can run 2 – 3 hours and have very little to do with transition planning. In practice, a single direct service provider could be asked to attend hundreds of IEP meetings a year – an expectation that is simply not humanly possible to fulfill. Furthermore, special education teachers are often unaware of all the adult service providers available to support their students (Povenmire-Kirk, et al, 2015).

CIRCLES in a Nutshell

The CIRCLES model involves three levels of interagency collaboration including a Community Level Team, a School Level Team, and an IEP Team. These teams work together to address transition planning needs of students with disabilities to improve both their in-school and post-school outcomes (Aspel, Bettis, Quinn, Test, & Wood, 1999; Povenmire-Kirk et al., 2015). The target population for CIRCLES includes students with disabilities who need support from multiple adult service providers to experience successful post-school outcomes. In summary, CIRCLES allows agencies to plan, provide, and facilitate support services directly to students and families who need involvement from multiple adult service providers.

Community Level Team

The Community Level Team (CLT) is comprised of administrators and supervisors of local agencies who may be able to provide transition services such as Vocational Rehabilitation, Department of Social Services, Health Department, The Arc, Easter Seals, Autism Society, transportation, residential service providers, post-secondary education institutions, recreation providers, and any other local service providers. District level staff (e.g., transition coordinator, compliance specialist, etc.) organize and convene the CLT to address larger issues of access to services within the community. The CLT meets two to four times per year to work on issues at the policy level; they identify gaps and overlaps in services, and work together to change policy and practice to better serve students and adults with disabilities. One key role of CLT members is to appoint a direct service representative from their agency to serve on the School Level Team (SLT), because administrative-level buy-in is vital to success of the process.

School Level Team

The School Level Team (SLT) is what makes CIRCLES different than other models that utilize interagency transition teams. Interagency community-level transition teams exist in many communities, but CIRCLES, via the SLT, brings adult agency representatives to meet directly with students and their families. The SLT is comprised of direct service providers (e.g., case managers, counselors, care coordinators, etc.) from each agency represented on the CLT. In other words, those professionals whom special educators might traditionally invite to attend IEP meetings. Because of the size of their caseload and/or catchment area, these representatives are often unable to attend IEP meetings for every student in need. In the CIRCLES model, district staff responsible for convening CIRCLES meetings invite them to attend one full-day meeting a month during the school year, in which the team sees a student every 30 to 45 minutes, and can see up to 10 students a day. Students create three to eight minute presentations using technology (e.g., PowerPoint, Voki, Wobook, GoAnimate) to describe their strengths, areas of need, and post-school goals. For the remaining time allotted (20 – 40 minutes per student), members of the SLT talk with the student, his or her family, special educators, and one another to determine the best way to deliver transition services to each student based on their strengths, needs, and goals. In addition to giving the student, parent, and special educators a personal contact to associate with each agency, the SLT format also allows time for appointments to be made and questions to be answered by agency members. In addition, families can discuss any needs they may have as a whole (e.g., poverty, homelessness, transportation, food insecurity, guardianship assistance, etc.). Agencies work with one another and the student and family to create the most comprehensive plan to meet each student’s specific needs. After each student is seen, agency members prepare to hear the next student presentation during a 5-10 minute break, and then start the process over for each new student. SLTs typically see between six and 10 students per meeting day. To ensure follow-through of the service plans developed at these meetings, and because the SLT’s main purpose is to develop transition activities and services for the student with a disability, the minutes of each SLT meeting are distributed to every member of the SLT, the IEP team via the special education teacher, the student, and his or her parents.

IEP Team

The IEP team is the final level in the CIRCLES multi-level approach. After the SLT meeting, special education teachers take the minutes of the SLT meeting and any decisions made back to the IEP meeting and write the transition component based on the services agreed upon at the SLT. This process enables the IEP team to write the other components of the IEP with the end goals of the student in mind. Because the district-level school staff are responsible for convening the CLT and SLT meetings, the time special education teachers typically spend inviting folks to IEP meetings is freed up for preparing students for SLT and IEP meetings. Student assessments and interviews that go into developing their presentations to the SLT are all part of what should be standard operating procedures for preparing for the transition component of any IEP meeting. The only activity that may not be part of standard procedures is the training of the technology tools to help students present. However, many districts require students to present a portfolio their senior year, so the students’ SLT presentations can be used as both a practice activity and a starting point for this larger portfolio presentation. In some schools, teachers use technology their students utilize as part of CIRCLES as “technology instruction” needed to meet criteria associated with graduation. School and district personnel implement CIRCLES within their schools, choosing which students will participate in the process. The demographics of the students brought to CIRCLES represent students with the greatest need for multiple agency involvement. Appendix B illustrates the relationships of these teams to one another, the student, and the community.

A Word About Teams vs. Committees

You will notice that we use the term “Team” to describe each level of collaboration; this language choice is not made lightly. Research on interagency collaboration and teaming is clear, people are more productive when they work toward a common goal, and, consequently, the term Team is an important word to use. It expresses, very simply, the goals of the group. Work groups can be called lots of things and they tend to function a lot like what they're named. So, if you call a work group a “committee,” they will discuss things from multiple perspectives and with different agendas in mind. Often, items will lay on the table experiencing a death by committee. Some committees work well, and many of you may have been involved in one that has been successful, but replicating that type of group genius is challenging, at best. However, when we call a work group a Team, members tend to have an expectation that this is a team that will fight and win together for their shared goals. They think about their favorite professional sports teams or the United States Olympic teams, and they realize that, although individuals may experience greatness as part of the process, what matters at the end of the day is how the entire team did, how they worked together, how they were able to prioritize their common goals and envision the common setbacks they faced in their endeavor. Because the members of each Team in CIRCLES are often employed by different entities and, by nature, may have different agendas for their entities with regards to people with disabilities, we purposefully use the term Team to describe what happens at the community level and the school level. Language is important, it sets up expectations, but word choice, alone, is not enough. So, as we use the term Team, we also talk about why we call ourselves a Team and not a committee or a workgroup, and we develop together, as a team, a statement of values, mission, and vision (Everson & Guillory, 2002). We recommend that these statements be developed as part of the first meeting of each level of Team, and that they reflect the work of everyone on the Team. Further, we suggest that these statements be printed, either on a poster board or plaque, or at the beginning of the agenda for every meeting of this Team, to remind members of the shared goals and to offer a litmus test of sorts in the case of disagreements. Members in conflict can refer themselves and their Teammates to the Values, Mission, and Vision statements and ask if the matter at hand is in keeping with these statements. The values, mission and vision statements are projected or hung up or printed out or put on the top of the agenda for every meeting that comes next. Once agreed upon, they become the governing rules, so if we are off-task or off-topic we can point to those values, mission and vision statements and ask ourselves, “are we in keeping with what we're here to do?” A interagency Teaming Guide can be found in Appendix F or visit http://circles.uncc.edu/sites/circles.uncc.edu/files/media/Interagency-Teaming-Guide.pdf

CIRCLES in Action

The District Leadership Team

We have found CIRCLES works best when there is a Leadership Team within the district. Several of our more successful districts at the beginning faced struggles when a life-changing event occurred to the one person in the district who had the leadership reigns. We have found that teams of two to three people can shoulder the entire load of the management work related to CIRCLES together, and keep it going in the event that one of them has to step out for a while. That said, the CIRCLES District Leadership Team (DLT) does most of the work related to convening and scheduling the CLT and SLT meetings for CIRCLES. We will explain this work in more detail in the sections that follow.

Community Level Team (CLT)

In order to ensure the longevity of CIRCLES, administrator buy-in is a must. This can be accomplished several different ways. In some of our CIRCLES districts, we recruited principals first, and then transition specialists, and finally, teachers. Other districts had teachers who heard about CIRCLES who contacted us, and who sold it up the chain of command until their principals had bought in. Whether you are an administrator in a school district, a teacher, transition specialist, paraprofessional, or an adult service provider, there is a place to start and a way to proceed to plant CIRCLES in your district and make it grow. The one thing that will always remain constant is this: you need administrator support as much as you need teacher buy in to accomplish CIRCLES. Each school district has its own culture and its own unwritten rules. No matter where you start, bring your system and building administrators in on the conversations early. Some administrators are hands-off, they let you pretty much run your own show, unless it requires a huge budget item. Others want to be more involved, they want updates, they attend CIRCLES team meetings, etc. The bottom line is that there is no wrong way to start CIRCLES, as long as everyone involved knows what is going on.

Luckily, CIRCLES has a built-in Team level for administrators to be involved – the Community Level Team (CLT). As we described above, the CLT is comprised of administrator level members of adult service provider agencies and school district personnel. For many of our districts, the principal sat on this Team, other districts included the special education director. One small, rural district’s CLT was convened and run by the district superintendent.

When starting the CLT, the first step is identifying potential members. Here is where we ask you to imagine you have a magic wand. Now, mind you, it’s not very magic, just a little bit magic. It’s magic enough that if you wave it, everyone who you could ever hope to have provide services to your students will show up to a meeting. So, who will you invite with your magic wand? We ask you to think first of agencies and entities, then think more specifically within those agencies in terms of who should serve on which team level. Typically, the CLT is comprised of administrators and the SLT is comprised of direct service providers, but this varies widely across districts. Smaller, more rural districts may have individuals who wear many hats, and there may be overlap between the members of the CLT and the members of the SLT. In larger, more urban districts, the members of the CLT may be many pay grades removed from direct service provision. The thing about CIRCLES is that it will work within whatever structure, size, and culture your district already has in place.

Just as administrator buy-in is important for CIRCLES to be successful in the schools, agency administrator buy-in is important for CIRCLES to be successful outside of school. Instead of sending direct service providers back to their respective agencies and asking them to describe and define CIRCLES to their supervisors, we bring the administrator to the CLT meeting. Although administrator buy-in is a critical step in forming CIRCLES within your schools, it is not the only purpose of the CLT. The CLT, by nature of its membership, is a powerful force for braiding together of resources, identifying gaps and overlap, and streamlining the processes available in a given district for transitioning to better outcomes for people with disabilities. CIRCLES allows us, through the CLT, to train to our needs, reach who we can, and close the gap. Below, we discuss three examples of group genius at the level of the CLT in CIRCLES.

