School-business partnerships that facilitate postsecondary transition: Evaluating the perspectives and expectations for families of students with disabilities

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105514Get rights and content

Highlights

  • We examined school-business partnerships to facilitate postsecondary transition.

  • We surveyed the perspectives of 92 family members about this partnership.

  • Results found connection and communication between schools and businesses.

  • Results showed no enough community involvement, training, and work opportunities for students.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine family perspectives and the expectations of students with disabilities regarding the school-business partnership in order to prepare students with disabilities for post-school employment. Special education, especially providing transition services, in Saudi Arabia is still in its development stage. This study is a descriptive presentation of survey research regarding community-based partnerships in early employment. The researchers of this study have developed the survey used based on a review of the literature in order to investigate targeted skills by schools, current school and community practices, partnerships, and collaboration between schools, families, and community agencies. A total of 92 families with students with disabilities in middle and high schools participated. Based on the results, the majority of families believe that there is some level of communication between them the school staff and between schools and business owners. However, they did not think that the community provides enough opportunities for their children to have vocational training, work sampling, job shadowing, internships, and real work experiences. Additionally, most families had a negative perspective toward community involvement during the transition planning and process, and businesses assistance with curriculum development and modifications. Implications for practice and research were also discussed.

Introduction

Despite improving special education services for students with disabilities in Saudi Arabia over the past three decades (Al-Mosa, 2010), transition services are still in the development stage for students with disabilities (Alhossan & Trainor, 2015). Even though the final legislation of special education requires schools to provide students with disabilities transition services to prepare them for a successful transition into adult life (Ministry of Education, 2015), public middle and high schools still continue to focus on academic skills with less attention paid to skills that prepare them for independent life, such as employment skills (Almalky, 2018). Schools that have special education programs for students with disabilities incorporate some transition goals in the curricula or in the daily activities in middle and high schools to prepare students to become self-determined and independent people. During the last semester of high school, students with disabilities, especially students with an intellectual disability (ID) and autism, participate in a variety of training and real work settings. However, schools do not have a transition specialist and some special educators providing these transition services, which is difficult for them since they have other responsibilities. In addition, they do not have enough training to provide this kind of service outside their schools. Additionally, many students with disabilities do not have a transition plan or determined postsecondary goals, while many others do not get opportunities to participate during high school in work-related practices. Schools lack the necessary partnerships with local businesses to prepare students with disabilities for employment after graduation could be the most important reason that makes some schools not equip their students with employment skills. Therefore, such a study as this one is important to bridge the gap between policy and practice in Saudi Arabia regarding providing effective transition services for these students.

Youth development is a broad issue and cannot be resolved by a single entity, which is why school-business partnerships are important (Greene, 2009). This issue is particularly relevant to students with disabilities because they face more obstacles while transitioning from school to work (Almalky, 2018). School-business partnerships enable students with disabilities to develop the relevant skills, plan their careers, enhance self-knowledge, and begin their careers immediately after graduation (Almalky, 2020b).

Exploring and investigating the perspectives of families of students with disabilities is very important. Involving families in transition planning plays a critical role in enhancing the quality of life of individuals with disabilities (Seltzer & Krauss, 2001). Research shows that the success of the transition process requires active participations of students and their families (Wilkins & Terlitsky, 2016). The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004), and the Regulations Guide for Special Education in Saudi Arabia requires parents to participate in the development of individualized education programs, and these include post-school plans (Blalock et al., 2003). Family involvement may help students with disabilities to become self-determined and it may cultivate positive attitudes about their future (Cavendish, 2017). Also, other studies found that parental support is an important factor for students with disabilities to achieve their goals (Bumble et al., 2018). Family knowledge of their children abilities, limitations, goals, and personal reference is important for successful transition programs (Lindstrom et al., 2007).

Studies have shown that families are important in planning the future of youth with disabilities (Cavendish, 2017, Lindstrom et al., 2007, Papay and Bambara, 2014). Families help professionals learn about the strengths and weaknesses of the students with disabilities, and this significantly helps transition planning (Papay & Bambara, 2014). With the guidance of special education teachers, families can assist the youth in exploring their career interests and help them develop their career goals after school (Lindstrom et al., 2007). Parent perceptions could also assist stakeholders in schools and businesses to develop strategies that improve the transition process and outcomes. Canha et al. (2013) found in a comparative transition study in two countries (the U.S. and Portugal) that parents were not satisfied with a schools’ partnership within the community, and they believed that teachers do not have enough connections with the community to enhance their youths’ successful transition into post-school life. Such a finding as this may encourage schools to build better partnerships with the community, including business owners.

Literature shows that families have a positive impact on a student’s career readiness and workplace success (Morningstar et al., 2018). This means that evaluating the perspectives of families towards the school-business partnership is important in post-school employment success for students with disabilities. Families can also provide insight into the kind of employers and businesses that the school should partner with in order to help students with disabilities transition to work (Lindstrom et al., 2007).

