Graduation Requirements
Our last Vitals for Transition zoom was on changes in graduation requirements that were sent out by the Iowa Department of Education earlier this fall.
The document can be found here: Administrative Consideration for Changes in Definition of Diploma
This change will impact this year’s freshman class, so it is critically important that we ensure that students’ second semester schedules (or second trimester) are well thought through with this new change. Curriculum mapping may need to be done for classes being taught in the reverse consultation model to show alignment with the Iowa Academic Standards in order to fulfill graduation requirements.
Here is the video of our conversation:
It is vitally important to take the time NOW to make sure your freshman (and this year’s eighth graders) schedules are purposefully planned to help them reach their full potential in regards to these changes.
Job Interests Picture Inventory & Strengths, Interests, & Preference Visual
The Job Interests Picture Inventory is another great tool you can use with your students that may need a visual cue on possible employment options.
This form was created by a fellow teacher, so a special thanks for both his creativity AND his willingness to share! Helping and learning from others…. now that’s what we want to model for our kids, right? 🙂
So, since he showed us a great example, if there are other careers that you want your students to have to choose from, you now have a guide for creating one on your own.
You could do something similar by using pictures from a computer program like Board Maker, etc. to make a visual representation to help your students determine their strengths, interests & preferences. Click Strengths, Interests, Preferences Picture Options for yet another great sample that was shared!
Keep all your great ideas coming! Together, we can help make our kids/student’s transition as seamless as possible!
Age of Majority – TRANSLATIONS are done!!
The Iowa Department of Education has just posted the Age of Majority documents in multiple languages on the DE Website! This is 
great for our families who need to understand these important topics in different languages. The links include not only the parent and student guides, but also copies of the Power of Attorney (directions and actual form) and a copy of the revocation of Power of Attorney (both directions & actual form).
The Age of Majority materials are now in English, Arabic, Bosnian, Laotian, Serbo- Croatian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. (Hint: One district gives both the English copy, as well as, the copy in the family’s language to help them learn the words – – via the parent’s request!) Below are the links, which are also found on the DE web site at the top of this page:
Age of Majority Materials in English
- Parent Guidance–October 2015
- Student Guidance–October 2015
- Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Directions)–October 2015
- Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Actual)–October 2015
- Revocation of Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Directions)–October 2015
- Revocation of Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Actual)–October 2015
- Transfer of Rights Decision Tree & Charts–October 2015
Arabic Age of Majority Materials
- Arabic Parent Guidance–October 2015
- Arabic Student Guidance–October 2015
- Arabic Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Directions)–October 2015
- Arabic Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Actual)–October 2015
- Arabic Revocation of Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Directions)–October 2015
- Arabic Revocation of Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Actual)–October 2015
- Arabic Transfer of Rights Decision Tree & Charts–October 2015
Bosnian Age of Majority Materials
- Bosnian Parent Guidance–October 2015
- Bosnian Student Guidance–October 2015
- Bosnian Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Directions)–October 2015
- Bosnian Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Actual)–October 2015
- Bosnian Revocation of Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Directions)–October 2015
- Bosnian Revocation of Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Actual)–October 2015
- Bosnian Transfer of Rights Decision Tree & Charts–October 2015
Laotian Age of Majority Materials
- Laotian Parent Guidance–October 2015
- Laotian Student Guidance–October 2015
- Laotian Power of Attorney Decision–Making (Directions)–October 2015
- Laotian Power of Attorney Decision–Making (Actual)–October 2015
- Laotian Revocation of Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Directions)–October 2015
- Laotian Revocation of Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Actual)–October 2015
- Laotian Transfer of Rights Decision Tree & Charts–October 2015
Serbo-Croatian Age of Majority Materials
- Serbo-Croatian Parent Guidance–October 2015
- Serbo-Croatian Student Guidance–October 2015
- Serbo-Croatian Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Directions)–October 2015
- Serbo-Croatian Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Actual)–October 2015
- Serbo-Croatian Revocation of Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Directions)–October 2015
- Serbo-Croatian Revocation of Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Actual)–October 2015
- Serbo-Croatian Transfer of Rights Decision Tree & Charts–October 2015
Spanish Age of Majority Materials
- Spanish Parent Guidance–October 2015
- Spanish Student Guidance–October 2015
- Spanish Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Directions)–October 2015
- Spanish Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Actual)–October 2015
- Spanish Revocation of Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Directions)–October 2015
- Spanish Revocation of Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Actual)–October 2015
- Spanish Transfer of Rights Decision Tree & Charts–October 2015
Vietnamese Age of Majority Materials
- Vietnamese Parent Guidance–October 2015
- Vietnamese Student Guidance–October 2015
- Vietnamese Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Directions)–October 2015
- Vietnamese Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Actual)–October 2015
- Vietnamese Revocation of Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Directions)–October 2015
- Vietnamese Revocation of Power of Attorney Decision-Making (Actual)–October 2015
- Vietnamese Transfer of Rights Decision Tree & Charts–October 2015
Thanks, Iowa DE, for translating these for our families!!
