CASE Conf 2025

One Stop Zarrow Secondary Transition Shop: Using the Zarrow Institute for Planning and Teaching (Room 208 B second floor)

07 Nov 25
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Tracks: Transition from School to Work

Speaker(s): Kendra Williams-Diehm, Professor of Special Education; Director Zarrow Institute on Transition & Self-Determination, University of Oklahoma; Zarrow Institute on Transition & Self-Determination ; Malarie Deardorff, Assistant Director, Zarrow Institute on Transition & Self-Determination, University of Oklahoma; Zarrow Institute on Transition & Self-Determination

IDEA (2004) mandates the use of age-appropriate transition assessments related to training, education, employment, and independent living. Despite the legal requirement, individuals with disabilities continue to experience poor postschool outcomes when compared to their non-disabled peers (Newman et al., 2011). With an increase of academic achievement pressure, many educators lack significant time and resources to teach transition skills (Morningstar et al., 2012). This presentation will provide resources which support the teaching of transition skills and the creation of compliant and meaningful transition plans for all students with disabilities, which can improve postschool outcomes. Many of the resources are complete lesson packages which promote student achievement of education, employment, and independent living goals, and they also help assess the current levels and abilities of students from all backgrounds. The Zarrow Institute promotes successful transition outcomes for all by implementing innovative research, putting findings into practice, and disseminating knowledge through high- quality products and professional developments. The Zarrow Institute website provides numerous free assessments and resources that educators can implement during the transition process and increase students’ postschool success. We will specifically focus on the resources and curriculum which focus on building self- determination skills and encourage students become involved in their IEP process. We will also review the free commonly used transition assessments which are also available on the Zarrow Institute website, including the TAGG suite of assessments, AIR, ARC, and Casey Life Skills. The free shared resources highlight the Zarrow Institute’s resources which provides materials and resources for each step of this process, overcoming a common barrier in providing transition skill instruction—a lack of transition education materials (Lubber et al., 2008).