The Charting My Path for Future Success program helped students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) identify goals and develop plans for success after high school.
Program Specialist Michelle Jilly works in the Poway Unified School District’s Special Education Department. Just when an innovative program for students with disabilities was getting off the ground, Poway Unified School District officials were notified of its cancellation.
The Charting My Path for Future Success program launched in January helped students with Individualized Education Programs identify goals, develop plans and act on those plans to achieve success after leaving high school. Students with IEPs have disabilities, either physical, cognitive or emotional disabilities, including those who are visually impaired, deaf or hard of hearing. On Feb. 10, the district received a notice of intent to terminate the Charting My Path program in an email from the American Institutes for Research, said Poway Unified Director of Special Education Stacey McCrath-Smith. Based on instructions from the U.S. Department of Education, McCrath-Smith said the roughly $1.2 million grant that was used to fund the two-year program at Poway Unified was being canceled immediately “for convenience.” The email stated that reimbursement of costs would not be issued beyond Feb. 10, she said. “So the next morning we basically had to meet four teachers and reassign them into vacant positions because funding was literally cut off at that point,” McCrath-Smith said. At Poway Unified, 135 students and their families — nearly all the eligible teens and young adults with disabilities — were signed up for the program, she said. Most of them were either two years away from graduating high school or getting ready to transition out of federal Individual Disability Education Act services, which are capped at age 22. The program, which included learning how to track goals on a tool designed for high school students with disabilities, was much needed, McCrath-Smith said. Students with disabilities finish college at much lower rates than their non-disabled peers, and often struggle to tap into state employment programs for adults with disabilities, she said. Starting in the ninth-grade, students with IEPs begin to develop goals for how they plan to succeed after they leave the education system, she said. The Charting My Path program was focused on students’ goals and pursuits after high school, whether it be jobs or higher education, McCrath-Smith said.The program featured family meetings so that parents and guardians could have conversations about the program and students’ progress. Participating students also worked with instructors on connecting their goals with other school and home supports. Each week, students were involved in small-group lessons that involved goal-setting and action-planning activities during the school day. And every other week they worked one-on-one with an instructor for mentoring sessions during the school day. McCrath-Smith said educators involved in the program were starting to hear success stories. One family reported that their nonverbal student in an adult transition program who had never expressed interest in an area of employment was able to identify those interests after working with a mentor. The student was just beginning to engage in sessions focused on identifying areas of interests, she said. “That was a significant breakthrough for the student and family,” she said. “That’s just anecdotal evidence, there’s no real data because we were in the early stages. That shows an example of what families were hoping for from the program and were seeing in terms of engagement and the students wanting to be participants in the program.” Charting My Path, along with more than 200 Education Department contracts and grants, were terminated over the past few weeks by President Donald Trump’s administration, according to. The administration’s U.S. Department of Government Efficiency Service, DOGE, has cut spending it deemed to be wasteful, fraudulent or in service of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility goals, the article stated.McGrath-Smith said three school districts in California were selected to participate in the program — Sweetwater Union High School District in Chula Vista, Mount Diablo Unified School District in northern California, and Poway Unified. In Poway, funds were budgeted for the program last July. Then in the fall, the district hired four teachers on special assignment that were funded by the grant who began intensive training. Although the grant was administered by the American Institutes for Research, the model of instruction was created by the University of Kansas, which oversaw the training. The American Institutes for Research is a not-for-profit research organization that receives federal funding for some of its work, which ranges from behavioral and social science research to providing technical assistance to education and health care agencies, officials said. McCrath-Smith said the district began sending information to students and families last fall to identify those students who would be eligible to participate in the program and have them sign up on a voluntary basis.“For families, the attractiveness or uniqueness of the grant was that it not only helped provide mentoring and services to students but also for families,” McCrath-Smith said. “The target was toward exiting the education system, to set goals, track progress on goals, adapt goals as they move onto college or the world of work. “This was a nice supplement to what they learned in the education system. Families were excited about the mentoring component because it was individualized to the students,” she said.San Diego rolls back California’s most aggressive ADU incentiveChina hits Illumina with import ban. What does that mean for the San Diego gene sequencer?Illumina cuts workforce at San Diego headquartersCity must stop homeless takeover of Robb Field parking lot
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Poway City Council Censors Councilman Tony BlainThe Poway City Council voted to censure District 2 City Councilmember Tony Blain over allegations of bribery, vote-trading, and intimidation tactics, marking the first such censure in the city's history.
Read more »
Padres add former Poway High School, USD standout Connor JoeJoe has played in the outfield, first base in parts of five big-league seasons
Read more »
LA Unified Accused of Violating Arts Funding LawA lawsuit alleges that Los Angeles Unified School District officials violated Proposition 28, a state law requiring the hiring of arts teachers, by misusing millions in state funds and denying promised arts instruction to students. The lawsuit, filed by former L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner and eight student guardians, claims that LAUSD provided a false certification to the state regarding the proper use of Proposition 28 arts funding and defrauded California taxpayers. The district denies these allegations, stating they have sought to clarify any misunderstandings and continue to follow state implementation guidance.
Read more »
The Blind Boys of Alabama Bring Gospel Harmony to Poway CenterLegendary gospel group The Blind Boys of Alabama, accompanied by blues vocalist Shemekia Copeland, will perform at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, February 23rd.
Read more »
San Diego Unified School District leaders advocate for funding priorities in SacramentoThey’re calling for a higher cost-of-living adjustment, reduced student-teacher ratios in transitional kindergarten and increased funding for special education.
Read more »
Some Poway Unified teachers to be eligible for $40K grants to buy first homeThe H.O.P.E. program announced Wednesday is designed to give teachers in the Poway Unified and San Diego Unified districts a better chance to become homeowners.
Read more »