Students with disabilities face unique challenges to achieving positive post-school outcomes. Research shows that there is a direct correlation between families engaged in their child's education and higher achievement.
And while, understanding that family engagement is critical for achieving better outcomes, there are additional barriers for families of students with disabilities. In an attempt to overcome those barriers, the Georgia Department of Education's (GADOE) Division for Special Education Services and Supports developed a family engagement initiative, Georgia Parent Mentor Partnership, to target those particular needs. The group was founded in 2002 when five school districts partnered with the division and hired parent mentors to infuse family engagement into school and district activities.
The mission of Georgia Parent Mentor Partnership became to build effective family, school and community partnerships that lead to greater achievement for students, especially those with disabilities. What makes the parent mentor position unique is that being a parent is actually a job requirement. More specifically, the men and women who work as parent mentors have a child who presently receives, or in the past has received, special education services through an Individual Education Program (IEP).
Parent mentors are parents of children with disabilities who choose to share their experience as parents, acquired knowledge, strategies and listening skills with other parents of children with disabilities to lead to better student outcomes. In addition to the day-to-day support and training for families, each parent mentor and their district special education director develop an annual plan to guide family engagement activities during the year.
Activities like training parents how to meet with the schools and teachers, host transition fairs, and providing resources to empower parents to become leaders in the community help make the mentoring program a success.
These plans are based on the Georgia DOE's Strategic Plan goals and indicators from the Georgia State Performance Plan (SPP), which is submitted to the United States Office of Special Education Programs each year. The mentors select an indicator which addresses a need in their district. Once the parent mentors develop their goals, they work to develop initiatives to meet the goals and improve outcomes for students with disabilities.
Currently, 65% of the parent mentor plans focus on the indicators relating to graduation and career readiness (reducing dropout rate and increasing graduation rate) and improving outcomes in transitioning from school to adult life. This past year, parent mentors have been involved in supporting student-led IEPs to increase self-determination skills of students; facilitating futures planning including person centered planning and MAPs, helping students and families identify the steps to reaching their goals; developing Circles of Adults Focusing on Education (C.A.F.E.) to bring communities, parents and school together to discussed shared concerns; and, leading Transition Learning Groups, an opportunity for families to identify their role in supporting their child's transition from school to adult life.
Today, the partnership boasts nearly 100 mentors working in 90 school districts in Georgia who have found great success in bringing families, communities and schools together to build effective partnerships leading to better outcomes and ultimately prepare Georgia students for a full life after school.
For more information about the Georgia Parent Mentor Partnership and the work being done by parent mentors around the State please visit www.parentmentors.org.
Wayne County High School, a participant in the GraduateFIRST initiative of Georgia Department of Education's State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG), started its C.A.F.E. (Circle of Adults Focusing on Education) in 2010 bringing together essential partners for meaningful conversations centered on concerns requiring collaborative action for positive student outcomes. Click to tweet this!
The school's principal, Dr. Jay Brinson, wanted to address concerns that were impacting graduation and dropout rates. With a diverse group of adults that included parents of students with disabilities or other risk factors, former dropouts, business owners, retired teachers, school administrators and more, we identified gaps and strategies for improving understanding regarding school attendance, the role of the community and addressing specific areas impacting students' paths toward graduation. As a Parent Mentor in Wayne County, part of the Georgia Parent Mentor Partnership (GPMP), I partner in many local and state projects and initiatives where ensuring student success is our primary goal, especially for students receiving special education services and supports.
One such project was the county-wide Transition Fair. In a rural area, there are not as many resources as we would like for our students, but we created an event where businesses and community providers could engage students, show them what's available in the community and what a preferred career might look like with appropriate supports. To further our impact, our C.A.F.E. Team developed a tool that outlined and summarized graduation and dropout information for our community. Our graduation rate rose 4.5% last year due to several in-school proactive and preventative measures such as standard-based classrooms, study skills/support classes and credit recovery sessions. Before C.A.F.E., the high school had no regular opportunities for parents or community members to be part of solving school-related graduation and dropout issues.
