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Upon completion of my Master of Education degree with an Academic Advising Certificate from Angelo State University, I hope to be employed as a High School Career and Guidance Counselor.  My focus will be assisting students of all walks of life through developing the necessary tools to be functioning members of society, whether they continue on with their higher education, join our military armed services, or seek employment following the completion of their high school requirements.

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Step 2 - Exploration Option 1 - Top 5 According to a Practicing Professional

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Step 2 - Exploration Option 1 - Top 5 According to a Practicing Professional

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I discussed legal and ethical principles in relation to school counselors with Ashley Hardin, a High School Counselor for Axtell ISD located northeast of Waco.

#1 David's Law - SB 179 - investigation of all "bullying" issues within 48 hours.  Difficult for counselors because they are not in charge of discipline.

#2 Family disputes dealing with parents and/or guardians and confidentiality, specifically married/divorced/separated parents.

#3 SB 11 Safety bill - need more leadership in building relationships with students and teachers through teaching conflict resolution.

#4 SB 426 - counselors should spend no less than 80% of their work time working on components for a comprehensive counseling program.

#5 SB 3 - pay increase for teachers and librarians but nothing about school counselors receiving a higher raise other than they normal step raise at their respective schools.

A. Hardin, personal communication, March 20, 2019)

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Step 2 - Exploration Option 3 - Education Dive

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Step 2 - Exploration Option 3 - Education Dive

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A brief written for Education Dive (Rosa, 2019) stresses the importance of providing the same level of support and resources to special education students in terms of college and career readiness. Special education students should be considered a valued asset to any school district, and school administrators, staff and teachers should work just as hard at helping special education students make the transition from high school to college or the workforce as they would general education students. Providing the same resources to special education students at specific modified levels, if needed, ensures that as they make the move from high school to a higher education institution or workforce, that they will not be overwhelmed more than necessary.

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Dive Brief:

When preparing students in K-12 special education programs for the transition from high school to careers or higher education, it must be done in a way in which students won't notice the upheaval in their lives - which can be achieved via internships or coursework at a community college, David Test, a professor of special education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, tells District Administration.

Students are now more involved in planning their individualized education programs (IEPs) so the post-graduation transition mirrors their interests and goals, and administrators are working more closely with outside employers to ensure a smoother entry to life after graduation.

The 2008 recession took a toll on these transitional programs, but funding has finally rebounded, with some examples including a partnership between Boston Public Schools and Roxbury Community College called " Knowledge. Enrichment. Engagement.," which teaches soft skills like time management that can be particularly difficult for students with special needs. Another program, at Cleveland County Schools in North Carolina, provides coursework that includes all the requirements needed to obtain a high school diploma in that state, along with soft skills training.

Though they aren't often spotlighted in college and career readiness conversations, special education services are critical components of what public school districts offer the community. And failure to be on par with these offerings can also have legal ramifications under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

When it comes to preparing for college and career readiness, these students need at least the same level of support as their peers - even if it's modified. And, in part because of the Higher Education Opportunity Act, colleges have expanded options for career, academic and skills-related college programs. Universities often have options catered to students with special needs, and some community colleges also provide training for specific occupations including medical assistance, computer programming and criminal justice.

Special education students graduate high school in lower numbers than their peers: During the 2015-16 school year, the nation's public high school graduation rate was 65.5% for students with disabilities, compared to 84.1% for the total student population. Preparing for a post-graduate transition is important for any student, and for those with disabilities, a clearer, more structured path can help prevent any hurdles they could face after getting their diplomas.

Regardless of whether students transition into college or the workforce, s chools should he effort is worth it: these students often have high IQs and can flourish after high school be on the lookout for programs - at either the local, state or national level - that support those with disabilities beyond their high school graduation. And t if given the proper support. Schools should measure students' interests, help them set goals and provide appropriate support for the next stage by helping them make a post-high school plan.

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Don't overlook special ed students in college, career readiness planning

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When preparing students in K-12 special education programs for the transition from high school to careers or higher education, it must be done in a way in which students won't notice the upheaval in their lives - which can be achieved via internships or coursework at a community college, David Test, a professor of special education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, tells District Administration.

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Step 2 - Exploration Option 3 - Education Dive

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Step 2 - Exploration Option 3 - Education Dive

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A brief written for Education Dive (Busta, 2019) discusses that the re-authorization of the Higher Education Act, not done since 2008, is beginning to gain the support needed from both political sides of Congress; however, no one side is putting too much excitement in fear that another partisan stalemate could happen.  Both the Senate and the House have began work with education committees to discuss what policies and recommendations are the highest priority for college institutions including a look at increasing federal funds and limiting loan caps, distance learning, and student data.  President Trump is on board with the re-authorization of the Higher Education Act in support of both students and educators to maximize support on all levels.