Updated Junior/Senior Postsecondary Checklist
The Junior-Senior Checklist – for Postsecondary has recently been updated to
better reflect a “to do” list for students before they head off for additional training after graduating from high school.
If you have copies of the original sheet, please recycle those and use this revised version. The major change is due to the shift in Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services.
Your high school counselor is also an excellent resource for other postsecondary considerations.
New student interviews added
As we prepare for a new school year, we want everyone
to know that we have added new items under most of the tabs. The first ones we want to highlight are two newly added student interviews that can be found under the Teachers tab. Then click on the Transition Planning Forms, and go to the Transition Interview Tab. This is where a variety of student interviews can be found.
Recently added was the Independent Living Skills Assessment. This form comes from the Department of Human Services in Washingston state, and students are rated as basic, intermediate, advanced, or exceptional. This assessment can help pinpoint skills that may still need to be worked on because having a basic knowledge in each area is important for long term success. It will also help you decide which independent living skills are already strengths for the student.
Also added was the Student Interview – in depth. This is a great interview to use with your students since it digs a little deeper. It is from Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV in Grove City, Pennsylvania. If you have done basic student interviews in the past, this could help you discover some additional information for your juniors and seniors.
New Year = FAFSA time for College-Bound Seniors
First of all, we hope you all transitioned smoothly into the New Year! (although as I write this, I am not a big fan of our first blizzard of 2015!)
So, this post is dedicated to those seniors who suddenly only have one short semester (or 1 & 1/2 trimesters) left before graduation! Was that an audible groan I just heard? It’s hard to imagine that it will be here before you know it!!
For college-bound seniors, it is important for your families to complete and submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The web link has lots of great information, including:
- Online Application
- Deadlines
- School Search Codes
- FAFSA Filing Options
- Announcements
Parent(s) and the student will both need to apply for an electronic pin. Your electronic personal identification number (PIN) will serve as your identifier to allow access to personal information in various U.S. Department of Education systems and will act as your digital signature on some online forms. If you do not already have a PIN, you can request one online by clicking APPLY FOR PIN. Your pin number will stay the same for your entire educational career, so be sure to keep it in a safe place!
The sooner you can complete this form, the better. The catch? You must have your taxes done prior to completing the FAFSA. This make the process much easier since the FAFSA application will direct you specifically to put which line item from your taxes where on the FAFSA form. And as with all scholarship money, it gets divvied up on a first-come, first-served basis by colleges, so the sooner you get the FAFSA submitted, the better!
Many schools have Senior FAFSA night, where the High School Guidance Counselor will help explain the process. Please contact them if you have any questions regarding this application process.
Change in Age of Majority documentation on the new IEP
As with any new program, there is always a new learning curve.