In supporting identified students with disabilities and those at-risk for not graduating on time, they are more likely to see success if they build positive relationships with caring adults. Through C.A.F.E. meetings and targeted activities, students are invited to participate, share their views and take part in student-led discussions where collaboration from all partners is required for optimum success. This step has taken our family-school-community team to a new level of commitment and action because we can verify the need of a student or student group and include them in our action planning. By knowing the student's perspective and prioritizing their concerns, our team's actions are more focused and meaningful.
In 2013, the team co-sponsored Wayne County High School's first Youth in Community Summit (YIC Summit). The student-led summit was supported by C.A.F.E. members who acted as mentors, trained at-risk students as leaders, and during the summit, assisted as table facilitators while students discussed issues like bullying, homelessness, setting goals and the current economy as influences in decisions about school and life after school.
The C.A.F.E. model has allowed Wayne County to establish a shared vision so that student outcomes are at the base of collaborative decisions and actions. We have taken students who don't have any idea of what they want to do after high school, and been able to provide assistance and give them direction for successful futures. Our community expects all students to graduate and by engaging all partners in dialogue and action we are building a community environment to support that expectation.
For more information on C.A.F.E.s and to download the C.A.F.E. Implementation Guide,
We were first approached late last year about the idea of Jonathan participating in the Thousand Words Photography project and we were very excited about the opportunity for Jonathan to be a part of this.
To test the waters to see how Jonathan might like photography, we gave him a camera for Christmas. He took over 300 pictures in about two hours. He took pictures of the towel rack in the bathroom and even closed the bedroom door, turned off the light, and took pictures in the dark. Obviously, Jonathan had discovered a love for photography. And we discovered a window into the world of Jonathan. It was interesting to see the content and the perspective of some of his photos. It was surprising to see how he found objects of beauty or points of interest where no one else had seen them.
Mostly, it was rewarding to see how this new hobby helped to expand Jonathan's world by allowing him an avenue to express himself.
Most individuals have the ability to communicate his or her thoughts, needs and innermost desires. But there are quite a few folks in our community who are unable to fully express themselves. Jonathan is just one of them. I was perfectly fine when we found out at his birth that he has Down syndrome. But I cried for two days when we received the diagnosis of his verbal apraxia because I knew that Jonathan's world was now made even smaller.
I tell you this not for your pity, but for your understanding.
Through arts, specifically photography, I can't describe how impacting it is for us to see our child's world expand because he now has another way to show his point of view. It's a pretty huge breakthrough. Jonathan's world will continue to grow as a result of the Thousand Words Project. We've already received a few requests for prints of some of his photos and are now considering how Jonathan may be able to take his new found hobby and develop it into a future career. We are excited for him to start on a path to be a happy and productive adult with a job that he loves.
A lot of it was because Jonathan's mentor, Bethany O'Bryant, was kind and full of patience but more importantly for consistently presuming competence. That confidence in our child's ability has helped to shape his future that is bright and full of hope. Discovering this avenue of photography and through the Thousand Words Project, it provided us with the wonderful opportunity to not only participate but also helped provide us with a path for our son that may ultimately result in a career.
We had no clue that Jonathan would enjoy photography until we put a camera in his hands. We had no idea how he would use photography as a means to express his point of view or how impacting it would be for our family. So, we encourage you to continually introduce your loved one, especially if he or she is predominately non-verbal, to new ways to express him or herself.
Photography, painting, music, dance or any of the arts should be regarded as an incredible opportunity for growth.
When I think about my employment, it gives me a great sense of pride about myself and who I am. I started working at Pilgrim's Pride in May of this year where I started as a shipping loader. My supervisors tell me that I am a hard worker and that I am dependable. They can always count on me to work overtime to keep our department caught up.
Getting this job has given me financial security and a sense of confidence. But it is also because my supervisors helped me understand what it takes to be a good worker. Learning how to report, when to take leave, filling out forms at the office or understanding when procedures change at the office are all a part of being a part of a company. And, my supervisors explained these changes to me.