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Dive Brief:

The White House on Monday released its priorities for reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA), marking the first time the Trump administration has shared a broad higher ed policy agenda and echoing its budget blueprint, released last week.

On its list are streamlining accreditation and organizing accreditors based on institutions' missions rather than geography; adding risk-sharing between colleges and students over federal aid; implementing reforms to income-based loan repayment; and capping parent and graduate student borrowing.

It also asks Congress to pilot a "market-driven workforce development" program, to offer Pell Grants for short-term programs and to expand the Federal Work-Study program.

Dive Insight:

The pieces could be falling into place for reauthorizing the HEA, which has not been overhauled since 2008 and is overdue for a rewrite. But s imilar efforts last year lost momentum,​ and another partisan stalemate is not out of the question.

Among the movements so far in the direction of reauthorization: The House and Senate have both set up hearings with their respective education committees to discuss their HEA priorities; and each chamber last week put forth companion bipartisan legislation in support of student-level outcomes data collection.

Reauthorization was encouraged in the president's fiscal year budget proposal, announced last week , which said the White House would " support congressional efforts to modernize and reauthorize the Higher Education Act to be responsive to the needs of both students and employers."

In a conference call on Monday, a senior administration official told reporters the White House hoped for a reauthorization bill as soon as possible but supports the timeline set by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who has said he hopes to pass bipartisan legislation by year-end.

The White House's HEA proposals align with elements of its proposed budget. That includes eliminating the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and other income-based repayment plans and replacing them with a single option capped at 12.5% of a borrower's monthly discretionary income. It also looks to "extend loan forgiveness to all undergraduate students" after 180 months of income-driven payments.

Monday's proposal additionally asks Congress to limit how much graduate students and parents can borrow under the federal PLUS loans, though it didn't specify limits. And while it noted interest in collecting program-level outcomes data, the senior administration official said it doesn't have a position on the legislative approach taken.

Higher ed leaders have voiced their priorities for HEA reauthorization, too. Last week, the Higher Education Committee of 50 issued a set of three dozen recommendations on topics ranging from federal student aid to support for online learning. They, too, asked for a broad student-level data collection system. They also want to expand Pell Grant access.

Meanwhile, colleges, regulators, accreditors and the U.S. Education Department are at work rewriting key regulations governing higher ed. Among them are accreditors' oversight responsibilities (also a prong of the White House's HEA agenda), allowances for alternative education delivery models (the White House brings up support for prior learning assessments in its pitch), and more generally the future of online education .

Top image credit: Getty Images

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Loan caps, accreditation overhaul among Trump's goals for Higher Education Act

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The White House on Monday released its priorities for reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA), marking the first time the Trump administration has shared a broad higher ed policy agenda and echoing its budget blueprint, released last week.

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Step 3 - Which Legal and Ethical Principle interests me - College and Career Readiness for all Students

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Step 3 - Which Legal and Ethical Principle interests me - College and Career Readiness for all Students

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After researching current legal and ethical principles in the field of education, I was drawn to the issue that addresses college and career readiness to all students, specifically special education students.
This topic highly resonates with me because I am passionate about every student knowing that no matter what difficulties they have experienced in life, that there are resources out there that can help make the transition from high school to a higher education institution or immediately to the workforce a reachable goal for them.

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Step 4 - Academic Source - Researching College and Career Readiness for all Students

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Step 4 - Academic Source - Researching College and Career Readiness for all Students

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From my search of the Angelo State University Library, I found a book titled "Making College Work: Pathways to Success for Disadvantaged Students" by Harry J. Holzer and Sandy Baum. This book overviews problems for postsecondary outcomes, and programs and policies to improve those outcomes.

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Too many disadvantaged college students in America do not complete their coursework with any college credential, while others earn degrees or certificates with little labor market value. Large numbers of these students also struggle to pay for college, and some incur debts that they have difficulty repaying. The authors provide a new review of the causes of these problems and promising policy solutions.

These circumstances stem both from problems on the individual side, such as weak academic preparation and financial pressures, and from institutional failures. Low-income students disproportionately attend schools that are underfunded and have weak performance incentives, contributing to unsatisfactory outcomes for many students.

Some solutions, including better financial aid or academic supports, target individual students. Other solutions, such as stronger linkages between coursework and the labor market and more structured paths through the curriculum, aim at institutional reforms. All students, and particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, also need better and varied pathways both to college and directly to the job market, beginning in high school. We can improve college outcomes, but must also acknowledge that we must make hard choices and face difficult tradeoffs in the process.

