Theses and Dissertations Collection

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to discover how state regional disability directors in the northwestern United States are creating successful transitional plans for students who have a learning disability and are the first in their families to attend postsecondary institutions. The targeted participants for the research study was 182 special education directors from a state in the Pacific Northwest’s Department of Education’s (SDE) six educational regions. Four themes were discovered concerning the responses given by the participants that related to relevant literature and to the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition (NTACT) 2.0 Taxonomy (2016), as well as to the ideas of John Rawls concerning cost and fairness. Themes included: student focused planning, student development, family engagement, and financial considerations.

Several implications can be inferred concerning individual stakeholders in this case study. These implications are important because a presentation of implications of the work helps those same affected stakeholders improve their knowledge base and professional practice (Hancock & Algozzine, 2017; Spooner, Algozzine, Karvonen, & Lo, 2011). Included are implications for special education directors, students with learning disabilities, parents of students with learning disabilities—particularly those who have not gone to college—school districts, and other agencies that assist in providing student support. These implications provide a new resource for all the stakeholders for support and services which will better assist students with learning disabilities to complete a successful transition into a life after high school—including one focusing on achieving a postsecondary education.