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Model Transition
Project (MTP)

EDI Home Educational Achievement & Transition MTP About

About the Model Transition Project (MTP)

Overview

Sixty school-agency partnerships have been selected and funded, through an RFP process, by the New York State Education Department. The Model Transition Project (MTP) is designed to develop local models of collaborative service delivery to students with disabilities as they prepare for life after high school. Resulting policies and funding strategies will sustain effective practices beyond the scope of the grant and encourage development of new, more effective collaborations. The project began on April 1, 2007, and is scheduled to continue through March 31, 2012.

Project Goals

New York State’s long-term goals of the MTP are:

  • More Referrals: Increase the number of youth who are successfully referred into New York’s Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) system by New York State schools.
  • Better Results: Increase the percentage of youth referred into the VR system that successfully complete VR’s Individualized Plan for Employment, and obtain and keep a job. This can be through postsecondary education or direct placement into the workforce, with or without agency support services.
  • Better Collaborations: Increase the number of school-agency collaborative relationships where resources and roles are shared among service delivery partners, including (for example) schools, community agencies, VR offices, parent groups and colleges. These collaborations will be responsible for implementing their project activities, as specified in each of their proposals.
  • Policy and Sustainability: Provide information to the New York State Education Department about potential effective service delivery practices from these 60 collaborations, informing policy development.

The New York State Education Department will manage the contracts and activities of each of the 60 school-agency partnerships. The University of Buffalo will provide training and technical assistance to each of these partnerships. Cornell University’s Employment and Disability Institute (EDI) will provide evaluative research and disseminate findings.

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Project Activities

EDI has received a five-year contract from the New York State Education Department to conduct research and follow-up activities with each of the 60 MTP collaborations:

  • Local Project Evaluation: Evaluate the project-related staff activities and outputs from each of the 60 school-agency partnerships in relation to their stated outcomes and those of the New York State Education Department, via document analysis, online/paper planning and data collection tools.
  • Student Data Collection: Collect individual student planning data and activities from each of the 60 school-agency partnerships.
  • On-site Data Collection: Conduct quarterly participant surveys, on-site document analysis, and on-site observations at each of the 60 school-agency partnerships.
  • Administrative Data Sets: Compare the information gathered from the field and online data collection tools with school and VR data sets, administered by the New York State Education Department and other sources.
  • Graduate Follow-up: Survey student participants, one-to-three years beyond graduation to collect post-school activity data.
  • Progress Reporting: Local and statewide project-related progress reports will be available to the 60 school-agency partnerships, along with the New York State Education Department, to assist with the pursuit of project goals.
  • Dissemination and Sustainability: Develop reports that summarize research findings and provide policy and funding recommendations to sustain potential effective practices. Develop training materials and a web-based video series to highlight these practices. Engage in statewide and national training events and professional writing.
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Tools

Three tools were designed by EDI, through years of field development across New York school-agency planning groups, to support collaborative transition service delivery. Each of these tools will be utilized by the 60 MTP collaborations to continuously improve their planning and service delivery to students, and as a part of EDI’s research activities.

  • TransQUAL Online: A password-protected website created to support school-agency teams’ self-assessment of their current transition practices, work plan development, progress reporting, and online interactions between teams.
  • Transition Impact Data Online: A password-protected website created to support school-agency monthly planning meetings by collecting student-by-student demographic and transition-related data, reporting out changes to selected data sets on a monthly basis.
  • Articulation Agreement: The Transition Articulation Agreement is an agreement between an individual School District and VR that clearly states the procedure by which the two will collaborate. The Transition Articulation Agreement outlines the method by which referrals are made, documentation is exchanged, and communication protocols.

Additional tools will be developed in the initial phase of this project, including:

  • Participant surveys
  • Document analysis forms
  • On-site observation forms
  • Formats for the analysis of related administrative data sets
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About the Project

Funding Agency

New York State Education Department

Principal Investigator

David Brewer

Collaborating Partner

State University of New York at Buffalo

Staff


Contact Us

David Brewer, Principal Investigator
201 ILR Extension Building
Ithaca, NY 14853
Phone: 607-254-4649
Fax: 607-255-2763
Email: drb22@cornell.edu

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