While no single policy is guaranteed to greatly improve college and career outcomes, implementing a number of evidence-based policies and programs together has the potential to improve these outcomes substantially.

280 Pages

Brookings Institution Press, August 29, 2017

Paperback ISBN: 9780815730217

Ebook ISBN: 9780815730224

Harry J. Holzer is a Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University, an Institute Fellow at the American Institutes for Research, and a Nonresident Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at Brookings. He is also a former Chief Economist at the US Department of Labor.

Sandy Baum is a higher education economist and a Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute. She has written extensively on college access, college financing, financial aid, and student debt.

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Too many disadvantaged college students in America do not complete their coursework with any college credential, while others earn degrees or certificates with little labor market value. Large numbers of these students also struggle to pay for college, and some incur debts that they have difficulty repaying.

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Brand, B., Valent, A., & Danielson, L. (2013, March). Improving college and career readiness for students with disabilities. Retrieved from https://ccrscenter.org/sites/default/files/Improving College and Career Readiness for Students with Disabilities.pdf

Busta, H. (2019, March 19). Loan caps, accreditation overhaul among Trump's goals for Higher Education Act. Retrieved from https://www.educationdive.com/news/loan-caps-accreditation-overhaul-among-trumps-goals-for-higher-education/550770/

Hardin, A. (2019, March 20). Legal and ethical principles for school counselors [E-mail interview].

Holzer, H. J., & Baum, S. (2017). Making college work: Pathways to success beyond high school. Brookings Institution Press.

Rosa, S. D. (2019, January 15). Don't overlook special ed students in college, career readiness planning. Retrieved from https://www.educationdive.com/news/dont-overlook-special-ed-students-in-college-career-readiness-planning/546054/

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Step 5 - What I learned about College and Career Readiness for Students with Disabilities.

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Step 5 - What I learned about College and Career Readiness for Students with Disabilities.

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College and career readiness is at the forefront of every high school's goals.  It is during a student's high school career that they, hopefully, will learn the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities to be functioning members of society once they graduate from high school.  However, unfortunately, students with disabilities are often left behind because they fall into a stereotype of not being able to fully function in our fast-paced society.  While much has been done in recent years to improve programs that will assist students with disabilities and their abilities to go to college and obtain a fulfilling career, there is still more that needs to be done to ensure that schools are not leaving these students behind.

Providing college and career readiness resources to general ed students, or students who do not require special education services, tends to lean towards making sure that those students are academically capable of handling the stresses of college life.  However, for students with disabilities, college and career readiness should focus more on crucial skills, "such as independence, self-determination, social and emotional skills and attitudes, critical thinking, lifelong learning, and employment skills" (Brand, Valent, & Danielson, 2013).

Students with disabilities usually have some aspect of an Individual Education Plan or 504 plan set for them in terms of their academic abilities and services.  These would be need to be closely examined and analyzed to make sure that services similar are, in fact, still maintained at a higher education institution to fulfill their needs.  State and local policymakers should continue to work and play a major role in helping school districts develop programs and resources that will allow students with disabilities to receive the same readiness resources needed to prepare for college and the workforce.  Much light needs to be placed on getting rid stereotypes and reducing limitations, and focus more on setting the bar higher for students with disabilities.

As a high school counselor, I would need to be knowledgeable about what programs in and out of school can be utilized to focus on these skills with students with disabilities.  I will need to work with other teachers, administration, community members, and advocates for students with disabilities in the development of extracurricular activities, community work, after school programs, and work based internships that will provide students with opportunities to learn how to ready themselves for life after high school.  I would also need to make a conscious effort to attend professional development in regards to working with students with disabilities and preparing them for college and the workforce.

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Step 4 - Internet Search - Researching College and Career Readiness for all Students

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Step 4 - Internet Search - Researching College and Career Readiness for all Students

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From an internet search I did on college and career readiness for special education students, I found a brief written for the College and Career Readiness and Success Center at American Institutes for Research. This brief discusses defining what college and career readiness for students with disabilities should look like and provides actions and strategies that schools can take.

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The first few years after high school are a huge period of change and growth, when many students fumble through the process of learning to be independent.

For students with disabilities, who are now graduating from high school and entering higher education in greater numbers than ever before, the transition can be even more jarring, and the need to develop self-reliance more critical.

"Many students with disabilities ... experience educational programs which stress compliance and teach them to second-guess their instincts and defer to others," said Julia Bascom, the director of programs for the Washington-based nonprofit Autistic Self Advocacy Network. "When you couple that with the bullying our students face, we tend to find a significant need for explicit, supportive instruction in self-advocacy skills."

