Defining Transition Assessment
Transition assessment is an ongoing process of gathering information that will help students, educators, and family members make informed decisions about life, during and after high school.
All individuals experience many transitions throughout their lives and students are no exception to the rule. Especially during the middle and high school years, students need to gain competence in critical key areas, including:
- Academics
- Self-advocacy
- Self-determination
- Communication
- Social skills
- Health
- Employment seeking and keeping
- Independent living
- Activities of daily living
- Technology
- Postsecondary options; college and/or training
The results of transition assessment will fuel the development of meaningful goals and objectives on the IEP (individualized education program). Functional literacy and numeracy, basic computer competence and self-advocacy are foundational skills that each student needs to learn.
The purpose of transition assessment is to identify a student’s preferences, interests, and needs and then assimilate these findings into a rigorous school program, complete with a challenging course of study; practical real life community experiences; extra-curricular activities; and paid work, as appropriate, for the individual student.
What and how many different transition assessments will be used varies from student to student. The findings of one assessment, for example, may indicate the need for another assessment in an area that the initial assessment identified. There is ‘No one size fits all’.
One’s preferences and interests also may change over time. Transition assessment will guide the student from self-awareness to career awareness; to career exploration, and ultimately, career decision making. At any time along this continuum, a student may discover an interest, previously unexplored, that may lead to a new postsecondary goal. A student may also change their mind several times during the high school years when given the opportunity to explore various postsecondary options.
The student’s race, culture, and ethnicity are important factors to consider when selecting transition assessment tools. What is the student’s primary language and what languages are spoken in the home? How does the student’s family/culture value success in the home, workplace, and the community?
The answers to these questions will provide valuable information when identifying and matching the student’s strengths, needs, preferences, and interests to goals for college, employment, training, independent living, and/or community participation. As educators, we must make the time to get to know our culturally and linguistically diverse youth and their families. Having an awareness of, and respect for the richness of cultural diversity are essential to selecting appropriate transition assessment tools.
What do you want to do when you graduate from high school? As each student completes a variety of transition assessments the answer to this question will hopefully change from “I don’t know” ... to “I’m not sure” … to identifying one or more postsecondary goals.
Transition assessment opens doors and expands possibilities for life after high school. Transition assessment creates choices, based upon informed decision making and the student’s hopes and dreams for the future.
Communication is a critical key to understanding. In the development of this resource manual, research was conducted to find assessment tools that are:
- user friendly for non-readers or require a low-level reading ability;
- available in different languages;
- offer alternative formats to print; and
- depict a diversity of cultures and disabilities.