Book Description

The mission of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) is to provide leadership to achieve full integration and participation in society of people with disabilities and to ensure equal opportunities in, access to, and excellence in education, employment and community living. In implementing this mission, OSERS administers programs that help educate children and youths with disabilities, provides for the rehabilitation of youths and adults with disabilities, and supports research to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities. Over the last four decades, the transition of youths with disabilities from school to productive adulthood has received high priority from OSERS' Office of the Assistant Secretary (OAS) and all three program components within OSERS: the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) and the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). These offices award discretionary and formula grants to states, and execute regulatory and policy guidance in an effort to have a successful impact on education and employment outcomes for youths with disabilities. To build upon this priority and the history of accomplishments among the program components, the OSERS Transition Steering Committee (Steering Committee) was established. OAS and all three program components of OSERS are represented on the Steering Committee. The purpose of the Steering Committee is to facilitate the collaborative efforts of OSERS to improve outcomes for youths with disabilities in their transition from secondary school to adulthood. This document describes past, present and upcoming OSERS transition activities, such as projects supporting youths with disabilities served by state agencies, written products offering technical assistance (TA) and OSERS-sponsored conferences facilitating the exchange of information among transition partners. It is intended to be used as a working document to broaden awareness of OSERS transition activities. Links offering more detailed information are provided whenever possible. A list of resources is included. (Contains 3 footnotes.).