Do You Think College Is The Next Step?
The PEaE assessment is a tool for IEP teams of students with disabilities considering alternative postsecondary education programs on college campuses.
​
~ Keep scrolling for more information about the assessment.
​
~ Click on "The Assessment" at the top of the page to access the assessment.
Welcome to the
Postsecondary Education and Experience (PEaE) Assessment
Do you think college is the next step for a student in an alternative high school program? Does the student with an intellectual disability, autism, or traumatic brain injury desire to continue their education on a college or university campus? Do you wonder if the skills and knowledge taught in high school will lead to acceptance at an alternative college program?
I have created a generalized tool for IEP stakeholders to use to support successful movement to any postsecondary education and experience (PEaE) program; often times referred to as Think College programs. Using my assessment, IEP teams are able to quickly create a thorough linear plan for evaluating, targeting, and teaching skills required of students applying for any PEaE programs. This transition assessment is concentrated on identifying student skills for successful admission to PEaE programs.
Historically, students with disabilities requiring direct supports have not been able to access postsecondary education experiences at college or university programs but this is CHANGING! The Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) of 2008 provided funding to colleges and universities who promised to create postsecondary education and experience programs to meet the needs of learners requiring more direct educational supports (Think College, 2020b). Today, over 270 postsecondary education and experience programs have been developed throughout the United States on college and university campuses (Think College, 2020a; Grigal & Hart, 2010). While each program is unique, the common feature all share is the commitment to offer coursework to students who would not be able to access the traditional college and university learning environment.
Variations among college and university programs range from
-which classes are offered
- how classes are offered
- the completion credential earned
- whether or not career activities are included
- the length of the program
- living options for students.
This diverse range of program structures and options require applicants to master a plethora of pre-requisite skills in order to be successfully admitted. Administrators of programs have created individualized rubrics, checklists, and assessments to determine if applicants are both prepared for their programs as well as likely to succeed in completing their programs. Through the admissions process, PEaE programs use these checklists, rubrics, and assessments to identify candidates they will accept into or reject from the program.
​
While prerequisite skills are described and detailed on numerous individual program websites and through an abundance of program-specific informational documents, it is difficult to determine which skills are most critical for admission. This extreme amount of variance and whereabouts of program-specific information prevents high school IEP teams from efficiently assessing what skills secondary students have and need with respect to generalized PEaE program requirements.
​
Therefore, I have created a generalized tool for IEP stakeholders to use to support successful movement to any PEaE program. After completing this assessment to determine the strengths and needs of students, as related to generalized program admission, it is important to identify which programs the student is interested in attended. As recommended by PEaE directors, it is critical to review specific PEaE admission requirements to ensure the student is prepared for program application.
​
Creation of the PEaE Assessment
Think College
Think College is a national organization dedicated to developing, expanding, and improving inclusive higher education options for people with intellectual disability. With a commitment to equity and excellence, Think College supports evidence-based and student-centered research and practice by generating and sharing knowledge, guiding institutional change, informing public policy, and engaging with students, professionals and families ~ Think College 2021
​
While the PEaE assessment is not endorsed by Think College, programs listed on the Think College website were exclusively used to create the PEaE assessment.
A Special Thanks
Thank You To Everyone Involved In The Creation Of This Assessment
​
Donna Willis
​
Dr. Corey Peltier
Dr. Lori Peterson
​
Dr. James Martin
​
Dr. Amber McConnell
Dr. Teresa Debacker
Dr. Mike Crowson
Dr. Matthew Reyes
​
PEaE Program Directors who provided feedback
To ensure the trustworthiness of assessment questions compared to PEaE requirements, the enigmatic Delphi procedure was used to ground this study and validate the created assessment tool.
​
The Delphi method is used to obtain the most reliable consensus of opinion from a group of experts” (Linstone & Turoff, 1975, p. 3) and was chosen due to its many advantages, including repeated expert feedback, prevention of confrontation among experts, and researcher released feedback (Jones, 2018).
As described by Rowe and Wright (1999) the four key characteristics encompassing the Delphi method are:
-
the anonymity of experts
-
an iterative process to allow experts to refine their views based on information from other experts
-
the leadership of the facilitator to inform experts and provide feedback
-
the quantitative analysis of responses
Additionally, the Delphi method allows for researchers to access expert opinions through email and online platforms. The creation of the assessment utilized two groups of experts to complete the Delphi procedure.
​
A modified multi-step process was used as a guide to apply the Delphi method to create and validate the PEaE assessment (Skulmoski et al. (2007).
First, I gathered frequency counts of skill requirements from PEaE programs and inter-rater agreement was established on these skills. An initial assessment of PEaE requirements was developed from the frequency counts.
Second, I identified and selected a panel of PEaE experts.
Third, through numerous online questionnaires, PEaE experts provided feedback on revisions of the initial assessment and organization of a finalized assessment.
Fourth, the finalized assessment was released to all directors of PEaE programs meeting the original inclusion criteria from step one to elicit their viewpoints on the priority of each of the listed skills within the context of their own admission requirements.
​