Train what we need. As you will see in our sample agendas below, we ask the CLT as early as the second meeting to identify barriers to providing services to this population. One of our districts, “Small-town County Schools,” identified that, within their district, there were no training programs for the jobs that were widely available to people with disabilities, and that the training programs within their district were for jobs that were available outside of the district. This was a small, rural town that relied heavily on tourism in the outdoors arena. The CLT identified the jobs available as falling into one of five categories: office support, custodial or hospitality work, landscape work, child care, and kitchen work. The agencies represented on the CLT included the local community college, who partnered with other CLT members to develop and implement the CIRCLES courses at the community college. These courses were approved paths to certification for the areas identified above. Within less than a year of implementing CIRCLES, the community college opened the first three pathways as fields of study, not only to students who went through CIRCLES, but to members of the community, as well. By the end of the second year, they opened the other two certification pathways. They had 21 graduates their first year, each working in the county by graduation.

Reach who we can’t. Another district, Middle Suburban Schools, met as a CLT and identified that one of the biggest barriers facing their ability to serve youth with disabilities was that of waiting lists for services. Many services in this district are available, but have three to five year waiting lists. One of the challenges is getting parents to sign up early for services that their children don’t currently need or qualify for, but that have significant waiting lists. Adding to this challenge was the fact that many parents of children with significant disabilities are unaware of what is available within the district. To address this need, the CLT discovered that the first and often only place where parents get information about services available to their children is through their primary care providers. The CLT sprang into action and, within the first full school-year of implementation, had developed two different outreach documents. The first document was geared toward primary care physicians. It spoke to their crucial role in spreading awareness of services and gave them a list of five bullet point activities they could do in a five-minute appointment with parents of children with disabilities to help spread the word and connect families in need to resources available. The second document was a color-coded resource guide that would fit into a pocket or wallet that primary care providers (PCPs) could hand out to parents of children with disabilities and review or highlight those resources most pertinent to the situation. These two tangible steps of outreach helped not only to ensure that parents of kids with disabilities get the information they need early on, but also opened up space for relationships between the agencies on the CIRCLES CLT and SLT and the primary care clinics in the area. Those connections continued to improve, allowing PCPs to refer patients to where they already have a contact and to follow up more collaboratively.

Close the gap. “Large Rural County Schools” experienced one of the most wide-reaching positive changes due to its CLT. Every CLT meeting would review highlights and challenges from the quarter’s SLT meetings. This understanding of the direct student-level impact was very important to the CLT members, it let them know how CIRCLES was working, not based on numbers and percentages, but based on individual impact. They learned something that was as surprising to them as it was to the teachers. In their state, there were multiple high school completion pathways including NC high school diploma earned through occupational course of study and a certificate of completion, NOT a diploma. The department of education in the state was adamant that the first two were equal diplomas. Future ready required math and science credits necessary to attend college and start at 100-level courses. Occupational course contained over 300 hours of actual work experience, preparing students for lives of employment. In Large Rural County Schools, transition component had included goals for the local community college programs, especially in beautician and mechanic programs. However, at the SLT meetings, teachers were learning that the certificate-granting, credit-bearing programs were not available at many local community colleges for graduates with a high school diploma earned through occupational course of study. Through CIRCLES CLT meetings in this district, they learned all community colleges in the state must accept the high school diploma earned through occupational course of study into their programs. Students must pass a test to place into different levels of math, reading, and writing classes, and they may enroll in a remedial class to bring them up to the level they need, but they have the ability, at every community college in the state now, to enroll in certificate-granting, credit-bearing courses.

This type of group genius doesn’t just happen, it only works when everyone is working as a Team. Some groups just come together and gel well; others really struggle. Regardless of the level of natural synergy of your group, all CLT members benefit from proper CIRCLES training.

Making CIRCLES Work for You

At this point, you may be thinking “CIRCLES sounds great! But…how do I make it happen?” Funny you should ask, because we will now begin taking you through the step-by-step process for making CIRCLES a reality in your district. Hang in there, start with DLT, take it slow, and don’t be afraid to go step back to move forwards.

Convening and Training the Community Level Team

Step one. As we mentioned in the segment on Team versus committee, using the word Team is important, but doesn’t ensure your group will function like a team. You need to set down some ground rules. Before you do that, you must invite people to join your team, and before you do that, you have to generate a list of possible teammates. Do not do this alone – get some help from your friends. Consider again, the magic wand question – who would you want to have at a transition planning meeting for your students, if you could have anyone there? The local vocational rehabilitation agency usually comes to mind, but what about the YMCA, or transportation? Do you have any students who need support from pregnancy and parenting organizations? Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)? Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ)? The alphabet soup doesn’t end. Write your own list, have your colleagues do the same, then sit down together and compare, generate as comprehensive a list as possible. Grab your magic wand and invite everyone on your list! It is often helpful to have whomever is on your DLT who has the highest rank send out the invitations. See Appendix C for a sample letter of invitation for agencies. Set the time and date for your meeting, give it a two-hour window. Schedule the room, and send out reminder emails one week, three days, and one day before.

Step two. Holding your first CLT can be both exciting and anxiety producing. Did you forget something? Probably. Will it be a success anyway? Most likely. Will you learn things to make it better next time? Definitely. One crucial game-day decision is to ensure that the front desk staff, wherever you hold your meeting, know about the meeting, what it may be called, and where to send agency representatives. As you convene your meeting, let everyone introduce themselves and do an ice-breaker exercise. Then give a brief overview of how CIRCLES works, what it is, who participates, and what you expect from the CLT members. Appendix C contains Sample Agendas for CLT meetings 1-4. Talk a bit about Teams. Ask team members share good teaming experiences they have had and what made them successful. Another idea is to use a flip chart and have team members “free call” words that describe a successful team as you write them on the paper. Then do the same “free call” exercise describing unsuccessful teams. This can prompt some great conversations. If you are not comfortable talking about it, read aloud the paragraphs from this handbook about Teams versus committees.

Steps for CLT

1. Prepare for CLT meeting

a. Invite agency representatives to CLT meetings

b. Secure location and test technology

2. Hold first CLT meeting

a. Introductions

b. Ice breaker

c. CIRCLES overview

3. Identify Values, Mission, and Vision Statements

4. Nominate direct service provider to attend SLT

5. Schedule meeting for first year

6. Communication

a. Email minutes to all who attended

b. Email updates (e.g., future training for SLT)

c. Reminders for next meetings

Step three. It’s time to write the values, mission, and vision statements. If you are comfortable with it, you may choose to use your district’s values, mission, and vision statements as a template or starting point. If not, you may ask CLT members for feedback. One thing we’ve found helps with this is printed agendas with items and time allotted. Using a printed agenda lets the Team know what they must complete during this time and how much to consider or discuss each item. If you set aside, say, 20 minutes for the values, mission, vision statements, you can move forward to the next item after five or six minutes. It may seem like you will never get done with everyone’s feedback, but we want to remind you that people who work in the human services areas usually want to help others, and are more alike than you may think. We’ve never had a CLT that couldn’t complete this task in under 30 minutes.

Step four. Ask each administrative-level member of the CLT to nominate and provide contact information for a direct service provider at their organization that should be invited to serve on the School Level Team. See Appendix C for a draft of the CLT to SLT nomination sheet. Also, ask them who else should be present at the CLT meeting, and use current contacts to contact additional personnel who should attend.

Step five. Schedule your meetings for the rest of the school year. The first year, we recommend 3-4, and recommend at least two in all subsequent years. At this time, you can leave 5-10 minutes for conversations about potential agenda items for next meeting. You should let the team know you want to talk about challenges and barriers and you will want them each to introduce themselves and their agency next time, because, even though you may have known one another for years and served the same clients, you may not know everything every agency offers. If there are other items people want to see discussed, add them to your notes. Thank everyone for their time and dismiss them. Now, this piece is important. After the meeting, send a summary of the minutes of the meeting to everyone who was invited, even those who were not in attendance. This serves several functions: it helps people remember what they did at the CIRCLES meeting, it checks for understanding among those who were there, and it reminds those who were not in attendance that this CIRCLES “meeting thing” happened and decisions were made.

Step six. Keep the forward momentum going by sending out email minutes from the last meeting you held, within a week of the meeting to remind members of the team what they agreed to and accomplished. Email updates when you have scheduled and convened the training of your SLT members, and held any SLT meetings. Send a reminder out one month, two weeks, one week, three days, and one day prior to the next CLT meeting. If you know the agenda ahead of time, send it out, as well, to the entire email list, even those who were not in attendance.

Training Your Teachers

As mentioned above, we have seen CIRCLES succeed through top-down and bottom-up efforts. At this point, you must consider whether the teachers are in the loop, and we recommend that you ascertain for yourselves the extent of their understanding. Schedule a meeting with the special education teachers at each school involved, plan for 2 hours. Our goal through CIRCLES has always been to under-promise and over-deliver. If people schedule 2 hours and we let them out early, they will be more likely to come for another meeting.

Step one. Secure a location and all necessary technology. Ensure that your time slot is not competing with other district events (this is often the most complicated part of CIRCLES). Invite teachers to come to your training (regardless of the mandatory nature of the training, send out an invitation). Prepare your handouts and training presentation PowerPoint, along with an Agenda. Appendix E has samples of each of these available to you.

Step two. Train your teachers. Follow the agenda available in Appendix C, making changes as you see fit. We have had very little push back from teachers, and it usually comes during the explanation of CIRCLES, because they see it as more work. Therefore, it is important to begin training them at this point, once the CIRCLES DLT has already convened the CLT and possibly the SLT meeting, because then they can see that the work left to them is all about the student. Show your teachers the All About Me PowerPoint template available on the CIRCLES website. You have access to many tools including the Student Dream Sheet, the Student Profile Sheet, and the All About Me PowerPoint template (Appendix D). The Web 2.0 Tools instructions can provide teachers with engaging ways to get students talking and thinking about their futures. Our website has many more resources, all free, to help students assess their skills and interests. For the SLT meeting, teachers may use whichever combinations of these tools they choose, along with anything else at their disposal, but they need only bring the student, the All About Me PowerPoint, and Student Profile Sheet to the meeting. The PowerPoint gives students needed support to present themselves to SLT members. The Student Profile Sheet gives teachers and agency members a chance to communicate specifics about the student that the student may not choose to share, such as family issues (e.g. homelessness, parent in prison, abuse, etc.), mental health challenges (e.g. stealing, depression, compulsive lying, sexual acting out, etc.), and qualifying data (e.g. some agencies can only serve specific disability categories or IQ ranges).

