School-to-Work Outreach Project 1995 Exemplary Model/Practice/Strategy

Rural Transition Program Black Hills Special Services Cooperative South Dakota

Mission

Black Hills Special Services Cooperative is a multi-service agency whose mission is to provide special services desired by the agencies it serves.

The Black Hills Special Services Cooperative (BHSSC) is a multi-service cooperative that includes 12 school districts as members. The cooperative is considered a public school and is administered by one publicly elected school board official from each of the twelve local member districts. The cooperative provides services with two focuses: 1) vocational / educational programs and 2) technical assistance, facilitation and consultation to school districts. Vocational programs are administered from five divisions within the cooperative: Technology and Innovations in Education, Alternative Programs, Developmental Disabilities Programs, Supported Employment / Manufacturing, and Vocational / Economic Development. The Rural Transition Program is directed by the Supported Employment/Manufacturing division with overlapping services from the Developmental Disabilities Program and the Alternative Program.

Community Setting

Small city. BHSSC provides services statewide. The Rural Transition Program services rural communities in Western South Dakota.

Population Served

Program/Organization
The Black Hills Special Services Cooperative serves 193 individuals: children, youth and adults who are in need of special services. Almost half of these individuals are 14 - 18 years old. The majority of individuals served have mental retardation as a primary diagnosis, other persons with disabilities have serious emotional disturbance and autism.

Model/Practice/Strategy
This program currently serves 140 individuals from the ages of 13 - 22. As stated above, the primary diagnosis of the students is mental retardation, some students have serious emotional disturbance.

Model/Practice/Strategy Description

The Rural Transition Program provides transition services on an individual basis to students living in communities served by the cooperative. The students are referred to the program by their schools, vocational rehabilitation and other agencies, or walk-ins. The project staff works with each student to develop an individualized plan and then to guide them through the community transition process. A vocational assessment is used to learn about the student's preparedness for community jobs and their basic work skills and work readiness. These assessments are ongoing, used throughout a students involvement with BHSSC. Depending on the school district, some students may have the opportunity to take classes on workplace skills using an employability curriculum provided by BHSSC. This curriculum is modified to fit the abilities of the students and includes subjects such as job seeking, job keeping and work maturity.

Work-based learning is included in every student's transition plan. There are two types of job placements available to all students: Career Awareness and Entrepreneurial Sites. Career Awareness is a job shadowing rotation through 5 work sites; each work site is used for 3 - 4 weeks. This allows students to work in a variety of jobs, gaining experience and information to help them choose an area of their interest. Entrepreneurial Sites are designed as opportunities to introduce students to job placements in the community. There are three sites, each a manufacturing site created through partnerships with BHSSC and a private business. The sites hire both production workers from the community and students with disabilities who use job coaches. A third type of job placement is Work Experience Sites which are available to students ready to work in competitive employment. Students choose from five types of jobs: volunteer work, preschool day care, motel cleaning, fast food restaurant work or park service jobs during the summer.

The person-centered services characteristic of BHSSC require ongoing monitoring of student progress and discussion of their interests and needs. Student progress is monitored on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, and is summarized to comply with the evaluation requirements of various agencies involved with the program and the cooperative as well as to enhance and improve services. This information is stored in student files and computer databases.

Exemplary School-to-Work Components

Job Placement - Work-based Activity
Two different areas of job placement are available for students to learn about work: Career Awareness and Entrepreneurial Sites. From these experiences students gain workplace skills and an understanding of their job interests and abilities. Next, students work in competitive employment, at a job of their interest in a local business or agency.

Community Based - Connecting Activity
BHSSC is governed by 12 school districts who seek to receive services for people with disabilities in their hometowns. Appropriate community services are accessed to fulfill student needs and BHSCC works with the public schools to provide school-based vocational training and transition education for the students as needed. Business partnerships such as the entrepreneurial sites bring to rural towns job opportunities for students with disabilities as well as community members.

Assessment and Evaluation - Connecting Activity
Evaluation of the larger organization involves collecting data on demographics and consumer satisfaction. On an individual level student progress is monitored daily, weekly and monthly. In addition to fulfilling the organization and other agencies' requirements, the results of monitoring and evaluation are used to enhance programs and identify needs of programs and individual student needs.

What Makes it Work?