I am a person with a mild intellectual disability, and Project SEARCH was able to give me work experience for my resume. I was hired halfway through my internship to work at Northeast Georgia Medical Center as a recycle tech because of my great work ethic. While in that internship, I received forklift training through Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation and Rehabilitation Industries of Northeast Georgia, so I was eventually able to get a job with more hours at Pilgrim's Pride.
Now, I work 40 hours plus overtime at Pilgrim's Pride as a shipping loader, operating a pallet jack. I pick up pallets with boxes of chicken and carry them with the pallet jack to the trucks for shipping. I also help in translation from Spanish to English for anyone on my team who needs it. I have had so many positive experiences since I left high school. I gained confidence in myself and I am not shy. I can advocate for myself and I have learned the value of working on a team. These positive work experiences make me look forward to work every day, and knowing that I can provide for my family has created a great sense of pride in me.
People with disabilities have to make money too. We have to provide for our families too. We are hard workers and most important, we love to work. We are dependable because we want to work. by Bricio Marban
BRICIO MARBAN is 23 years old and resides in Gainesville, GA. He works as a shipping loader at Pilgrim's Pride, a poultry plant in Gainesville, GA.
At Project SEARCH, I learned how to make beds, make packets, move all the stuff from the old hospital rooms to the new hospital rooms, check hospital machines and other various tasks in the departments at Cartersville Medical Center's The Hope Center. The center serves cancer patients with radiation therapy and other patient services. I learned a lot of new skills, met new people and I had fun by working in different departments and having different job duties. But, it has been hard to find a job because you have to go on the computer to look for jobs to see where the job is located so you can know if the job is far or close to your house.
The applications are easy to fill out depending on what kind of questions they give you. They might put some hard questions that I do not get and some questions that I do get depending on what kind of job I apply for. I had help to complete applications from my teacher and my job coach. I had difficulty with the portion of the application that had ethical questions, reading comprehension quizzes and math problems. If I didn't score high enough on these, my application was never seen by human resources. Some ways businesses can make it easier for people to apply is they should put applications on computers, in the newspaper or put a sign outside at the front building.
But, applications aren't the only thing that can be difficult in getting a job. Sometimes, if your whole family has just one car to drive from work and back, that can make it difficult to get and keep a job. I was hired in May to work at Bojangles from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., four days per week. My main duty was to make the biscuits from scratch. When a new manager arrived, she said that there was no 10 – 3 shift and that I would have to work the regular shifts like everyone else.
This was a problem because of transportation. My father works the night shift and I could not work the closing shift at the restaurant because I would have needed to be picked up after my father had already left for work.
The restaurant was not willing to make any accommodations to the schedule. But, at the same time, I was told that I was doing a great job, arrived on time and got the job finished. She said I was a good worker, but I worked there for about six weeks. I am good at building and fixing things, cooking, art, computers, sports, building with Legos, wood, metal parts and other kind of materials.
If people teach the people who have disabilities more skills and give them more work experience than a person that does not have disabilities, we can work in a job by ourselves.
Recently, I was asked what the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) means to my generation. For me, the ADA means that I get to live my life. If the ADA wasn't here, then no one with a disability would be either. Things like bathrooms, kitchens or even public buildings wouldn't be accessible, and that would keep a whole group of people from living their best life.
People with disabilities have given a lot to society in, for example, research, art and movies. The ADA means that I can be whatever I want to be and live up to my full potential. This generation of people with disabilities is going places that other generations haven't been before. We are now traveling across the globe to learn new things so that we can all grow together. Before the ADA, you couldn't travel with a disability. People saw that there needed to be a change, and they took action to help one another. The older generation had to fight to get the law put in place, but my generation has never had to live in a world without the ADA. However, my generation needs to work to make the ADA better.
When the ADA was enacted, it worked for that generation, but now it is time for the younger generation to pick up where the older generation left off.