Steps for Training Teachers

1. Secure location and test technology

2. Training agenda

a. Overview of CIRCLES

b. How to prepare students

c. Show “All About Me” Presentations

d. Demonstrate Web 2.0 Tools

e. Demonstrate Student Profile Sheet

3. Plan SLT meeting

a. Consider which students to participate

b. Set SLT meeting schedule for year

4. Designate lead teacher for each school

Step three. Once your teachers have asked all their questions, give them structured time to consider which students they want to send to CIRCLES. Work with them to schedule the SLT dates relative to the school and district calendar. Explain that CIRCLES is not for every single student on the special education caseload, but for more complex students. If you have concerns about your district’s capacity to provide services to all students eligible, begin with the most complex students. We told teachers to consider those with the highest levels of disability, with need for involvement from multiple outside agencies, who are closest to exiting school. Start with those students, and work your way back down the severity scale, the proximity to graduation scale, and the number of agencies needed scale as the year progresses.

Step Four. Designate a point of contact with each school, a lead teacher with whom you will communicate about upcoming meetings. Often, it is helpful to send out agendas with student names to agency members (in a password protected document and after obtaining parent permission) so that they can find out if the student is already receiving services, or on a waiting list, etc. At times, you may want to invite student-specific agencies (e.g., Down Syndrome agency, foster child representative) as student needs are presented. Communicate with your lead teacher two weeks, one week, and two days prior to the SLT meeting at that site. In addition, and often concurrently, you will need to train the School Level Team Members.

Convening and Training the School Level Team (SLT)

Although we have seen several different models used, it has proven most successful to gather members of the School Level Team (SLT) together to train them on CIRCLES prior to holding the first meeting where students attend.

Step one. Working from the list generated at the CLT meeting, where you asked CLT members to nominate and/or designate an agency representative to serve on the SLT, make initial contact via email. Secure a location and set aside two hours for the first SLT meeting. Invite all agency representatives and request an RSVP to get an idea of how many will attend. Prepare and test your technology (e.g., projector, computer, PowerPoints, internet connection). Be sure to let the front office staff wherever you are holding your meeting know the meeting is going to happen, that it is called CIRCLES, and where to send attendees. We can’t say enough about how much this matters. It is frustrating to show up for a meeting you are not yet sure of at a school or district office and have no one know where it is or who is running it, or even recognize that it is, indeed, a thing happening at that building. Be sure to be clear about where to park, how to enter, etc. Send out a reminder email to everyone, even those who have not yet RSVP’d, two weeks, one week, three days, and one day before the SLT meeting. See Appendix D for Special Educator Tasks to Prepare for School Level Team Meeting, which gives a rundown of the steps the lead teacher at the school will follow for each SLT meeting.

Steps for SLT

1. Prepare for training meeting

a. Invite designated agency representatives

b. Secure location and test technology

c. Send email reminders

2. First SLT Meeting

a. Introductions

b. Ice Breaker

c. Review Values, Mission, and Vision Statement

d. CIRCLES Overview

e. Train SLT members

f. Discuss schedule for year one

3. Subsequent SLT meetings

a. Review student progress

b. Review Student Profile Sheets

c. Introductions to each student

d. Student presentations

4. Engage with student about available services

5. Follow-through

a. Send out meeting minutes

b. Make appointments with students

6. Use meeting minutes to plan student IEPs

Step two. Hold your first SLT meeting. Follow the sample agenda available in Appendix D, making changes as your situation warrants. Begin with introductions and an ice breaker. Present an overview of CIRCLES and the role they will play in the process. Review the Values, Mission, Vision developed with the CLT, and either agree to adopt it, or agree to change it for the purposes of the SLT. Train the SLT members in what CIRCLES is, and what is expected from them. Let them know the schedule for the SLT meetings for the year (developed with Teacher and District Staff input). Let them know the logistics of each meeting (i.e., how long it will be, whether they will all be at the same location or different locations, whether lunch is on your own or provided, etc.) and answer any questions they have.

Step three. For each subsequent SLT meeting, allow 15-20 minutes for members to settle in, review the Student Profile Sheets and agenda for each student presenting, and to ask questions. Ensure that you can arrange the chairs or tables in a half circle or full circle and that there is space for the student, family, and teachers to join the SLT members for discussion after student presentations. After the first SLT meeting where you see students, extend this time to 30-45 minutes to review follow up from last meeting. Did students, parents, or teachers make contacts that were discussed? If not, what can we do? Once you have settled in, bring on the students! One of the most important things to do, for every student, is to have every single member of the SLT go around an introduce themselves. This goes a long way to put nervous students and families at ease, just knowing the names and agencies represented in the room. Each student will present, and these presentations vary from three to eight minutes in length, using the All About Me PowerPoint template.

Step four. After the student presents, invite him or her to join the SLT members at the table. At this point, there are several ways to proceed. You can have one SLT member whose agency has something to offer almost everyone (Vocational Rehabilitation, or the local Community College, perhaps?) start things off, and then members can jump in and offer services they can provide. Another alternative is to go around the room and have every member contribute something, even if their agency cannot serve this student. The latter works well for engaging all SLT members, and offering information about resources students and families may not otherwise have access to or knowledge of. One of our SLT meetings had a member from the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) and his job, at most meetings, was simply to connect with the student. He might make a remark about a sports team the student supported through their clothing, or comment that this student obviously liked a certain band, judging from their “One Direction” binder. We were lucky to have him, because his conversations put students and families at ease and helped us learn more about them. Even though most of the students we teamed did not have open cases with DJJ, this team member was valuable for his ability to get them talking and to make connections. He would often follow up with resources he was aware of in the community but were not represented at the table on a given day. One of our most successful implementing districts required that every single SLT member develop an action item, even if they, themselves, could not provide services. All of the printed agendas and member produced action items were merged by the DLT and sent out after the SLT to all members, each student, family, and teachers involved. This district experienced the highest levels of follow through and some of the best outcomes across the board.

Step five. Follow-through is imperative to making CIRCLES a success in your area. This is accomplished in several ways. The biggest impact can be made when everyone is on the same page. Keeping specific notes (see meeting note templates in Appendix C) as to who is supposed to take which action for follow up for which student, and emailing these out to the team is invaluable. We recommend using the model described above, where every SLT member gets a copy of the agenda and each member generates at least one action item per student teamed. The DLT compiles these action items together per student, and then, within a week of the SLT meeting, sends out these minutes and action items to the entire SLT membership, the teachers involved, and, student specific agendas only, to each student, his or her family, and related teachers and case managers. It is also helpful to encourage SLT members, teachers, and family members to bring their calendars to the SLT meeting, which allows appointments to be made at the SLT meeting; this has proven to be the best model.

Step six. Bringing the plans laid out in the SLT to fruition is the key to success in transition through CIRCLES. Everything discussed in the SLT meeting must be brought back to the student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting.

Making the Most of Your Student Level Team: The IEP

In addition to all of the goals the IEP team is already tasked with, CIRCLES operates under the assumption that members of the IEP team, mainly the student’s special education teacher and paraprofessionals will be able to help the student prepare for the SLT meeting. However, we have seen numerous models in which mentors who are not part of the usual IEP team work with students to complete and rehearse their SLT presentations. In many instances, a mentor from another area of the student’s life has obviously been working one on one with the student to prepare. The basic information required in the All About Me PowerPoint can be gleaned from anyone who can get the student talking. Although it is helpful for the special education teacher and any paraprofessionals (educational and instructional aids) who work with the student to be part of this process, we have seen technology/computer teachers work closely with CIRCLES students to prepare them for the SLT. Coaches, Junior ROTC officers, and even Scout masters have stood in the back of the room during an SLT, at the invitation of students, mouthing the words to a student’s presentation, and beaming with pride. The take away for us is that anyone who supports the student can fill this role, and then submit a finished draft to the teacher for final edits. The transition specific tasks should already be taking place preparing the student for the transition component of the IEP and can be undertaken by school counselors, graduation specialists, job coaches, special education teachers, paraprofessionals, and even skilled volunteers. The technology component typically fulfills or partially fulfills some requirement for graduation in every district with whom we have worked. It’s not rocket science; if you start with the All About Me PowerPoint (Appendix D) and you receive blank stares from the student, he or she may need more guidance, skill and interest inventories, or to work through the Student Dream Sheet (Appendix D).

After the SLT, the IEP Team has another task, and the work completed at the SLT should make the IEP Team’s work easier. As discussed in the Note from the Authors at the beginning of this book, the transition plan should serve as a road map, which means that, before we can write a good IEP for a transition-aged student, we must first have an idea of their destination. In short, the academic and occupational activities our students receive should not be random, or standardized, they should be individualized and guided by the destination set forth in the transition plan. Consequently, when beginning the IEP meeting after the SLT has been held, the post-school outcomes, transition goals, activities and plan should be written first. Only when we know the destination can we write meaningful steps to get there. This is why it is so important to share the minutes of the SLT with the IEP Team leader, so that the agreed-upon goals and activities can be written into the IEP at the start. All academic and occupational/behavioral/social goals written next should support, in some way, the end goal of the transition plan. Although this may sound like a lot of work, it is the result of many hands working toward a common goal, and our experiences have been relatively seamless. CIRCLES, if implemented with fidelity, will result in better transition plans, better IEPs, increased student involvement in IEPs, higher levels of student self-determination, and better collaboration between agencies, including the school district.

Evaluating CIRCLES – How can you tell it’s working?

As you begin implementing CIRCLES, you will want to know if it is working to change student’s perspectives (i.e., self-determination), to increase student IEP participation, to increase student-agency interaction, and to build interagency collaboration across your CLT and SLT members. Published measures as well as educator-made questionnaires for evaluating CIRCLES can be found in Appendix G or on the CIRCLES website. To evaluate the fidelity of implementation on a local level and to access its impact, checklists for CLT and SLT can be found in Appendices C and D.

Measuring Self-Determination

The American Institute of Research (AIR) Self-Determination Scales measure self-determination from different viewpoints. These Self-Determination Scales are available at no cost, at the time of this printing, and can be found on the University of Oklahoma Zarrow Center for Learning Enrichment website http://www.ou.edu/content/education/centers-and-partnerships/zarrow/self-determination-assessment-tools.html Links to these forms are found in Appendix G, as well. Students’ self-evaluation of self-determination can be measured before and after preparing for the SLT meeting or from year to year using the AIR Self-Determination Scale Student Form. Students with difficulty reading may have the questionnaire read to them or you may use an adapted Student Form with visual supports which was created by a member of the CIRCLES team (Appendix G). Teachers can use the Educator Form to compare student self-perspectives of self-determination with teachers’ perspective of each student. There is also a Parent Form which gives the parents’ assessment of the student’s level of self-determination. Questions on the different forms cover what the student knows about self-determination, how they feel about it, types of opportunities students have to use self-determination at home and at school, and if the student demonstrates self-determination at home or in school. The AIR consists of statements with five options for response ranging from Never to Always. These forms are easy to score and can be found in Appendix G.

