SBIR-STTR Award

The goal of the proposed research is to assess the feasibility of adapting an existing web-based project management tool to facilitate accurate, timely communications among multiple agencies responsible for providing career planning and preparation services to students with disabilities.This includes examining the possibility of creating an integrated reference model that at a high level matches possible service providers to a student with a disability; and matches vocational opportunities to the student's vocational aptitudes and preferences. If this were feasible, then it would be possible to very efficiently create a computer-based checklist of concrete actions and time-bound assignments to facilitate optimal and efficient career planning and preparation.Two secondary components of this research project are:Survey a small sample of community service providers to determine their technical capabilities for accessing a web-basedproject management system. Creating a "map," at a high level, of a representative career planning and preparation service delivery process. This could be amap of the process followed by students with disabilities who are provided services by community service providers such asthe Department of Children and Family Services, or the Bureau of Rehabilitation Services.Summary of Anticipated Results and Implications:Phases I and II could result in a complete Individualized Career Planning & Preparation System (ICPPS) and in a computer-based "best practices" model for career planning and preparation.Implications of the approach for Phases I and II. The ICPPS would facilitate high levels of timely, accurate communications among multiple service providers.Potential commercial applications.The ICCPS could significantly increase the number of markets for Wizdom Systems' WizdomLive! and WizdomWorks! products.

The purpose. Phase I established the feasibility and desirability of adapting an existing web-based project management tool to meet the information needs of consumers (students with disabilities and their parents/guardians) and educational staff. The purpose of Phase II is to capitalize upon the research of Phase I and adapt an existing system resulting in a fully functional web-based planning and communications tool that: Enables students with disabilities to direct the creation of their transition plans Provides timely linkages between students with disabilities and their parents/guardians to community agencies that provide transition services and/or adult services Expedites delivery of transition services, communications among service providers, and movement from one transition service to another related transition service Informs students with disabilities, their parents/guardians, and teachers about available community resources during transition planning and as needed Informs teachers and other school personnel about transition planning best practices Enables short-term resource planning and long-term transition services impact analysis Summary of Anticipated Results and Implications: Anticipated results. Phase II will result in a completed and piloted Individualized Career Planning and Preparation System (ICPPS) which students with disabilities can use to create transition plans that reflect their personal needs, goals, and dreams. The ICPPS will: Meet state educational agency and local school district requirements for data security and confidentiality Incorporate a high degree of consumer input--input from students with disabilities and the parents of students with disabilities currently in school and those who have completed high school Provide, within a planning template, a complete list of the services available from the major service providers of a service delivery region Implications of the approach for Phase II. The ICPPS will: Provide a uniformity high level of information about community transition service providers to students with disabilities, their parents/ guardians, and teachers Enable complete and fully individualized student-direct transition planning Enable efficient transition planning and delivery of transition services Take advantage of mature, web-based technology Potential commercial applications. Wizdom Systems, Inc. will market the resulting Individualized Career Planning and Preparation System to the 16,411 local school districts and other agencies that are responsible for transition planning (e.g., 90 Illinois Department of Children and Family Services offices).