Transition to Work Program

Transition to Work (Listed as Other on IEP) is a related service available to students in the Lakota Local School District currently being served on an Individual Education Plan (IEP).  Students are typically between the ages of fourteen and twenty-two.

If a student or his or her parents are interested in participating in Transition to Work, an IEP team meeting is scheduled.  Goals and objectives are developed for the student that pertain to employment and are then added to the existing IEP. 

The Transition to Work Coordinator (TTWC), a certified Special Education teacher, is responsible for helping students seek and maintain employment utilizing goals and objectives on a student’s current IEP.  Specific responsibilities include:

• Collaborating with IEP managers, administrators, parents, employers and county support personnel.
• Developing job sites both in school and out in the community.
• Consulting with special educators to develop transition goals necessary for successful employment.
• Assisting parents in accessing community supports and helping with transitioning students to adult services.
• Evaluating students that participate in Work Development and implements necessary supports to insure success.
• Developing schedules for job coaches and implementing changes and supports as needed.
• Collaborating daily with job coaches and is responsible for ensuring that each job coach portrays a professional attitude while at a job site, helping to train students to the specifications of the employer and maintaining documentation pertinent to IEP goals for each assigned student 
• Interfacing with the IEP Case Manager, the job coaches, the student and the administrators to create a Behavior Intervention Plan that will help the student develop appropriate behavior skills to ensure success at the work site.

Job coaches assist certain students with developing employability skills. There are currently nine job coaches that are assigned to the Transition to Work program. Instructional Assistants may also act as job coaches to students in the program. Not all students will have the need for job coaching assistance. This determination is made at the IEP team meeting prior to the student beginning work.

Responsibilities include:

• Serve as the direct link to the employers in the school and in the community and work to insure that job responsibilities are being met successfully. 
• Help orient the student worker to the job site and teach the job skills necessary to complete the work.  
• Identify and resolve any issues that arise at the job site.
• Cmmunicate daily with the TTWC regarding student progress at the job site and work cooperatively with other staff members. 
• Maintain daily documentation of progress toward IEP objectives related to employment.
• Help develop new job sites, occasionally talk to parents and facilitate bus transportation if problems occur.
• Maintain confidentiality.
• Understand and carry out Behavior Intervention Plans that may be in place for students on an IEP.

Students are expected to remain employed for the full semester that they are scheduled for Work Study (Transition to Work). Work Study will appear on the student’s report card and in the student course guide. They are obligated to work collaboratively with employers, supervisors, peers, job coaches and the Transition to Work Coordinator.