Measuring IEP Participation

After the SLT meeting, minutes and agency representatives’ action steps will be sent to the student’s teacher and/or case manager, among others. At that point, the case manager and student develop the transition component of the IEP including transition goals and activities, along with IEP goals, based on the meeting information. Because the student is involved in the transition process and has had an opportunity to present their All About Me presentation at the SLT meeting, participation at the IEP meeting is expected to increase. To measure this, we developed the IEP Participation Measure. This form can be completed at all IEP meetings for students going through CIRCLES as well as those who are not. This measure will provide you with information on how well the student transfers the SLT training to the IEP meeting. You will have a snap shot of which students are participating in IEP meetings and the over-all number for the school. A sample IEP Participation Measure is available in Appendix D. These measures can be completed by the case manager directly after the IEP meeting and kept with the student’ IEP folder to be compared over time or the forms can be collected and recorded on an excel sheet to show level of IEP participation across the school.

Measuring Student-Agency Involvement

Another important way to evaluate how well your CIRCLES model is working is to measure how many agencies each student is engaged with before and after presenting and meeting with the SLT representatives. This determination can be accomplished by sending home a questionnaire for parents to complete before the student presents at the SLT, and again, a few months after the SLT, as it often takes a few weeks to establish follow-up contact with agencies. This questionnaire could also be sent home at the beginning of each school year and compared from one year to the next. It would also provide names of possible CLT/SLT members who were not considered previously. Seeing an increase in student-agency involvement would indicate that CIRCLES is working for your district.

Measuring Interagency Collaboration

To determine level of interagency collaboration being built through CIRCLES CLT and SLT meetings, we surveyed agency representatives to find out which agencies in their community they already worked with and to what extent. An easy way to get this information is to use a questionnaire listing the agencies you know about in your community. Ask your CLT and SLT members to complete the questionnaire before starting year one of CIRCLES and to repeat the survey each year to determine if interagency collaboration is growing in your community. It is a good idea to have your special educators and school administrator take the survey as well to increase their awareness of local supports for their students and see their collaboration with those agencies build. An Interagency Collaboration Questionnaire can be found in Appendix G.

CIRCLES for Diverse Students and Families

In a recent review of the literature on best practices for students with disabilities from racially, ethnically, linguistically diverse (RELD) backgrounds, Povenmire-Kirk and colleagues (in submission) found that four main factors have a positive impact on student outcomes. The factors that make the highest level of impact are: (a) using a strengths-based approach to transition planning; (b) promoting self-determination in culturally appropriate ways; (c) increasing family involvement; and (d) building social capital and community networks of support. CIRCLES, when used with intention and direction, can facilitate the development of each of these factors. We describe this in detail below.

Strengths-Based Approach

CIRCLES fosters a strength-based approach to transition planning for all students, and especially for those who are racially, ethnically, linguistically diverse (RELD), identified as a best practice by Leake and Black (2005). As students prepare for the SLT meeting and create their All About Me presentations, the focus is not only on areas of need, but emphasizes student strengths (e.g., personal strengths, academic strengths, previous work experiences, positive social interactions, volunteer activities) and uses these strengths to design their postsecondary goals. RELD students learn along with their peers to identify their strengths, and through preparation for presenting at the SLT, learn self-advocacy skills for talking to adults and expressing their goals.

Promote Self-Determination

Research indicates that RELD families and communities may not value the same transition planning strategies identified as essential, such as parent involvement in transition planning or student independence (Kim & Morningstar, 2005; Leake, Black, & Roberts, 2003; Povenmire-Kirk, Lindstrom, & Bullis, 2010). Often RELD students, due to cultural barriers, limited choices or resources, score lower on self-determination scales than non-RELD peers. In addition, in some instances, educators and other support personnel may hold biases and limited views of student capabilities in this area (Cartledge, Gardner, & Ford, 2008; Banks, 2014).

In the CIRCLES model, self-determination should be taught to RELD students with understanding and respect for individual cultural differences (Leake & Black, 2005; Shogren et al, 2007; Trainor et al., 2008) through skill-building in the areas of identifying strengths, setting goals, and evaluating progress towards those goals (Field, Martin, Miller, Ward, & Wehmeyer, 1998). Preparing for the SLT meeting also gives students an opportunity to practice self-determination skills as they ponder what they want to do after high school and create the All About Me presentation (Povenmire-Kirk, et al, 2015).

Increase Family Involvement

Parent involvement in transition planning is one of the essential components of the Transition Taxonomy (Kohler, 1996) and is correlated with positive post-school outcomes (Mazzotti et al., 2015). For some RELD families, this parental involvement is limited due to language barriers, transportation and childcare constraints, and work schedules. In addition, some RELD parents may not understand their child’s disability or the rights they have under IDEA. As the DLT, you may want to consider the family needs for your students presenting at the SLT. For example, several of our districts provided childcare, with activities and snacks for small children while the parents participated in the SLT. Another district found volunteers from the local faith community to arrange transportation for parents to attend the SLT meetings. Parent advocacy groups can be invited to meet with parents to provide training on the student’s disability as well as to provide translation services.

Enhance Social Capital and Develop Community Networks of Support

The CIRCLES model of transition planning provides opportunities for RELD students and families to build their network of community supports through the relationships built with agency representatives during the SLT meetings. This social capital (Banks, 2014; Trainor, 2010) is often less common for RELD families due to lack of resources and lower socio-economic status, leaving them with fewer connections to community supports and resources. By supporting RELD families in participating in SLT meetings and becoming part of the transition planning process, they are able to increase their connections to the community and service providers (Leake & Black, 2005), benefiting not only themselves, but also bringing that information to other RELD families in their personal networks. The SLT meeting provides that link from high school to post-graduation so students will continue to benefit from these associations beyond graduation leading to more positive post-school outcomes (Kim & Morningstar, 2005).

References

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Povenmire-Kirk, T., Diegelmann, K., Crump, K., Schnorr, C., Test, D., Flowers, C., & Aspel, N. (2015). Implementing CIRCLES: A new model for interagency collaboration in transition planning. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 42, 51-65.

Povenmire-Kirk, T. C., Lindstrom, L., & Bullis, M. (2010). De Escuela a la Vida Adulta/From school to adult life: Latino youth in transition from school to adult life. Career Development for Exceptional Individuals, 33, 41-51.

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L., Wirt-Hamrick, J., Aspel, N., & Everson, J. M. (in submission). In the Driver’s Seat: CIRCLES as a Vehicle to Improve Service Delivery for Racially, Ethnically, and Linguistically Diverse Youth with Disabilities. Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals.

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Appendices Table of Contents

Appendix A: Executive Summary ……………………………………………………..	39
Appendix B: Circles Overview B1: History and Overview Informational Presentation ……………………….. B2: History and Rationale - Video ……………………………………………. B3: Team Roles and Responsibilities Matrix ………………………………….	42 43 44
Appendix C: Community Level Team (CLT) Resources C1: Community Level Team (Video) ………………………………………… C2: Community Agency Invitation Letter Template …………………………. C3: CIRCLES Community Level Team Agendas ……………………………. C4: CLT Nomination/Designation Sheet for School Level Team Members …. C5: Interagency Agreement Form ……………………………………………. C6: Action Plan for New Districts …………………………………………….	46 47 48 52 53 57
Appendix D: School Level Team (SLT) Resources D1: SLT Overview Resources ………………………………………………… D2: Using Technology to Increase Student Success ………………………….. D3: SLT Invitation Letter for Agencies ………………………………………. D4: Sample Invitation Letter for Parents ……………………………………… D5: Sample Permission for Agency Involvement …………………………….. D6: SLT Training Team Agenda ……………………………………………… D7: Student Dream Sheet ……………………………………………………... D8: Student Profile Sheet for SLT Members …………………………………. D9: Student Presentation List …………………………………………………. D10: SLT Signature Sheet …………………………………………………….. D11: School-Level Team Meeting Minutes …………………………………... D12: Special Educator Tasks to Prepare for School Level Team Meeting …… D13: All About Me Template …………………………………….	73 76 77 78 80 81 83 86 87 89 90 92 93
Appendix E: IEP Resources E1: IEP Team with CIRCLES Video …………………………………………. E2: IEP Informational Presentation …………………………………………… E3: Transition Assessment Survey for Parents ………………………………..	94 95 96
Appendix F: Strategies for Teaming F1: Video Resources ………………………………………………………….. F2: Forms and Documents …………………………………………………….	100 104
Appendix G: Evaluation G1: IEP Participation Measure ……………………………………………….. G2: AIR Self-Determination Scale links ..……………………………………. G3: Student-Agency Interaction Questionnaire ………………………………. G4: Interagency Collaboration Survey Questions ……………………………..	105 106 107 108
Appendix H: Additional Resources and Contact Information ………………………...	109

Appendix A: Executive Summary

Executive Summary August 2016

Communicating Interagency Relationships and Collaborative Linkages for Exceptional Students (CIRCLES) is a transition-planning service delivery model designed to guide schools in implementing interagency collaboration among community, school, and IEP teams. A four-year cluster randomized trial research study was conducted by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with funds from the Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Special Education Research (#RSA324A110018) was conducted to examine the efficacy of CIRCLES. The following summary provides a brief description of CIRCLES, research design, and findings of the research study.

Circles Intervention

The CIRCLES intervention involved three levels of interagency collaboration including Community-, School-, and IEP-level teams. These teams worked together to address transition planning needs of students with disabilities to improve both in-school and post-school student outcomes. CIRCLES allowed agencies to provide support services directly to students and families who needed involvement from multiple adult service providers.

Community-level team. The Community Level Team (CLT) was comprised of administrators and supervisors of every agency able to provide transition services and could include: Vocational Rehabilitation, Department of Social Services, Health Department, The Arc, Easter Seals, Autism Society, transportation, residential service providers, and any other local service providers. District level staff (e.g., transition coordinator, compliance specialist) organized and convened the CLT to address larger issues of access to services within the community. The CLTs meet between two to four times per year to work on issues at the policy level. One key role of CLT members is to appoint a direct service representative from their agency to serve on the School-Level Team (SLT).

