Post-Secondary Life for Students with Disabilities
Every student deserves to pursue a path of their choice after high school. In this section, we will explore various options for students with disabilities for post-graduation and programs designed to help them to prepare for college, career, and beyond.
Getting Started
- Transition Guide – Post-Secondary Education & Training: This guide from I’m Determined poses questions to help students identify their interests, suggests timelines for tasks such as exploring scholarship funding opportunities or taking college entrance exams, and asks students to consider important topics such as: what accommodations may be available and what documentation may be needed for services within the transition to post-secondary education.
- The DDS Transition Toolkit: This comprehensive guide for students graduating from high school is meant to prepare students and adults and support the planning for the time a student moves on after high school. This framework and best practices must provide access to programs, services, and ongoing professional development.
College
- College Preparation Checklist: Any student considering college should review this college preparation checklist from the US Department of Education to learn more about financial and academic readiness.
- PACER: The National Parent Center on Transition and Employment offers tips and resource guides to students and families about IEPs/transition plans, university policies for academic accommodations and accessibility and even includes some suggestions about inclusive for post-secondary education for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
- DC College Access Program (DC- CAP): DC-CAP is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping all students plan, enroll, and graduate from college. It also helps to connect students with the right college, retention services, financial aid, and scholarships as well as other leadership and partnership programs in the area.
- Bridge to Success College Program: OSSE has partnered with Trinity University to offer the Bridge to College Success Program. This offers an opportunity to newly graduated students to attend a 5-week summer program to provide early exposure to college coursework, orientation to college life and participation in conversations about the college experience and how to make the most of it.
- Dual Enrollment: OSSE offers no-cost dual enrollment opportunities with some DC area universities, allowing currently enrolled high school students pursuing a high school diploma to experience the rigor of college courses and learn about what is required for success in college. The credits earned may be transferable to select two and four-year colleges.
Career
- DCPS’ Career Based Internships: This program includes work-based learning opportunities to provide meaningful and intentional work experiences and skills training. Interns will be exposed to a variety of career fields and receive guidance from leading industry professionals. DCPS’s College and Career Programs Division is partnering with the Department of Employment Services’ (DOES) Summer Youth Employment program (SYEP). The partnership will provide paid summer internships for DCPS students between the ages of 15- 21 years of age. Here is a list of frequently asked questions about DCPS internships.
- OSSE’s Office of Adult and Family Education (AFE): This program provides services such as reading, writing, and math instruction alongside of workforce preparation and training for high-demand positions. Examples of certifications by industry include: Healthcare, Construction, Business Administration & Information Technology, Early Childhood Education, Hospitality, and Law & Security.
- Employment First: Please see this page with resources around the Employment First initiative, ServeDC grants, Project SEARCH, and Ticket to Work programs.
- Career and Technical Education Advanced Technical Center: This center is an opportunity for students through OSSE and Trinity University to prepare them for high-wage, high-skill and/or in-demand careers. Students attending a public DC high school that receives federal funding for CTE programming is eligible to enroll in these advanced technical career courses. These will provide college credit, allow students to learn from and interact with business and industry leaders through work-based learning experience (including workplace tours, college and career exploration activities and events and paid internships/apprenticeships with the ability to earn industry recognized credentials and/or licenses in these programs of study at no cost to them.
- Supported Employment Services: This initiative through the Department on Disability Services supports individuals with disabilities in finding and keeping employment, as well as building skills to become independent in their job or career. For many, job coaching support will fade over time as the person becomes more independent and the supervisors and coworkers become more proficient and comfortable in providing workplace supports. Sometimes the assistance looks like assessment, development of job opportunities, job coaching, job retention support, assistance with transportation, direct instruction in learning aspects of their job, support in arranging accommodations, and even teaching for a supervisor in learning now to support the employee. Some positions may even be customized to a person’s skills and interests while meeting the employer’s needs.
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