"Creating and Implementing a Summer College Preparation Experience for Students with Disabilities: Professional Development Over the Web"

"Success from the Start: Preparing Students with Disabilities for Their First Semester in College"

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Up Assessment Detailed Abstract Project Staff Non-Credit Info

Note: This abstract describes the project as it was implemented in years one through three.
See project home page for the format used in project year four.

The project's official title for funding purposes was "Designing, Delivering, and Evaluating a Distance-Education Program That Prepares College Staff to Develop and Implement Summer College Preparation Programs for Individuals with Disabilities Who Have Enrolled but Not Yet Begun College"

Problem

This project will address six significant problems that present barriers to the retention and success of individuals with disabilities in programs offered at two-year and four year colleges:

  1. Over the past decade, the retention/completion rates of individuals with disabilities in higher education continues to lag substantially behind the retention/completion rates of their non-labeled peers.

  2. Individuals with disabilities enrolling in higher education today are not as well prepared academically as their non-disabled peers, putting them at a distinct disadvantage during their initial college experience.

  3. Individuals with disabilities enrolling in higher education today require more numerous and more intense support services than their predecessors of 20 years ago.

  4. Research has demonstrated that individuals with learning difficulties/differences experience a significant drop-off in their math and language skills over summer vacation if they are not enrolled in a formal educational experience.

  5. Formal summer pre-college preparation programs for individuals with disabilities and other learning needs are not in widespread use, even though their positive impact on participants’ subsequent performance and retention has been demonstrated by schools that provide them.

  6. A search of the literature, national and regional data bases, and archives of electronic discussion groups uncovered no formal professional development programs that prepared post-secondary staff to design, implement, and evaluate the impact of summer pre-college preparation programs for individuals with disabilities.

To address these problems, this study will complete five objectives.

Objective One

Design, deliver, and evaluate a multi-session distance-education professional development program.

Purpose: Train currently-employed professionals to develop, implement, and evaluate the impact of summer college-preparation programs for students with disabilities who have been accepted into their respective post-secondary institutions but not yet begun classes.

Length: Each "train-the-trainer" course will be one semester in length. It will consist of several instructional modules that equate to the requirements of a three-credit graduate course.

Number of times the course will be offered during the life of the project: five times–once in project year one, and twice per year during project years 2–3.

Course Format: This professional development course will be delivered via the World Wide Web using seven instructional approaches:

  1. one mandatory on-line orientation session to ensure that participants become familiar with the course structure and format, and to test all electronic connections for proper configuration;

  2. threaded discussion topics on the class bulletin board. Participation will part of the class requirements, but will not occur in "real time" (like the scheduled chat sessions);

  3. homework assignments/individualized projects;

  4. private interaction/feedback on homework assignments and other instructional issues provided by project staff to course enrollees via e-mail;

  5. posting of class members’ homework and projects on the class web site for review/comment and feedback by other course enrollees;

  6. individual and group analysis of supplemental readings/resources posted on the project web page;

  7. concluding mandatory on-line session during which participants present the highlights of their individual projects.

Course Delivery Software: Project staff will use WebCT to design and deliver this program. Participants will need only an internet connection and a web browser such as Netscape or Internet Explorer to access their WebCT course materials. WebCT (World Wide Web Course Tools) has been chosen by the University of Wisconsin as its primary web-based course delivery software. WebCT facilitates the creation of professional web-based educational environments. Its 27 instructional tools allow educators with limited time, resources, or technical expertise to create a full array of on-line course content. WebCT is platform-independent. Examples of WebCT's robust features include a bulletin board, chat room, student progress tracking, student presentations, student self-evaluation, grade maintenance and distribution, password protection, navigation tools, graded quizzes, electronic mail, and course content searches.

Incentives for Currently Employed Professionals to Enroll in This Course:

  1. Participants will learn approaches designed to improve the access, performance, and retention of students with disabilities in post-secondary environments.

  2. Participants who complete course requirements will be eligible to receive extended technical assistance as they establish and implement their own summer college preparation course for students with disabilities who will matriculate in their respective institutions of higher education. [See project objective number two below.]