Changing Supports

To a large degree, students with disabilities must do the same college- and career-planning that any high school student would undertake: understanding what courses are needed to qualify for a college or degree program, working through financial aid, and so on.

But there's also a lot that most students on track to college don't have to think about. For example, accommodations and services for students with disabilities after high school are no longer provided through the individualized education programs required under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. They are provided instead through the legal framework of two other federal laws, the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which do not require the same level of supports.

"We send them off to college where everything they are used to in high school-repetition, structure, assignments broken down-is gone, and we fail to provide them with an understanding of themselves as learners and how to work using their strengths and around their areas of weakness," said Elizabeth C. Hamblet, a learning specialist at Columbia University and the author of the 2011 book Seven Steps for Success: High School to College Transition Strategies for Students with Disabilities.

Teaching Advocacy

In college, students are expected to manage their own paperwork and time. While a student's high school IEP might include extra time for assignments, a student in college would be expected to just take fewer classes per semester. And all students are expected to seek out support services on their own.

Under federal law, schools must draft a transition plan with a student with disabilities, no later than age 16, focused on his or her strengths, preferences, and interests.

While self-advocacy is supposed to be part of that planning, there is no specific reporting on it. A 2004 federal longitudinal study found only 3 percent of students with disabilities in general education classrooms were specifically trained to speak and plan for themselves.

A forthcoming study in the journal Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals found transition programs stressing self-determination are more strongly associated with students with disabilities showing better higher education, employment, and independent-living outcomes. Specifically, those programs included goal setting, such as students establishing their own IEP targets, and autonomy, such as students making their own post-high-school plans and taking ownership for learning while they were in school, according to the study's authors, Valerie L. Mazzotti and Dawn A. Rowe, both special education assistant research professors at the National Post-School Outcomes Center at the University of Oregon, in Eugene. But, Ms. Mazzotti warned, "We don't have any data on where these skills are being taught or how often."

A separate report in the federal longitudinal study found that while nearly seven in 10 students with disabilities said they understood what services they would need to deal with their disability, less than a third said they often gave their opinions on services to professionals they interacted with.

Sometimes, school supports can be "more harmful than helpful" in a student's transition to the adult world, said Daniel Kish, the founder and president of the Long Beach, Calif.-based nonprofit World Access for the Blind, which teaches blind children self-advocacy and mobility skills. When blind students, or other students with disabilities, are restricted in physical education or extracurricular activities because of concerns for their physical or emotional safety, Mr. Kish said, it does more than make a student's college résumé less competitive.

"This has devastating consequences to social development, which, of course, affects career readiness. ... [Students] are guided around everywhere with the idea that this is safer and more efficient, but all this does is cause all capacity for freedom of movement to atrophy."

"The biggest problem here," Mr. Kish added, "is [when] extra time and modifications are being allotted liberally without regard to the fact that the real world won't make such allowances."

When possible, Ms. Hamblet recommends that schools begin to taper off accommodations that would not be available in college or work for 11th and 12th graders. "Anything that involves adults doing things for students are things that need to be closely examined," she said.

Finding a Voice

Self-advocacy training should go beyond simply teaching students to replace old supports with new ones and instead help them start to find their own voices.

A former high school special education teacher, Toni R. Van Laarhoven, said often students in IEP meetings with parents and teachers "just sit silently, or people would ask them yes-or-no questions."

In response, Ms. Van Laarhoven, an associate professor of special and early education at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, launched Multimedia for Youth to Voice Outcomes Individually Created for Empowerment, or MY VOICE.

Preservice special education teachers work with high school students with disabilities planning for life after high school. Together, each pair discusses the student's interests, strengths, and weaknesses. The student also learns PowerPoint, video editing, and other skills needed to put together a multimedia presentation on his or her postgraduation plans.

At the end of the program, students give presentations to their IEP teams, including parents. At one meeting, Ms. Van Laarhoven recalled, "The young man's parents kind of had in their minds that the student would live in a group home and work in a structured environment, but the kid said, 'No, I want to go to college and live with some friends,' " she said. "The presentation was life-changing for him."

Published in Print: June 4, 2015, as After K-12, Students Must Be Self-Advocates

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For Students With Disabilities, Transition From High School Requires Self-Advocacy

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The first few years after high school are a huge period of change and growth, when many students fumble through the process of learning to be independent. For students with disabilities, who are now graduating from high school and entering higher education in greater numbers than ever before, the transition can be even more jarring, and the need to develop self-reliance more critical.