I want to share a story: I recently went to an event downtown. It was a huge event, and I was very excited to be there and be a part of it. However, when we went to the restaurant for dinner, there were only stairs to get into the restaurant. My brother went upstairs and asked the hostess to help us. The manager, then, had to go to a different building and unlock an elevator to get us into the restaurant, and I ended up having to go into dinner through the kitchen. Yes, this building was technically accessible, however, the way I had to go about getting in made me feel like there is room for improvement.
As the future, we need to make sure that we don't get left behind waiting for someone else to make the world accessible.
There is still some disconnect between people with disabilities and people without disabilities. A person without a disability doesn't understand the preparations that I have to make every day. For example, I have to do more research before I go on a vacation. I have to make sure that where I'm going is accessible. If I'm going to the beach, I have to make sure that there is a ramp to the beach, and that there is a beach wheelchair available for me to use.
It is time to start moving forward so that current and future generations don't have to be anxious about the world being more accessible. Thanks to the ADA, I'm going to a university, living on my own, and working to make the world more accessible. The ADA has brought us hope in everyday challenges, but there are still some improvements that could be made.
Now it is time to gather together to make the future brighter for the next generation.
Charlie Miller, 21, is a sophomore at Kennesaw State University's Academy for Inclusive Learning and Social Growth. He is also a former GCDD public policy intern.
If you meet me and ask what I do, I'll probably tell you that I am a dancer.
Depending on the context, I may say that I'm an artist, or a working artist. Given the askance looks that usually follow – how many professional dancers with obvious physical disabilities have you met? – I'll pull out one of Full Radius', my dance company, postcards and proffer it with a smile. The smile is because I know what comes next: the head tilts sideways, then the card is turned upside down. Yes, it's real. Yes, that's a dancer. In a wheelchair. Doing a handstand. Yes, that's hard to do.
It's far from a perfect answer. It's a compromise that delivers a bit of education and allows me to get on with my life without burning out on the constant explaining. It doesn't do service to the reality that dance, while requiring skill and dedication, doesn't actually require flashy physicality, but it's a start. Sometimes, it's a start that pulls someone in to experience a performance and become a participant in the conversation.
I grew up playing music, not dancing. Piano first, then other instruments. I stumbled into dance almost by happenstance, just after college, when I was on the fence about attending medical or graduate school. Somehow, I never left.
The performance of any art form requires work and mindful practice; learning music is how I discovered that hard work could be rewarding, and that creating something new was fun. Those skills transfer to pretty much anything you want to pursue, and are often used as justification for arts education. Those skills are important, but art needs no justification other than its existence.
Art is how we, as a society, have conversations about things that aren't easily expressed or heard in language. A work of art isn't some static thing that is archived and changeless; art is an ongoing discussion between the artist, the work and viewers of the work.
Access to view, engage with, and create art is a means of determining who is and isn't a part of that conversation. Art enables us to share visceral and emotional experiences and concepts in a way that slices through boundaries. Particularly for people with disabilities, art is a means by which we can communicate across perceived barriers of language, thought process and embodiment. There are many ways to actively engage in art, in that ongoing conversation. You can participate by viewing or listening to art, by discussing it, by volunteering for arts organizations or helping to produce performing arts, by taking classes or learning an art, by creating or participating in public or private art projects.
Art, in creation and engagement, rewards diversity of viewpoints, inputs and experiences in a truly unique fashion.
When I think about my employment, it gives me a great sense of pride about myself and who I am. I started working at Pilgrim's Pride in May of this year where I started as a shipping loader. My supervisors tell me that I am a hard worker and that I am dependable. They can always count on me to work overtime to keep our department caught up.
At Project SEARCH, I learned how to make beds, make packets, move all the stuff from the old hospital rooms to the new hospital rooms, check hospital machines and other various tasks in the departments at Cartersville Medical Center's The Hope Center. The center serves cancer patients with radiation therapy and other patient services. I learned a lot of new skills, met new people and I had fun by working in different departments and having different job duties. But, it has been hard to find a job because you