School-level team. The School-level team (SLT) brings adult agency representatives to meet directly with students and their families. The SLT was comprised of direct service providers (e.g., case managers, counselors, care coordinators) from each agency represented on the CLT, those professionals whom special educators might traditionally invite to attend IEPs, but due to the large number of students being served, these representatives are often unable to attend IEPs for every student in need. District staff responsible for convening CIRCLES meetings invited direct service providers to attend one full-day meeting a month (during the school year), in which the team met with a student every 30-45 minutes, and could see up to 10 students a day. Students create 10-minute presentation that describe their strengths, areas of need, and post-school goals. For the remaining time allotted (20 – 40 minutes per student), members of the SLT talked with the student, his or her family, special educators, and one another to determine the best way to deliver transition services to each student. In addition to giving the student, parent, and special educators a personal contact to associate with each agency, the SLT format also allowed time for appointments to be made and questions to be answered by agency members. Families discussed any needs they may have had as a whole (e.g., poverty, homelessness, transportation, food insecurity, guardianship assistance). Agencies negotiated with one another and the student and family to create the most comprehensive plan to meet each student’s specific needs.

IEP team. The IEP team is the final level in the CIRCLES multi-level approach. After the SLT meeting, special education teachers took the minutes of the SLT meeting to the IEP meeting and wrote the transition component based on the services agreed upon at the SLT. This process enabled the IEP team to write the other components of the IEP with the end goals of the student in mind. Because the district-level school staff were responsible for convening the CLT and SLT meetings, the time special education teachers typically spent inviting folks to IEP meetings was freed up for preparing students for SLT and IEP meetings.

Research Methods

A cluster randomized trial, where schools served as clusters, was used to assign schools into treatment conditions. Forty-four schools were randomly assigned into either the CIRCLES or Business-as-Usual (BAU) condition. All students in grades 10th to 12th who were receiving services under IDEA (2004) with Individualized Education Plans (IEP) were eligible to participate. Participating schools were asked to recruit at least 10 students for inclusion in the research component of the study. Most students who participated in the study were classified as specific learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, other heath impairments, and other. There were no statistically significant differences between the CIRCLES or BAU conditions on disability classification. Given the multilevel structure of the data, with students nested within schools, multilevel modeling using posttest data collection was used to investigate the differences between the CIRCLES and BAU conditions. Survey research method was used to examine stakeholders’ perceptions of transition services.

Research Questions and Findings

Research findings are organized by the research questions. The first two research questions examined differences between the in-school measures of students IEP participation and self-determination. The third questions investigated difference in post-school outcomes (i.e., employment and school). The final question examined stakeholders’ perceptions about the effectiveness of transition services in the CIRCLES condition.

Research Question 1. Was CIRCLES more effective than the BAU model at increasing student’s participation in IEP meetings? Using HLM, the effects of CIRCLES for the IEP participation level suggested that there were statistically significant CIRCLES effects for IEP participation (γ01= .72, SE = .23, p<.01, r2 = 22%). CIRCLES explained 22% of the between measures variance in IEP participation. Students in the CIRCLES condition had a much higher level of IEP participation that students in the BAU condition.

Research Question 2. Was CIRCLES more effective than the business-as-usual (BAU) model at increasing students’ self-determination level? There were statistically significant higher CIRCLES effects for educators’ ratings of Capacity (γ01=. 22, SE = .07, p<.01, r2 = 21%) and Opportunity (γ01=. 23, SE = .08, p<.01, r2 = 18%). CIRCLES explained 21% and 18% of the between measures variance in educators’ Capacity and Opportunity, respectively. These results indicate that educators reported higher levels of students’ Capacity and Opportunity in the CIRCLES condition as compared to the BAU condition. For students’ self-ratings of self-determination, there were significant effects for Opportunity (γ01=. 19, SE = .08, p<.01, r2 = 17%), but there were no CIRCLES effects for Capacity (γ01=-.04, SE = .08, p>.05). The results indicate that students in the CIRCLES condition had higher on average levels of Opportunity, but there were no differences between the groups for the Capacity outcome.

Research Question 3. Was CIRCLES more effective than the business-as-usual (BAU) model at increasing student’s post-school outcomes? For post-school outcome results, there was not a statistically significant difference between treatment conditions of post-school outcomes. It should be noted that the sample size (35 schools and 220 students) was smaller than all other analyses, suggesting limited power for detecting effects of conditions.

Research Question 4. How did key stakeholders view CIRCLES? Parents, students, school and community-agency personnel who participated in CIRCLES received a survey about their perception and satisfaction with transition services. Results of the parent survey (N=77) indicated that (a) 100% agreed they had an active role in the process of preparing their child for life after high school, (b) 100% agreed they understood their child’s needs and goals, and (c) 92% agreed they communicated regularly with school personnel on the process of preparing their child for life after high school. The student survey (N=142) indicated that (a) 92% agreed they were involved in preparing goals for their future after high school, (b) 87% agreed their high school was helpful in preparing them for college, (c) 86% agreed their high school was helpful in preparing them for employment, and (d) 93% agreed they knew what adult services would help them after high school. Survey results for school and community agency personnel reported (a) All CIRCLES schools and community agencies reported increased collaboration, (b) Schools reported high levels of collaboration, but saw a need to reach out to more local businesses, community agencies, and technical education providers, and (c) Community agencies reported collaboration through CIRCLES strengthened their own outcomes, but still saw a need to “braid” financial resources.

Implications for Practice

Findings from the current study indicate both teachers and students involved in CIRCLES indicated students had greater participation in IEP meetings and greater opportunity to practice and demonstrate self-determination skills than did students in BAU schools. As a result, CIRCLES provides educators with a “two-for-one” strategy. By helping students prepare their presentation for the SLT meeting, presenting to the SLT, discussing adult services options with the SLT, and then using the same presentation at their IEP meeting, educators can provide multiple opportunities for students to learn and practice valuable self-determination skills. Survey results of key stakeholders also supported the positive impact of CIRCLES for transition planning.

Unfortunately, participation in CIRCLES did not increase student post-school outcomes. To date, the only predictor (Test, Mazzotti, et al., 2009) of improved post-school outcomes that has been causally linked to improved post-school outcomes is community-based work experience programs (Cobb et al., 2013). However, educators must still implement practices and strategies that have the best available evidence. For now, these results indicate in order to provide students with the best chance for post-school success, their program of study should include community-based work experiences combined with additional predictors of improved post-school outcomes. For students whose IEP goals, objectives, and transition services indicate the need for increased self-determination skills and linkages to adult services, CIRCLES is recommended.

Appendix B1

History and Overview Informational Presentation

Appendix B2

History and Rationale - Video

Appendix B3

CIRCLES Grant: Team Descriptions and Responsibilities Table

Team	Community Level	School Level	Individual Level
Key Purpose	*Build sustainability of CIRCLES by aligning community secondary transition & adult services systems. *Administrative leadership for total array of transition services offered *Finds solutions for problems that arise	*Provides student access to various representatives from community agencies	*Writes IEP including Transition Component *Ensure input from students and parents re: transition planning process
Team Members	*Exceptional Children’s Coordinator *Principals, *Transition coordinator, *School board rep, *Parent rep, *Business rep, *Administrator for local C of C, *Postsecondary ed rep, *Administrative reps from public service agencies (voc rehab, workforce development, transportation providers, etc) *Administrative reps from other community service agencies (group homes, advocacy groups, etc)	*Student *High school transition coordinators, *special populations coordinator (voc ed) *Regular education teacher, *military recruiter, *parent, *case managers or other direct *service reps from community service agencies	*Student *Parent *School reps *Reps from outside agencies
Team Responsibilities	*Work to solve issues that directly relate to students: *Identify community resources *Develop & update interagency service agreements *Coordinate staff development *Share info re: employment of individuals w/ disabilities	*Facilitates the transition planning process evolving around “student-centered planning philosophy” *Provides information and pre-planning to guide Student-level team’s IEP process *Develop timelines for postgraduate needs with student and parent input *Conduct pre-planning transition meeting	*Takes transition planning information and develops IEP *Review info related to present level of performance and future goals *Develop transition component and IEP *Provide additional info re: transition process *Address all other relevant student issues
Meetings	*2 -4 times per year for *1 – 2 hours	*Monthly excluding December, June and July *Meetings last 20 minutes to 2 hours.	*May occur at any time based on need for development and revision of IEP *May last from 1 – 3 hours, as necessary

Team Roles and Responsibilities Matrix

Appendix C1:

Community Level Team (Video)

Appendix C2

Community Agency Invitation Letter Template

Dear (Community Agency),

Our school district has been selected to participate in an intervention involving interagency collaboration for students with disabilities. This project, CIRCLES (Communicating Interagency Relationships and Collaborative Linkages for Exceptional Students) is a four-year intervention study that will examine the effects of a multi-level model (i.e., community, school, IEP) of interagency collaboration on transition outcomes. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte is conducting this study in collaboration with (Your County Here) County Schools and other Local Education Agencies as part of a grant funded by the Institute for Educational Sciences through the US Department of Education.

As a leader in the community, we would like to invite you to be a part of this community-level team. Through collaborative efforts with other county and community agencies, we would like your input in the identification of community resources, development of interagency service agreements, coordination of staff development activities, and sharing information related to employment of individuals with disabilities. Community-level teams will meet 2 to 4 times per year, as needed.

Someone from our school district will be contacting you with additional information and to personally invite you to join our community level team. We are looking forward to your participation.

Sincerely,

109

Appendix C3

CIRCLES Community Level Team Agendas

CIRCLES Community Level Team (CLT) AGENDA

CLT Meeting #1 Date:

Item	Time Allotted	Discussion (Key Points, Motions, concerns)	Action Voted	Next Steps/ Due Date	Who is Responsible?
Introductions	10 minutes
Ice Breaker	15 minutes
Description of CIRCLES	20 minutes
Values, Mission, Vision	20 minutes
Who Else Should Be Here?	10 minutes
School-Level Team Designations (Pass around sign up sheet)	15 minutes
Schedule Next Meetings	10 minutes
Parking Lot and Next Agenda Items	10 minutes
TOTAL MINUTES	110

ON THE BACK: Values, Mission, Vision

CIRCLES Community Level Team (CLT) AGENDA

CLT Meeting #2 Date:

Item	Time Allotted	Discussion (Key Points, Motions, concerns)	Action Voted	Next Steps/ Due Date	Who is Responsible?
Ice Breaker	10 minutes
Review Values, Mission, Vision statements	10 minutes
Brief Recap of CIRCLES	10 minutes
Report of Progress on School-Level Team Meetings	20 minutes
Agency Introductions: What services? To whom? Challenges you face in providing services?	40 minutes
Who Else Should Be Here?	5 minutes
Schedule Next Meetings	5 minutes
Parking Lot and Next Agenda Items	10 minutes
TOTAL MINUTES	110

ON THE BACK: Values, Mission, Vision

CIRCLES Community Level Team (CLT) AGENDA

CLT Meeting #3 Date:

