Wendy Parent-Johnson, PhD, professor and executive director for the UA Sonoran Center of Excellence in Disabilities, received $75,000 from the AZ Developmental Disabilities Planning Council (AZDDPC). The project, "Exploration of Transition Services in Arizona" is focused on completing a statewide assessment of the current state of transition services in Arizona to identify current exemplary practices, areas of need, and recommendations for improving post-school employment rates for youth with disabilities. This comprehensive qualitative and quantitative approach is designed to gather information from multiple stakeholders involved with transition services that will contribute to data-informed policy and programmatic decision-making.
The study will build on the work of the AZDDPC and Morrison Institute for Public Policy conducted in 2015, to examine current practices and outcomes and combine findings to gain an in-depth understanding from key perspectives of current school-based transition practices and outcomes across the state. The project, implemented in collaboration with AZDDPC, will utilize multiple methods to ensure a representative picture of the “state of the state” in transition services is described and shared using universally designed formats.