For almost a decade, your transition coordinators have trained (and trained!) that Middle School Special Education teachers should almost NEVER have to fill in the dates for Age of Majority on Page A of the IEP.
If you don’t remember what Age of Majority is all about (because you didn’t need to know it!), filling in these dates meant that you distributed the Age of Majority – Parents Guide as well as the Age of Majority – Student Guide at the IEP meeting. The date that this was done is documented in the notification blanks listed as student and parent. (see sample below). In order to meet compliance, this had to be documented prior to the student turning 17 years old.
The major change is that the new IEP form will not submit UNTIL these blanks are filled in for any student reaching transition age (13+) and up. That means it will be the middle school special education teachers most often filling in these blanks and distributing the parent and student forms.
It does not seem realistic that many parents of 13½ year olds will be focusing on their child’s 18th birthday. Since this information can be critically important for future planning, it will probably mean that high school special education teachers will need to redistribute the Parent and Student Guides again, prior to the student’s 17th birthday.
If you have any questions, please be sure to contact your transition coordinator.
New IEP: Where is the Development of Work Box?
We hope you are all getting the hang of the new IEP form by now. One important transition change we want to highlight involves the old Development of Work box on Page F (the services page) of the previous IEP. Even though it now has a new title and a new look, it is still recommended to include this box on all secondary transition IEPs.
The old Development of Work box is now the “Transition Activities & Supports” box on the new IEP.
To add it, when you go to page F, click on the Activities tab:
You will need to add a box for the activity, so choose “Transition Activities & Supports” from the Select category drop down menu and click ADD. (See the example below.)
After you have added the new box, type the same information here as you would have in the old Development of Work box on the previous IEP form. If you need help with possible suggestions for this section, please contact one of the transition coordinators and we will gladly help you with possible suggestions.
Printing our resources – – let the learning continue! :-)
Whoever said, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” certainly is wrong, and my experience with our new blog is constant proof of this!
My new learning for this week was when an AEA co-worker said that she could not print any of the resources we had told her were on our great new sight. Being the visual learner that I am, I had her show me the steps she was taking…. which then made me wonder if anyone else out there has also had this problem? So here goes with the explanation!
When you go to the tabs (Teacher, Student, Parent, Resources, etc) and choose a link to open, there will be a short description/explanation of the resource that is waiting for you up “in the cloud!” (Still can’t wrap my head around that nebulous concept!!)
If you want to see the attachment that is described, you need to CLICK on the title/wording that is in bold blue letters, and the document will then open, and you can print it if you would like.
My AEA co-worker was going to the BOTTOM of the post, where there are options to link/share the post on either Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Email, or Print. She was trying the print the document from there (which could seem logical) but was only getting the blog page to print, since that is the function of this print button.
So, please know the resources really are there and waiting for you to view &/or print, but you must CLICK on the bold, blue letters to open it first. Happy clicking!!
To blog or not to blog… that is the question!
As our Transition Department pondered how we could better serve our teachers, students, and parents, we had an epiphany. It went something like this: “A blog, you say? But none of us are very tech savvy… yes, it would force us to learn…. okay, we could get information out to more people at a click of a button…. OK! Let’s do it!!!” 🙂
It is our hope that this blog site will be a useful tool for you. We have linked most of the resources we have shared from past trainings, so if you need quick access to something, it should now be only a “click” away! We will also be posting new updates, ah-ha’s, etc. to keep you informed of any changes or ideas that may help you with transition planning.
And, if you are like us, we forget to go back and check those great sights that we find. To simplify this, you can sign up to have an email sent to you anytime we post something new, so you will automatically be reminded to check it out. This is done by going to the right side of the page, under the SEARCH box. There are two options you can choose from: you can either subscribe via RSS or subscribe via Email. If you click on the “subscribe via email” then you will get email notices sent directly to the address you designate. I know I certainly need all the reminders I can get!
So, if you have any transition questions, suggestions, or recommendations, please let us know! We look forward to blogging and learning with you!
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