Item	Time Allotted	Discussion (Key Points, Motions, concerns)	Action Voted	Next Steps/ Due Date	Who is Responsible?
Ice Breaker	10 minutes
Review Values, Mission, Vision statements, make changes?	10 minutes
Brief Recap of CIRCLES (Only if you have new members)	10 minutes
Report of Progress on School-Level Team Meetings	20 minutes
Review Challenges Identified by Agencies at CLT #2	10 minutes
Identify CLT Goals for the Year	30 minutes
Who Else Should Be Here?	5 minutes
Schedule Next Meetings	5 minutes
Parking Lot and Next Agenda Items	10 minutes
TOTAL MINUTES	110

ON THE BACK:

Values, Mission, Vision

CIRCLES Community Level Team (CLT) AGENDA

CLT Meeting #4 Date:

Item	Time Allotted	Discussion (Key Points, Motions, concerns)	Action Voted	Next Steps/ Due Date	Who is Responsible?
Ice Breaker	10 minutes
Review Values, Mission, Vision statements	5 minutes
Brief Recap of CIRCLES (Only if you have new members)	10 minutes
Report of Progress on School-Level Team Meetings	20 minutes
Review Goals Identified by Agencies at CLT #3	10 minutes
Identify Next Steps for CLT Goals for the Year	30 minutes
Schedule Next Meetings	5 minutes
Parking Lot and Next Agenda Items	10 minutes
TOTAL MINUTES	100

ON THE BACK:

Values, Mission, Vision

Appendix C4

CLT Nomination/Designation Sheet for SLT Members

Agency	Representative Name	Email	Telephone	Role

Appendix C5

INTERAGENCY AGREEMENT FOR TRANSITION SERVICES IN ____________________

PURPOSE

The purpose of this agreement is to facilitate the coordination of services to students with disabilities, ages 14 and above (or younger if needed), within ______________during transition from school-to-work and community living. For each individual to experience successful transition from school to post-secondary activities, an array of support and training opportunities are essential. A Community Level Transition Committee composed of parents, governmental agencies, community organizations, and private industry, is needed to provide leadership in developing an appropriate service delivery system. To accomplish this task the following services will be provided by each of the participating agencies.

This agreement is made and entered into between ___________________________ and the local governmental and private agencies responsible for adult services for individuals with disabilities.

GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES

A. The agencies agree to support the development of regulations, policies and practices for a community transition committee.

B. The agencies agree to exchange information regarding program goals and student/client needs when appropriate.

C. The agencies agree to provide in-service training as needed.

D. The agencies agree to provide representation at quarterly meetings for the purpose of evaluating and planning cooperative services.

E. The agencies agree to provide representation on the school level transition teams when necessary.

LOCAL EDUCATION AGENCIES AGREE TO:

A. Provide the following services for students with disabilities based on need: (1) Job Placement, (2) Job Coaching (3) Vocational Assessment (4) Vocational Counseling (5) Modified Curriculum (6) Service Coordination (7) Job Follow-Up until exit from school (8) Follow-up annually after graduation or exit from school for a period of 3 years for the purpose of program evaluation.

THE COMMUNITY AGENCIES

Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services Agrees To:

· Support transition services to young adults with developmental disabilities.

· Provide routine consultation with other agencies, referral to residential services, vocational follow-up, and post-graduation counseling.

· Provide certification of students for determining CAP-MR/DD, ADVP, and CBS

eligibility.

· Attend scheduled conferences of students in transition when appropriate before they

exit the school program.

· Provide case management services for eligible students

_____________Community College Agrees To:

· Provide services to students who have been admitted to the Community College

System.

· Support and assist youth with disabilities in job training and assessment through

enrollment in the curriculum program.

· Provide job placement services, career exploration and counseling, job seeking skills,

and financial aid to eligible students.

· Assist eligible students in accessing compensatory education and adult basic education

classes.

· Attend scheduled conferences of students in transition when appropriate before they

exit the school program.

The Community Rehabilitation Agency Agrees To:

· Support transitional services of identified young adults who are developmentally

disabled.

· Coordinate and assist with referral of students to the community rehabilitation agency.

· Provide services through vocational skill training, vocational evaluation, job

placement, job coaching, case coordination, long-term follow-up, and short-term

follow-up to eligible clients.

· Attend scheduled conferences of students in transition when appropriate before they

exit the school program.

Department of Social Services Agrees To:

· Support transition services of young adults with developmental disabilities.

· Provide routine consultation with other agencies making referrals for residential and

transportation services.

· Assist in the coordination of WorkFirst programs and transition services

· Assist with guardianship issues.

· Attend scheduled conferences of students in transition when appropriate before they

exit school.

Employment Security Commission of North Carolina (Job-Link Center) Agrees To:

· Provide transition services to any U.S. citizen or individual authorized to work by the

Immigration and Naturalization Service, who is of legal age.

· Provide services by distributing labor market and career information along

with appropriate and suitable job placement assistance to eligible clients.

· Attend scheduled conferences of students in transition when appropriate before they

exit the school program.

Workforce Investment Act Program Agrees To:

· Support transition services of economically disadvantaged youth.

· Provide services through career planning, career assessment, job training,

apprenticeships, job placement, support for educational services, and support services

to eligible and suitable clients.

· Attend scheduled conferences of students in transition when appropriate before they

exit school.

The Recreation Department Agrees To:

· Support transition services of individuals with disabilities.

· Provide services through various recreational opportunities and facilities.

· Attend scheduled conferences of students in transition when appropriate before they

exit the school program.

The Local Transportation Authority Agrees To:

· Provide social service agency transportation under a single provider concept to clients

of public and private non-profit agencies in Cleveland County.

· Provide transportation to the general public on a private contract basis.

· Support transition services to individuals with disabilities through consultation

services to teachers, students, and parents.

· Attend scheduled conferences of students in transition when appropriate before they

exit school.

Vocational Rehabilitation Agrees To:

· Support transition services of individuals with disabilities that will result in an

employment outcome.

· Coordinate referral of Vocational Rehabilitation clients.

· Sponsor in-school adjustment training, and job coaching services.

· Provide vocational evaluations, counseling, training and transportation assistance to

eligible individuals based on need.

· Provide follow-up services for employed students who have exited the school system.

· Provide all services indicated in the cooperative school system -VR agreement.

· Attend scheduled conferences of students in transition when appropriate before they

exit the school program.

Social Security Administration Agrees To:

· Assist students and their families in determining eligibility for benefits.

· Assist students and their families in accessing work incentives.

· Provide consultation to school personnel regarding social security benefits and related

issues.

· Attend scheduled conferences of students in transition when appropriate before they

exit the school program.

This agreement will be renegotiated on an annual basis. This agreement is being entered into

on _____________________________________________________.

Note: Signatures of Representatives of Participating Agencies should be attached.

Reprinted with permission of Shelby City Schools, TASSEL, 1997.

Appendix C6 Action Plan for New Districts

CIRCLES TRAINING INSTITUTE (CTI)

ACTION PLAN (for new incoming districts)

PART 1:

Membership:

Identify Potential Team Members: Identify the interagency members and the intra-agency members.

Community Level Team:

Vision/Values/Mission

Vision: What are the goals for this team? What would you like to see in a perfect world?

Values: What values do you share as team member? What values drive your vision?

Mission: What will your shared mission be? How will you know if your team is functioning appropriately or not?

Goals:

Roles:

Process:

Part 2:

Resource Assessment

Identify community resources in all post-secondary domains.

Domain	Agency	Contact Person	Responsible Party?
Postsecondary Education or Vocational Training
Employment
Independent Living
Community Participation

Role Clarification:

Clarify desired roles of service providers (Both the role of the agencies and the individuals represented on the team in the provision of transition services of the actual “front line” {e.g. case manager, VR counselor, etc.})

Domain	Agency/Individual	Role
Postsecondary Education or Vocational Training
Employment
Independent Living
Community Participation

Interagency Agreements:

Make plans for interagency agreements: list potential contacts, create drafts (see sample interagency agreement in Sample Documents), ask questions of project staff, etc.

Important points:

Plan initial organizational meeting:

Meeting	Date	Location
Community Level Team
School Level Team

Tentative agenda:

Community Level Team:

Part 3:

Resource Management:

Identify sources of additional funding (or ways in which funding can be blended, overlapped, etc.). List Potential Sources of Funding or ideas for blending/overlapping:

Also need to look at resources (other than funding) that can be blended, shared, etc.:

Standard Operating Procedure:

Please indicate plans for each of the below mentioned items and who is responsible:

Orientation Activities:

Frequency, time & Length of Meetings:

Meeting Reminders:

Member Absences:

Agenda:

Celebration?

Networking:

Identify community needs in the area of employment and other related adult services:

Coordinate community awareness activities.

Potential Activity	Purpose	Audience	Involved Agencies	Responsible Party/Timeline

Job Development:

Activity	Agency	Coordination Activities

Job Placement:

Activity	Agency	Coordination Activities

Part 4:

Membership:

School Level Team Members:

Structure:

How will your school level team be structured? How many schools will it serve? Where will it meet? How often?

Student and Family Involvement:

List some steps you may take to increase and enhance Student Involvement:

Parent Involvement

Barriers:

Develop strategies and generate solutions for overcoming barriers to service delivery. This activity should be done AGAIN with your Community Level and School Level Teams, but let’s get started – what are some potential barriers that you know exist?

Potential Barriers	Potential Solutions	Policies/Procedures involved

Part 5:

Pre-Planning:

Standard Operating Procedures:

Consider how your team will handle each of the following:

· Participant Training

· Frequency, time, and length of meetings

· Environmental arrangements

· Breaks and refreshments

· Meeting reminders

· Member absences

· Agenda development

· Documentation

· Team member roles and behavior

· Celebration

Part 6:

Student-Led IEP meetings:

List below strategies to develop student-led IEP meetings that would work for your school:

Coordinate job development and job placements among service providers:

Information only – NOT part of Action Plan:

General team Responsibilities for School-Level Team

1. Develop orientation process for new team members.

2. Assist in post-school follow-up on students and provide this information to team members.

3. Assist in analyzing post-school data to increase effectiveness of the delivery of transition services.

4. Assist in the evaluation of transition team planning.

5. Ensure smooth transfer of case management from public schools to other adult service providers.

6. Ensure open communication between school personnel and adult service providers outside of School Level Team meetings.

NOTES:

School Level Team Meeting Preparation Checklist

You may find it useful to designate a responsible party for each of these tasks.