Person-centered Services
All programming is based on individual student/family wants and needs. This is stressed in the organizational philosophy as well as program activities and staff trainings. Because of this individual planning the Rural Transition Program is different for every student, as their individual needs, goals and background differ.

Collaboration
The Rural Transition Program collaborates with other programs and services of the cooperative, social service agencies and the member school districts to fulfill the needs of every individual served. Collaboration with private and local business is also essential to the job placement opportunities offered.

Staff

• Special Education Teacher
  9 full-time
  * Implements student Individual Education Plan (IEP)
  * Conducts evaluation assessment and data collection
  * Instructs workplace skills class

• Classroom Aide
  13 full-time
  * Assists in classroom instruction

• Transition Specialist
  1 full-time
  * Develops and implements curriculum
  * Coordinates and collaborates with existing service providers

• Job Developer
  2 full-time
  * Evaluates student needs within the pre-vocational setting
  * Serves as primary contact for vocational placement services
  * Provides job site training and on going support and guidance to students, employers and businesses

• Job Coach and Life Skills Coach
  4 full-time
  * Directs on the job training
  * Directs efficient running of the work site

• Speech Therapist
  1 full-time
  * Evaluates and assesses student's communication skills
  * Implements communication goals of IEP
  * Directs speech/language therapy
  * Provides information on appropriate computer software and classroom materials

• Program Coordinator
  4 full-time
  * Assesses the comprehensive needs of the student
  * Links students with appropriate services
  * Monitors services provided to student

• Bus Driver
  10 full-time
  * Conducts safe and authorized operation of buses
  * Follows prescribed loading and unloading procedures for all students
  * Follows guidelines regarding student transportation and parent contact

• Residential Assistant
  20 full-time
  * Provides direct care to individuals in a group home
  * Assists paraprofessionals in all facets of instruction as dictated by IEP's

Donna's Story

When Donna enrolled at Black Hills Special Services Cooperative at age 17 she faced a series of challenges that surprised her. Donna is mildly mentally retarded and epileptic. She had fears of seizures while alone and required assistance with her medications, therefore epilepsy was considered her primary disability. Donna came to the Rural Transition Program from a highly structured, 24-hour program where she knew few opportunities to make minor day-to-day choices, let alone life-altering ones. Nonetheless, at BHSSC planning meetings she identified two long term goals upon graduation: to live in her hometown (but not with her family) and to work in competitive employment. With Donna very much setting the direction and pace of her program, BHSSC staff found a foster home where she could gradually work toward the level of independence she desired. Her hometown was 200 miles from BHSSC, so living in her natural home was not an option, although her natural family was very much involved in her life. Donna was mainstreamed into classes at Lead High School, a member school of BHSSC. The cooperative's vocational education staff directed her through a series of job experiences over a four year period. Donna worked at an Entrepreneurial Site, a textile product plant, where she and other persons with disabilities worked alongside non disabled workers. She demonstrated impressive work habits and was highly motivated by earning paychecks. Her next job was in the Black Hills. She was part of a crew that cleared forest lands of downed timber to reduce the fire hazard. Donna determined she was no outdoorswoman, and she quit, pleased to be part of a system that let her move on and feeling that she had learned something important about herself. She later took a job cleaning motel rooms and found it enjoyable and rewarding. Donna's family was more surprised and challenged by her advancement than Donna herself. They knew her as a person shaped by the confines of her sheltered environment and therefore needed the support of the cooperative as Donna tackled things that they assumed were beyond her. Central to that support was regular communication. After four years, Donna graduated with her Lead classmates, receiving a diploma saying she had completed the Rural Transition Program. Among her most vivid memories are her vocational experiences and helping to build the first place Homecoming float. True to her goals, Donna now lives in her hometown, in her own apartment where she is responsible for her seizure medications. She is employed cleaning rooms for the city's largest hotel and convention center.

Working in a variety of jobs, Donna eventually found her job area of interest.

This profile was generated by the School-to-Work Outreach Project at the Institute on Community Integration (UAP), University of Minnesota. The development and dissemination of these profiles was supported in part by grant #H029B30142 from the U.S. Department of Education.

For further information, contact the School-to-Work Outreach Project, Institute on Community Integration (UAP), University of Minnesota, 101D Pattee Hall, 150 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455.

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