Postschool outcomes for youth with disabilities vary depending on culture, ethnicity, race, gender, and socioeconomic status. The aim of this study was to identify and describe the needs of youth with disabilities from Latino backgrounds who are transitioning from school to adulthood in Oregon. Using a conceptual model that included community context, cultural context, and individual factors, the authors conducted individual and focus group interviews with school and transition professionals, Latino youth, and their families to identify available transition services and barriers faced by this population. The results were summarized into five major categories: (a) language issues, (b) concerns regarding documentation and citizenship, (c) lack of culturally appropriate practices, (d) barriers to family participation and, (e) limited school and community resources. Findings support the need for changes in transition service delivery for Latino students with disabilities at both the individual and school district levels.

BACKGROUND: Transition planning services for students with disabilities are mandated by IDEA 2004, but getting all the right folks to the table to plan for this transition is difficult to accomplish. OBJECTIVE: CIRCLES is a new model for interagency collaboration in transition planning. It includes three levels of teams, working together to identify specific post-school goals for students with disabilities, and developing a series of steps to help each student achieve them. METHODS: This study utilized focus groups of key members of the different levels of teams involved to identify successes and challenges in the first year of implementation of this new model. RESULTS:The CIRCLES model of service delivery improved agency members' sense of collaboration and awareness of services available in their districts. CONCLUSIONS: Although more research is needed, CIRCLES as a service delivery model increases interagency collaboration for transition planning for students with disabilities.

Communicating Interagency Relationships and Collaborative Linkages for Exceptional Students (CIRCLES) is a transition-planning service delivery model designed to guide schools in implementing interagency collaboration. This study examined the impact of CIRCLES on students’ self-determination and participation in individualized education program (IEP) meetings. Forty-four schools located in the Southeast United States were assigned randomly into either the CIRCLES or business-as-usual (BAU) conditions, and 877 high school students with disabilities were included in the analyses. Two-level hierarchical linear models, with students at Level 1 and schools at Level 2, examined the effectiveness of CIRCLES. Results indicated students in the CIRCLES condition had higher levels of self-determination (Hedges’s g = .06–.38) and greater IEP participation (Hedges’s g = .77). Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are provided.

BACKGROUND: Best practices in transition planning include interagency collaboration during the planning process. While IDEA 2004 requires interagency collaboration in the IEP process, getting all the right people to the table can be difficult. OBJECTIVE: To investigate stakeholder perceptions of interagency collaboration resulting from Communicating Interagency Relationships and Collaborative Linkages for Exceptional Students (CIRCLES). METHODS: Using qualitative and quantitative methodologies, we explored stakeholders' interagency collaboration experiences with CIRCLES. RESULTS: Data indicated high levels of interagency collaboration and satisfaction from students, parents, teachers, and agency personnel. CONCLUSIONS: CIRCLES may help transition personnel overcome many of the barriers to successful interagency collaboration.

Cultural competence is more than a buzzword; it is a best practice for transition educators who work with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students in special education. Developing cultural competence is easier said than done, and many educators don't know where to start. Knowing the history and definitions of cultural competence, understanding what it is and what it is not, and being able to identify examples of cultural competence in common interactions with students and families can help educators develop cultural competence and improve the services for CLD students in special education.The population of students receiving special education services has become increasingly diverse across dimensions of language, socioeconomic status, race, culture, ethnicity, sexual orientation, family structure, and religion (Kim & Morningstar, 2007). This increase in CLD student populations has brought about a number of challenges for the field of special education. Specific to secondary transition, it is known that diverse groups of students with disabilities experience very different postschool outcomes (Wagner, Newman, Cameto, Garza, & Levine, 2005). Newman et al. (2011) indicated youth with disabilities lag behind their typically developing peers in postschool outcomes related to postsecondary education, employment, and independent living. These Understanding Cultural CompetenceDiversity training has been an important issue in special education for decades 587679T CXXXX10.