1. Prepare the list of students to be presented at the team meeting no later than one month in advance.

2. Prepare written invitations to the planning meeting for students and their parent(s)/guardian no later than one month in advance. (clarify for parents – this is NOT the Invitation to Conference for IEP meetings)

3. Make needed transportation and daycare arrangements for students and their parent(s)/guardian in order to ensure their attendance at the meeting.

4. Notify core team members of the students scheduled for presentation to the School Level Transition Team, ensuring parent or student (if over18) permission to involve outside agencies.

5. School-specific team members of the students scheduled for presentation to the School Level Transition Team. (School staff don’t necessarily “present” at the meetings)

6. Send written invitations to student-specific members.

7. Follow-up with telephone calls to ensure their attendance.

8. Review with students the purpose of and the format for the meeting.

9. Obtain input from the student regarding agenda items and suggestions for individuals to invite other than the ones previously determined.

10. Update the Student Dream Sheet (or other student input document/informal transition planning survey) annually.

11. Provide student with an opportunity to practice for his or her meeting. This can involve viewing videotapes of previous meetings, role-playing, or discussing the process with an upperclassman. Students should understand that they are expected to take a lead role in their meeting. Teachers should assist students in what information needs to be shared with the team, how to state their post-school goals, how to request for services, appropriate questions to ask, and how to negotiate/compromise. This process should be related to the objectives in the Occupational Preparation courses in the Occupational Course of Study.

12. Assist student in organizing a Career Portfolio for presentation to the team members. (exit meeting only)

13. Send parents information regarding the School Level Transition Team process. Provide them with an opportunity to ask questions regarding the team meeting and give additional input regarding their child’s future goals (update the Student Mapping Form – this should be done annually).

14. Finalize the agendas for each student meeting.

15. Complete the School Level Transition Team Information Form.

16. Make copies of this form for all team members.

17. Have student educational records available at the meeting for reference as needed

18. Set up the environment for the meeting and make arrangements to ensure the smooth entrance and exit of students and their parent(s)/guardian.

School Level Team Meeting Procedures Checklist

1. Each student and their transition Special Educator or Transition Coordinator co-chair the meeting unless the student has acquired the skills to chair their meeting independently (which is the goal for all students).

2. Each team member receives a copy of the School Level Transition Team Information Form.

3. The meeting begins with introductions.

4. Following introductions, the student and/or teacher states the purpose of the meeting.

5. Post-school outcome goals for each of the three domains (employment, education/training, independent living skills) will be indicated by the student and/or teacher.

6. These goals will be stated one at a time followed by an update on the student’s progress in each area. The focus question is “How are we going to get from where we are now to where we need to be by graduation?”

7. During this discussion, team members provide suggestions for transition activities related to the student’s future goals.

8. Team members provide information regarding their role in these activities.

9. At the conclusion of the meeting, the student and/or teacher will summarize the discussion; clarified recommendations, assignments of responsibility, and timelines.

10. The process for follow-up will addressed.

11. Prior to the student and his or her parents leaving the transition meeting, all team members will sign the Transition Team Signature sheet.

Special Education Coordinator in Preparation for School Level Meeting Checklist

1. Establish meeting times for individual students within the timeframe allotted for the whole meeting.

2. Obtain a location with the high school for the meeting and arranging the environment to make it as welcoming as possible.

3. Ensure that parents and students have transportation to the meeting and arrange for daycare if needed to facilitate student and parent to attendance.

4. Introduce team members.

5. Explain the absence of team members from meetings and make arrangements for absent team members to receive information from the meeting.

6. Assist the student in leading his or her meeting and provide the student with support during discussions.

7. Appoint a team member to serve as recorder for the meetings

8. Provide copies of meeting minutes to all team members who were assigned specific tasks.

Appendix D1

SLT Overview Resources

· School Level Team (Part 1)

· School Level Team (Part 2)

· 10 Steps to Planning and Conducting a Successful SLT Meeting (Steps 1-5)

· 10 Steps to Planning and Conducting a Successful SLT Meeting (Steps 6-10)

· Preparing Students for the SLT Transition Team Meeting (Part 1)

· Preparing Students for the SLT Transition Team Meeting (Part 2)

Appendix D2

Using Technology to Increase Student Success

· Using Technology to Enhance Student Participation

· Web 2.0 Instructions

Directions for Popular Web-Based Tools:

· Animoto

· Brainshark

· GoAnimate

· ToonDoo

· Voki

· Wobook

· Wordle

Appendix D3

Sample SLT Invitation Letter for Agencies

Dear ________________________,

On ____________________________ at ____________________ in _____________________

(Date) (Time) (Room Number)

at _____________________________, a school level transition team meeting will be held for

(Location)

______________________________. At this meeting, the team will be assisting this student and

(Student Name)

his or her parents in making plans for life after graduation. Items to be discussed at this meeting

include a review of the student’s achievements, post-school goals, and strategies for the

accomplishment of post-school goals. ________________ would like you to attend his/her

(Student Name)

meeting. Please make every effort to attend this important meeting. If you cannot attend, please

call ______________________________ (Exceptional Children’s Teacher)

at __________________________ or email at ___________________________________ so

(Phone Number) (email address)

your input can be obtained. Thank you for your support of ____________________________

(student name)

and his/her future dreams and goals.

Sincerely,

_______________________________________

(Exceptional Children’s Teacher)

Appendix D4

Sample Invitation Letter for Parents

Dear ________________________,

On ____________________________ at ____________________ in Room # _______ at

_____________________________, a school level transition team meeting will be held for

______________________________. At this meeting, the team will be assisting your child and

in making plans for life after graduation. At the meeting, your child will be sharing his/her

dreams for the future and ideas for how team members can help with achieve those dreams. Also

attending this meeting will be the following school staff:

Name	Position

In addition, community agency representatives from the following agencies will be in attendance:

Name	Position	Agency

Please sign the attached permission for the above agency representatives to meet with your child. We look forward to seeing you at this important meeting. However, tf you cannot attend, please

call ______________________________at __________________________ or email at ____________________________ so your input can be obtained. Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Appendix D5

Sample Permission for Agency Involvement

Student Name: ______________________________________

Please sign below to indicate that you give permission for the agency representatives listed below to be involved with your child’s school level transition team meeting. Please feel free to list any other agency representatives you would like to have invited to the meeting.

_____ Vocational Rehabilitation

_____ Division for the Blind

_____ Pathways Representative

____ Recreation Representative

____ DSS Representative (Adult Services)

_____ Case Management Services: _____________________________________________________

_____ CAP Services Provider: _________________________________________________________

_____ Day Treatment Provider: ________________________________________________________

_____ Developmental Therapy Provider: ________________________________________________

_____ Counseling Provider: ___________________________________________________________

_____ Intensive In-Home Provider: _____________________________________________________

_____ Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST) Provider: __________________________________________

_____ Outside Therapy: PT: _______________________________________________________

OT: _______________________________________________________

Speech: ___________________________________________________

_____ Other: _______________________________________________________________________

_____ Other: _______________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________

Parent

____________________________________________

Date

Appendix D6

School Level Team Training AGENDA

SLT Meeting #1 Date:

Item	Time Allotted	Discussion (Key Points, Motions, concerns)	Action Voted	Next Steps/ Due Date	Who is Responsible?
Introductions	10 minutes
Ice Breaker	10 minutes
Review Values, Mission, Vision statements (use CLT version, but be open to changes)	15 minutes
CIRCLES Overview	30 minutes
Who Else Should Be Here?	10 minutes
Schedule Next Meetings	5 minutes
Parking Lot and Next Agenda Items	10 minutes
TOTAL MINUTES	90

ON THE BACK:

Values, Mission, Vision

Appendix D7

Student Dream Sheet

Student Name: _____________________________ Initial Date: _____________

School: ___________________________________ Teacher: ________________

Review Dates: ________________________ _______________________

________________________ _______________________

Anticipated Date of Graduation: ______________________

The following questions will be used to assist in transition planning activities and to determine post-school goals.

1. Where do you want to live after graduation? ________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

What kind of housing? _________________________________________________

2. How do you intend to continue learning after graduation? _____________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

What types of things do you want to learn after graduation? ____________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Where do you want this learning to occur? _________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

3. What kind of job do you want now? _______________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

4. What kind of job do you want when you graduate? ___________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

5. Where do you want to work? ____________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

6. What type of work schedule do you want? __________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

7. What type of pay and benefits do you want from your future job? ________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

8. What types of chores do you do at home? ___________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

9. What equipment/tools can you use? _______________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

10. Do you have any significant medical problems that need to be considering when determining post-school goals? ___________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

11. What choices do you make now? _________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

12. What choices are made for you that you want to take charge of? __________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

13. What kind of transportation will you use after graduation? _______________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

14. What do you do for fun now? ____________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

15. What would you like to do for fun in the future? _______________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Appendix D8

Student Profile Sheet for SLT Members

Date: _____________

Student Name: _________________________ School: __________________

Student DOB: __________________________

EC Disability Category: _________________________

Strengths: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

General Student Info (IQ, Academic Testing Results, Academic Behaviors, MH Dx, etc): _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Areas of Need: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Post School Goals:

Education/Training: _________________________________________________

Employment: ______________________________________________________

Independent Living: _________________________________________________

Teacher Perspective: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Parent Perspective: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Other Important Information: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Appendix D9

Student Presentation List

Student Name: Parent Guardian: School: Exceptional Children’s Teacher: Graduation Date:	Student Name: Parent Guardian: School: Exceptional Children’s Teacher: Graduation Date:
Student Name: Parent Guardian: School: Exceptional Children’s Teacher: Graduation Date:	Student Name: Parent Guardian: School: Exceptional Children’s Teacher: Graduation Date:
Student Name: Parent Guardian: School: Exceptional Children’s Teacher: Graduation Date:	Student Name: Parent Guardian: School: Exceptional Children’s Teacher: Graduation Date:
Student Name: Parent Guardian: School: Exceptional Children’s Teacher: Graduation Date:	Student Name: Parent Guardian: School: Exceptional Children’s Teacher: Graduation Date:
Student Name: Parent Guardian: School: Exceptional Children’s Teacher: Graduation Date:	Student Name: Parent Guardian: School: Exceptional Children’s Teacher: Graduation Date:
Student Name: Parent Guardian: School: Exceptional Children’s Teacher: Graduation Date:	Student Name: Parent Guardian: School: Exceptional Children’s Teacher: Graduation Date:
Student Name: Parent Guardian: School: Exceptional Children’s Teacher: Graduation Date:	Student Name: Parent Guardian: School: Exceptional Children’s Teacher: Graduation Date:
Student Name: Parent Guardian: School: Exceptional Children’s Teacher: Graduation Date:	Student Name: Parent Guardian: School: Exceptional Children’s Teacher: Graduation Date:

Appendix D10

SLT Signature Sheet

School Level Team Signature Sheet

Printed Name	Signature	Agency	Position	Phone	Email	Date

Appendix D11

School-Level Team Meeting Minutes

Date:

Present:

Student:

School:

Goals:

Education	Employment	Independent Living

Student:

School:

Goals:

Education	Employment	Independent Living

Student:

School:

Goals:

Education	Employment	Independent Living

Student:

School:

Goals:

Education	Employment	Independent Living

Appendix D12

Special Educator Tasks to Prepare for School Level Team Meeting

Prepare list of students to be presented at team meeting no later than one month in advance.

