High School Transition Program - Community Integration Program and Shoreline Public Schools make the perfect team

Cameron Chapman completed the Community Based Transition Program and moved directly into the college’s Community Integration Program.  Chapman gets a chance now and then to visit with his former teacher, Jennifer Given-Helms.  Photo courtesy SCC.

Approximately 15 years ago Shoreline Community College had a partnership with the Shoreline School District to offer an off-campus transition program for young adults (18-21) with intellectual and/or developmental challenges. After completing four years of high school, students had the opportunity to continue taking courses via the High School Transition program that would help them with independent living and vocational skills. One of the classes was held at the college.

“Without the partnership,” Kim Thompson, Director of the Office of Special Services at the college said, “students would never have gotten the personal growth they experienced while taking classes at the college and being a part of the community – and they get to take the journey together. The ability for the students to not only be on campus to take classes but to interact with college students is a huge bonus for these kids.”

Unfortunately after only two years, the program was closed due to red tape. The memory of its merits did not fade, however, and thanks to a few dedicated people, it was reinstated in 2006.

Thompson and Linda Bow, Department Chair of Directed Studies at Shorecrest High School, worked together to not only bring the program back but to improve it.

“What if they had library cards and got to use the computer labs,” she asked Bow. “And what if they could transition into the Community Integration Program?” (The CIP is a specially funded program within the Office of Special Services at the college.) The two agreed that the new program should be designed to support students becoming as independent as possible. Together, they scribbled a plan on a napkin.

Thompson and Bow were not the only ones to like the idea. Vice President of Academic Affairs at the college, John Backes, also wanted the partnership reinstated and was instrumental in making sure that happened. The partnership is now in its fifth year.

Cameron Chapman shares a laugh with his Community Integration Program teacher, Rosemary Dunne.
Photo courtesy SCC.

Today students enrolled in the Community Based Transition Program (new program, new name) no longer go to the high school -- all classes are held at the college – and they have library cards and access to all college events and activities.

“The interaction with college students and ability to use the college facilities like the PUB, library, cafeteria and the gym are equally important to the growth of these kids on the academic side,” Backes said. “We needed to ensure that the students got access to the same services that other students had.”

Students take two classes four days a week, including social skills, banking and budgeting, community resources, yoga, person-centered planning, disability disclosure, pre-vocational skills, meal planning and cooking. Each student takes classes that are most appropriate for their particular needs via individualized education plans. They also complete vocational internships. Fridays are committed to excursions which provide additional opportunities for exploration of their communities and time to practice their independent skills such as riding Metro buses.

“The merits of the program are many,” instructor Jennifer Given-Helms said. “The idea was to prepare the students to be productive, integral and valued members of society in collaboration with families and the community.”

Marsha Threlkeld, a consultant and trainer with the Washington Initiative for Supported Employment, says the Shoreline program is working extremely well.

“Nationally the average in placing students with intellectual disabilities into employment at the time they exit school is about 15 percent. The rate for these students who attend the program at Shoreline Community College is approximately 60 percent, making it four times the national average. Shoreline’s program is highly regarded. The public perceives the program to be of the highest caliber, in fact a model program across the country,” she said.

Each year the graduating students enjoy a graduation ceremony. “The last two years it’s been on campus,” Backes said. “And they love it!”

From the SCC On Campus blog. Read the entire story here.