  3. Course enrollees will become more proficient on-line learners. Through their participation in this project, they will develop several on-line learning skills:

    a)    setting up their local virtual learning environments;

    b)    navigating quickly and effectively through their on-line lessons;

    c)    interacting with instructors and other participants on-line;

    d)    accessing course work (materials, conferences, "lectures") effectively and efficiently; and

    e)    learning how to use technical support effectively.

  4. Each enrollee can receive three graduate credits for successful completion of the course requirements.

  5. Participants will not have to pay course registration fees in order to receive those credits, since all instructional costs will be borne by the project.

  6. The project will also cover the "segregated fees" required of all who register for credit through the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

  7. Participants who wish to receive continuing education units or re-certification credits in lieu of graduate credit from the University of Wisconsin may do so.

Enrollment Limits: To enhance project staff/instructors’ ability to provide individual instruction, guidance, and post completion technical assistance/support, the enrollment cohort for each session will be limited to 25 individuals. Thus, over the life of the project, a total of 125 currently employed professionals will become proficient at designing, delivering, and evaluating the impact of summer college preparation programs for students with disabilities.

Curriculum Content: During each multi-session distance education course, participating professionals will learn how to develop the curriculum content, format, and learning experiences that they can use to implement a summer college preparation course. Participating professionals will learn how to:

  1. interpret and apply the latest research-based approaches to teaching self-advocacy skills;

  2. instill in students with disabilities a greater understanding of their disabilities and the ramifications of those disabilities on the need and desirability of obtaining accommodations and/or assistive technology;

  3. structure powerful learning experiences that orient participants to college life and communicate effectively the differences between high school and college;

  4. communicate effectively the differences in legal requirements/responsibilities that apply to postsecondary schools vs. secondary schools;

  5. interpret and apply the latest research-based approaches to provide effective and appropriate career exploration/advisement for students with disabilities;

  6. prepare students with disabilities to undertake effective and appropriate self-disclosure to instructors or other staff;

  7. design and implement instructional approaches that enable students with disabilities to review/strengthen their math skills;

  8. develop and implement instructional approaches that enable students with disabilities to review/strengthen their language/writing skills;

  9. prepare and deliver effective instruction for students with disabilities on the topics of time management, study skill development, library/research skill enhancement, effective use of text books, acquisition of financial aid, and other "college survival" skills;

  10. understand and implement the logistics necessary to implement a summer pre-enrollment course in their respective postsecondary schools;

  11. seek and acquire funds and other resources needed to support implementation of a summer pre-college preparation program in their respective institutions;

  12. use the adaptive technology most commonly available and used in higher education settings;

  13. teach students how to use this adaptive technology efficiently and effectively; and

  14. design, implement, and analyze the results of program evaluation strategies that generate both qualitative and quantitative data. These program evaluation strategies will include collection and use of baseline data, and be feasible and valid even when those charged with implementing them have little or no extra time, money, or help.

Objective Two

Design and implement a support and technical assistance system to help post-secondary staff who complete one of the project’s distance education courses and subsequently develop, implement, and evaluate the impact of summer college preparation programs for individuals with disabilities who have been accepted into their respective postsecondary institutions. Project staff will use seven strategies to provide this technical assistance and support.

  1. An electronic bulletin board. In this format, project staff and participants can raise/respond to questions, share information, and carry on extended discussions that are organized by topic. Participants will be free to introduce new topics at any time.

  2. Web-based facilitated discussion groups that meet electronically at specified times to address specific topics. Project staff will schedule, announce, facilitate, and monitor these electronic meetings. Topics will be generated by the participants, by project staff, and by developments in the field. These forums will provide extended informal professional developments on critical issues. held on a regularly scheduled basis.

  3. Regularly scheduled phone conferences to provide individualized technical assistance and support.

  4. Written correspondence to provide individualized technical assistance and support, and to provide recipients with the latest research findings that relate problems they face.