Establish meeting times for individual students within the timeframe allotted for the school at the school level meeting, taking into consideration the annual review dates of the IEPs (See Priority Matrix).

Notify core team members of students scheduled for presentation to the School Level Team.

Prepare written invitations (not an “IEP Invitation to Conference”) to the planning meeting for students and their parent(s)/guardian no later than one month in advance. Include information about the School Level Team process (see school rep for templates).

Obtain a “Release of Information” form* from parent/guardian or student if over 18 years of age to share information with core team members.

Obtain “Permission to Invite Agencies” form* from parent/guardian or student if over 18 to invite student specific team members. Be sure to obtain parent and student input on team composition.

Make necessary transportation and daycare arrangements for students and their parent(s)/guardian in order to ensure their attendance at the meeting.

Schedule school-specific team members (not already on the team) of the students scheduled for presentation to the School Level Team.

Review purpose of and format for meeting with students.

Obtain input from students regarding agenda items.

Update Student Dream Sheet* (or other student input document/informal transition planning survey) annually.

Clarify expectations for student involvement in meeting and provided student with training and an opportunity to practice for his or her meeting. (e.g., viewing videotapes, role-playing, scripting, PowerPoint presentations, Web-based tools*).

Provide parents with an opportunity to ask questions regarding the process, give input regarding their child’s future goals (e.g., Parent Transition Survey, Parent Interview, etc.), and suggest agenda items.

Finalize agendas for each student meeting.

Ensure that student educational records are available at the meeting for reference as needed

Appendix D13

ALL ABOUT ME PowerPoint Template

	Students will use words, images, graphics, and hyperlinks to create a page for each topic listed below.
1.	Hello Page
2.	About me (age, grade, school)
3.	My strengths
4.	My hobbies
5.	Things that are hard for me
6.	My favorite subject in school
7.	Things I like to do for fun
8.	Things I don’t like to do
9.	My future plans for working after high school
10.	What I have done to get ready
11.	How you can help me…
12.	My future plans for Education/Training after high school
13.	How you can help me…
14.	My future plans for Independent Living after high school
15.	How you can help me…
16.	Something no one knows about me

Appendix E1

IEP Team with CIRCLES Video

Appendix E2

IEP Informational Presentation

Appendix E3

Transition Assessment Survey for Parents

TRANSITION ASSESSMENT SURVEY FOR PARENTS

Dear Parents,

As your son or daughter moves closer to graduation, it is important to begin to plan for his/her future. At the next meeting the IEP team will develop a transition component for your child’s Individualized Education Program. The transition component will identify future goals for your son/daughter and ways to support him/her in reaching these goals. We would like to see all our students become productive members of society. Your input and involvement is critical. Please take a few minutes to complete this Transition Assessment. Think of your son/daughter as an adult after graduation and identify your dreams/goals for him/her.

Student Name: _____________________________ Parent Name: ______________

Initial Date: _______________________________ Updated: __________________

Employment:

I think my son/daughter could work in:

· Full time regular job (competitive employment)

· Part time regular job (competitive employment)

· A job that has support and is supervised, full or part time (supported employment) Military Service (Branch: _________________________)

· Volunteer Work

· Other: ________________________________________

My son's/daughter's strengths in the area of employment are:

My son/daughter seems to be interested in working as:

When I think of my son/daughter working, I am afraid that:

To work, my son/daughter needs to develop job-related skills in:

Post-Secondary Education/Training:

Future education/training for my son/daughter should include (check all that apply):

· College or University (4-year degree)

· Community College (2-year degree or certification program)

· Vocational Training at a Vocational School

· On-the-Job Training

· Adult Basic Education classes at the Community College

· Compensatory Education classes at the Community College

· Life Skills classes

· Other: ______________________________________

My son's/daughter's educational strengths are:

To attend post-secondary education/training, my son/daughter will need to develop skills in:

Independent Living:

After graduation, my son/daughter will live:

· On his/her own in a house or an apartment

· With a roommate

· In a supervised living situation (group home, supervised apartment)

· With parents

· With other family members

· Other: ____________________________________

My son's/daughter's strength(s) in the area of independent living are:

When I think about where my son/daughter will live in the future, I am afraid that:

To live as independently as possible, my son or daughter needs to develop skills in:

Community Participation:

When my son/daughter graduates, I hope he/she is involved in (check all that apply):

· Independent recreational activities

· Activities with friends Activities with family members

· Organized recreational activities (club, team sports)

· Classes (to develop hobbies, and explore areas of interest)

· Supported and supervised recreational activities

· Accessing community services/businesses

· Other: _________________________________________

During free time, my son or daughter enjoys:

My son's/daughter's strength(s) in the area of community participation are:

When I think of the free time my son or daughter will have after graduation, I am afraid that:

To be active and enjoy leisure time, my son or daughter needs to develop skills in:

Transportation:

When my son/daughter graduates, he/she will (check all that apply):

· Have a driver's license and a car

· Walk, or ride a bike

· Use transportation independently (bus, taxi, train)

· Use supported transportation (family, service groups, car pool, special program)

· Other: _________________________________

My son's/daughter's strength(s) in the area of transportation are:

When I think of my son/daughter traveling around the community I worry about:

To access transportation my son/daughter needs to develop skills in:

Review items in the following three areas. Please identify areas in which your son or daughter needs information/support.

Social/Interpersonal:

_____ Making friends

_____ Setting goals

_____ Family relationships

_____ Handling legal responsibilities

_____ Handling anger

_____ Communicating his or her needs/wants

_____ Relationships with the opposite sex

_____ Counseling

_____ Other: ________________________________

Personal Management:

_____ Hygiene

_____ Safety

_____ Mobility/transportation

_____ Domestic skills

_____ Money management/budgeting

_____ Time/time management

_____ Personal care

_____ Other: _________________________________

Health:

_____ Ongoing care for a serious medical condition

_____ Sex education

_____ AIDS awareness

_____ Information on drug/alcohol abuse

_____ Other: __________________________________

McAlaran, S.J. (1993). The Colorado transition manual. Denver, CO: Colorado Department of Education

Appendix F1

Video Resources

· Collaborative Teaming

· Forming and Storming

· Norming and Performing

· Communicating Effectively

· Managing Conflict

· Teamwork Productivity

· Membership

Appendix F2

· Action Plan for New Districts

· Interagency Teaming Guide

· Team Roles and Responsibility Matrix

Appendix G1

AIR Self-Determination Scales

AIR Self-Determination Scale Student Form

AIR Self-Determination Parent Scale

AIR Self-Determination Scale Educator Form

AIR Adapted Self-Determination Scale Student Form

Appendix G2

*See School Representative for templates for these forms

IEP Participation Measure

1. Did the student lead the IEP meeting? (Did the student start the meeting, introduce him/herself, act as main speaker?)

· Yes

· No

2. Please rate the level of overall participation (0=no participation to 5=full participation).

0--------------------1--------------------2--------------------3--------------------4--------------------5

IEP Participation Measure

1. Did the student lead the IEP meeting? (Did the student start the meeting, introduce him/herself, act as main speaker?)

· Yes

· No

2. Please rate the level of overall participation (0=no participation to 5=full participation).

0--------------------1--------------------2--------------------3--------------------4--------------------5

IEP Participation Measure

1. Did the student lead the IEP meeting? (Did the student start the meeting, introduce him/herself, act as main speaker?)

· Yes

· No

2. Please rate the level of overall participation (0=no participation to 5=full participation).

0--------------------1--------------------2--------------------3--------------------4--------------------5

Appendix G3

Student-Agency Interaction Questionnaire

Example of Student-Agency Interaction Questionnaire

1) Have student or family member complete the following questionnaire indicating highest level of interaction with each community agency. (Example list is provided. Use agencies in your area)

	(0) No interaction	(1) Phone contact	(2) Meeting scheduled	(3) On caseload	(4) Receiving support
Arc
Autism Speaks (Autism Society)
Community College
Community Action Programs
County Health Department
Department of Health and Human Services
Employment Security Office
Habilitation Agencies
JobLink
Transportation agencies
School District
Social Security Office
Related Services Agencies
University Extension Office
Vocational Rehabilitation

Appendix G4

Pre-Post Interagency Collaboration Survey

Using the scale provided, please indicate the extent to which you currently interact with each agency.

Five Levels of Collaboration and Their Characteristics

No interaction (0)

· Not aware of organization

· No interaction that I know of

Networking (1)

· Aware of organization

· Loosely defined roles

· Little communication

· All decisions are made independently

Cooperation (2)

· Provide information to each other

· Somewhat defined roles

· Formal communication

· All decisions are made independently

Coordination (3)

· Share information and resources

· Defined roles

· Frequent communication

· Some shared decision making

Coalition (4)

· Share ideas

· Share resources

· Frequent and prioritized communication

· All members have a vote in decision making

Collaboration (5)

· Members belong to one system

· Frequent communication is characterized by mutual trust

· Consensus is reached on all decisions

1) List your community agencies and organizations (examples provided for starting point)

	My organization	Not sure	No interaction	1 Networking	2 Cooperating	3 Coordinating	4 Coalition	5 Collaboration
Arc
Autism Speaks (Autism Society)
Chamber of Commerce
Community College
Community Action Programs
County Health Department
Department of Health and Human Services
Employment Security Office
Habilitation Agencies
JobLink
Transportation agencies
School District
School Board
Social Security Office
Related Services Agencies
University Extension Office
Vocational Rehabilitation

Appendix H: Additional Resources and Contact Information

Resources

CIRCLES Website: http://circles.uncc.edu/ almost everything is available here

Need additional help? Contact us:

Name	Email	Phone
Dr. David Test	[email protected]	704-687-8853
Dr. Tiana Povenmire-Kirk	[email protected]	541-912-2678
Dr. Claudia Flowers	[email protected]	704-687-8862
Dr. Nellie Aspel	[email protected]	704-812-4090
Dr. Jane Everson
Dr. Karen Diegelmann