Family involvement is one of the five components of the taxonomy of transition and it involves families taking an active role in supporting students during the transition process. Besides family involvement, the taxonomy components include program structure, interagency collaboration, student-focused planning, and student development (Kohler et al., 2016). This means that family and teacher partnerships are crucial in implementing transition programs. Transition planning often includes academics, co-curricular activities at schools, living arrangements at home, and career planning. This means that parent participation in transition planning is important since it helps students with disabilities achieve success at school and in post-school employment (Blacher, 2001, Blalock et al., 2003, Taylor and Seltzer, 2011). Families provide the link between school and the community for students with disabilities. Therefore, understanding the expectations and perspectives of these families regarding school-business partnerships can help in transition planning. This is because the families will give ideas on how the school should relate to local businesses as a way of promoting student success both within and outside of school. Schools should seek to understand the families’ perspectives because sometimes these families can have negative attitudes toward certain school-business partnerships.

School-business partnerships support a shared responsibility in the development of school-to-work transitions and career planning for and with students with disabilities (Willems and Gonzalez-DeHass, 2012). Auerbach (2010) characterized authentic partnerships as “respectful alliances among educators, families, and community groups that value relationship building, dialogue, and power sharing as part of a socially just, democratic school” (p. 729). Such partnerships can lead to student development and success during secondary school in many ways. Schools that develop strong community partnerships increased parental volunteerism (Anderson et al., 2010), student attendance rates (Sheldon, 2007), and learning opportunities outside schools (Morningstar et al., 2018). In addition, this cooperation can affect post-school outcomes and benefit the community in return (Papay & Bambara, 2014). Partnerships between schools and local businesses have been successful in promoting the transition of students from school to employment (Gross et al., 2015). Other benefits include supported reform efforts at school, a good school reputation in the community, and strong connections for students to employment opportunities outside the school. Gross and colleagues (2015) found that these partnerships are mutually beneficial. Schools that have partnered with local businesses get the support and resources to meet the needs of students and staff members. For business, this partnership can cultivate talent and create future employees, and by improving inclusion for people with disabilities, increase businesses’ social responsibility and community visibility (Houtenville & Kalargyrou, 2012). Several studies have found that employees with disabilities have better attendance (Chomka, 2004), better loyalty and commitment (Fraser et al., 2011), and have a positive social impact on co-workers (Bonaccio et al., 2019).

Factors that facilitate strong school-business partnerships include the commitment of teachers to student success, effective school leadership, and communication between schools and businesses. Authentic partnerships between schools and local communities bring together teachers, students, families, and businesses to prepare students with disabilities for successful postsecondary transition. Fabian and Luecking (2015) state that school-community partnerships can only benefit students if the resources shared by both entities are coordinated properly. Communication and trust are essential components in building successful school-business partnerships. Research suggests that the in-school transition specialists who maintain consistent communication with businesses to solve problems, collect feedback, and identify ways to further support the businesses are more able to effectively sustain partnerships (Badgett, 2016, Luecking, 2009).

Since school-business partnerships play a critical role in successful schools for students with disabilities and simultaneously rely on family cooperation, the purpose of this current study is to examine this partnership in preparing these students for employment from a family perspective. Exploring the families' perspective and expectation relating to partnerships between schools and local businesses can shed light on how to improve the transition of students with disabilities from school to work. This study was guided by the following research questions: (a) What are the perspectives of families of students with disabilities toward skills that schools target to prepare students for employment preparation; (b) What are the most helpful school practices for employment preparation; (c) What practices has the local community adopted to help preparing students with disabilities for work; (d) What are the perspectives of families of students with disabilities toward the partnership and cooperation between schools and local agencies?

Section snippets

Method

We designed and implemented a survey for families of students with disabilities regarding the school-business partnership and its impact on preparing students with disabilities for work after high school. The analysis of the results is quite descriptive and the implications for intervention development and transition practices are identified.

Results

This study sought families' perspectives about school-business partnerships, and this section presents the results in the following order: (a) targeted skills provided by schools, (b) school transition practices, (c) community transition practices, and (d) school-community partnerships. The results are presented on tables and descriptive text. Table 2, Table 3, Table 4, Table 5 included the reported responses. In addition, the tables included the rank of the participants’ perspectives of each

Discussion

Survey results indicated that families noticed their children with disabilities are being prepared for social, communication, and personal skills frequently at school. Some parents believed that daily living and academic skills received the greatest emphasis at school for this population. The results of this study aligned with other studies (Blalock et al., 2003, Taylor and Seltzer, 2011) indicating that independence in daily activities among individuals with disabilities is an important factor

Conclusion

The current study revealed families’ perspectives and expectations regarding school-business partnerships to facilitate their youths' transition to adulthood. These families’ experiences may help schools improve transition planning, enhance curricula, and provide more effective practices and services. Families’ experiences may inform schools and fill the gap between business requirements and school-based practices. Schools may also consider implementing practices that families believe will lead

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Almalky’s roles: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Resources, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Alqahtani’s roles: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Resources, and Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Trainor’s roles: Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, and Resources.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgment

This project was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University under the research project #2017/02/8189.

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    • Special education teachers’ reflections on school transition practices that support partnerships with businesses to prepare students with disabilities for employment in Saudi Arabia

      2021, Children and Youth Services Review
      Citation Excerpt :

      Thus, schools should seek strategies to improve partnerships with businesses to facilitate these students’ participation in training and employment by implementing best practices, including assessment, planning, job development, and inter-agency collaboration (Papay & Bambara, 2014). The partnerships with business owners should offer students, especially those in high school, the opportunity to learn, work, and be assessed (Almalky et al., 2020). Although high schools are required to provide vocational training on job sites for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are in their last semester, some students do not get this opportunity if their schools do not have an established relationship with business owners (Almalky, 2018).

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