Special educators throughout the nation continue their efforts to improve secondary transition results for students with disabilities. Students with disabilities and their families have asked that information of interest and importance be shared to improve transition results, increase the graduation rate, reduce the dropout rate, and expand postsecondary education, training, employment and independent living results. One strategy is the development of a student-centered newsletter, INDEPENDENCE, containing transition related articles of interest and importance to high school students with disabilities and their families.

In this area are articles of interest and importance to high school students with disabilities and their families that you can use to develop a local version of INDEPENDENCE. The articles are provided in Actobat PDF, Rich Text and Word formats. Take the time to review the articles to see which ones address the needs of your secondary level students. Select 8-10 of the articles, use the sample cover to develop your own customized cover, add any locally developed articles, print, and distribute to secondary level students. The concept is simple. Select articles from the “bank” and add any locally developed articles or information to develop your local customized INDEPENDENCE newsletter to supplement instruction.

If you or your staff have suggestions for future INDEPENDENCE articles, have developed an article, or have developed a local INDEPENDENCE-type newsletter, please send a copy to rmarra@doe.in.gov.