  5. Ad-hoc task forces developed and facilitated by project staff. These task forces will address newly emerging issues.

  6. Review and feedback about proposed pre-enrollment syllabi/instructional approaches.

  7. Face-to-face consultations, planning meetings, and presentations. Project staff will provide this service either in Madison, WI or at other sites. Recipients traveling to Madison will be responsible for their own travel and per diem expenses. Project staff will conduct consultations, planning meetings, and presentations at other sites, within the project’s budgeted resources. After those resources have been exhausted, organizations requesting additional consultations, technical assistance, planning meetings, or presentations at their sites would have to cover CEW staff’s travel and related expenses.

Objective Three

Collect, code, analyze, and interpret follow-up results generated by post-secondary staff who have completed one of the project’s distance education courses and later develop, deliver, and evaluate the impact of pre-college preparation programs in their local areas. These aggregate data [both quantitative and qualitative] will be provided by postsecondary staff who complete one of the project’s distance education courses and subsequently develop, implement and evaluate the impact of their respective summer pre-enrollment programs. Project staff will teach them effective, low-cost program evaluation procedures during the distance-education course, and provide technical assistance and support to help ensure that their local program evaluations are performed correctly and completely.

Objective Four

Disseminate the project’s findings, products, and recommendations nationally to key stakeholder groups using eight strategies. These strategies will include:

  1. cost-recovery sales of print versions through the CEW Publications Unit;

  2. no-cost distribution of electronic copies to the national offices of key stakeholder organizations (including disability organizations, parent/advocacy groups, and professional associations) so they can disseminate these products to their members;

  3. provision of project products in alternate formats suitable for use by those individuals with disabilities who need them;

  4. presentations at national conferences;

  5. preparation of manuscripts and submission to professional journals; and

  6. posting curricula and program evaluation results on the project’s web page. Examples include:

  7. detailed descriptions of summer college preparation programs developed by postsecondary staff who completed the project’s on-line course;

  8. anonymous public use data sets from all follow-up results provided by postsecondary staff completing the project’s on-line course who subsequently implement a summer prep program and evaluate its impact on their postsecondary students with disabilities’ academic performance and retention; and the syllabus of the professional development course developed and delivered through this project.

Objective Five

Ensure the post-project continuation of this professional development program. Project Staff will arrange for University of Wisconsin Continuing Education faculty to offer the course developed through this project as part of the UW’s Continuing Education program.

Anticipated Impact of the Project

This project will:

  1. prepare college support service providers to implement proactive interventions required to reduce historically high college attrition rates experienced by students with disabilities; and

  2. provide rural and isolated academic support providers with access to the very latest research-grounded methodologies to improve access and retention of students with disabilities;

  3. circumvent the chronic shortages of professional development resources available to staff in post-secondary support services programs by providing no-cost professional development opportunities on topics of critical importance in higher education;

  4. make a significant positive impact on students with disabilities’ postsecondary performance, retention, and completion;

  5. make a significant positive impact on the morale of postsecondary support service providers who enroll in one of the project’s on-line courses by increasing their skills, decreasing their isolation, and fostering on-going professional learning communities;

  6. provide a data base of promising and effective practices and evaluation results that will be posted on the Center on Education and Work’s web site for viewing and downloading by all interested stakeholders; and

  7. provide a distance education model with which to provide future professional development experiences for postsecondary support service providers.

These outcomes in turn will enhance post-secondary opportunities and results for individuals with disabilities who are minorities, whose primary language is not English, and who may be the first in their families to attend an institution of higher education. This in turn will have a positive impact on colleges’ ability to attract, retain, and prepare for employment students from diverse backgrounds. This will increase the number and skill levels of new work-force entrants, a long-standing issue in rural and isolated communities and a current priority of the federal government.The need for and value of this secondary benefit is reinforced by the new DisAbility Employment and Initiatives Unit within the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration. Its web page is devoted entirely to helping prepare and assimilate individuals with disabilities into America’s work force [URL: http://www.wdsc.org/disability/htmldocs/ whats_new.html].

H325N000028 was funded at 100% by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services for the period 10/01/00--9/30/03 for a total of $587,483 @ 8% indirect. The project received a no-cost extension through 09/30/04. 

Principal Investigator: Chere Campbell Gibson, Professor, Schools of Human Ecology and Education, UW-Madison; Co-Principal Investigator: John Gugerty, Researcher, Center on Education and Work, UW-Madison.