Transition News

In line with the end of the 24-25 school year, ADE/ESS would like to offer a reminder of the Arizona State Board of Education’s (SBE) rule changes related to secondary transition planning and graduation.

Are you interested in learning more about the recent Arizona State Board of Education (SBE) rule change that affects secondary transition services? 

On October 21, 2024, the Arizona State Board of Education (SBE) approved a board rule change that impacts Individualized Education Program (IEP) requirements, specifically secondary transition services.

As the new school year approaches, we encourage you to ask yourself if Secondary Transition training would be helpful for you or your staff. Whether it's a quick refresher or an in-depth professional development opportunity, the ADE/ESS team has various training options available to help meet the unique best practice needs of your school or region.

Recently, ADE/ESS has received many inquiries regarding special education Early Childhood Transition for children referred from IDEA Part C, Arizona’s Early Intervention Program (AzEIP). The attached Hot Topic is intended to provide guidance to address these responsibilities.

Special Education Stakeholders,

Nominations are now being accepted for this year’s Arizona Secondary Transition Services Awards!

On behalf of the Arizona Department of Education, Exceptional Student Services, and other partnering agencies, you are invited to submit your nominations for this year's Secondary Transition Services Awards, which will be presented at Arizona's 2023 IDEA Conference.

Special Education Directors,

Writing better goals and effectively monitoring student progress towards those goals are foundational skills for Related Service Providers. Positive student outcomes can only be achieved when school-based therapists can do both consistently. Good data on good goals leads to effective interventions and allows therapists to write better progress reports in less time. And we know that “time spent on paperwork” is a leading cause of therapist burnout. For these reasons, we are very excited about the next presentation in our series of Related Service Provider Seminars, Creating Goals that Are Easy to Monitor and a Stress-Free Companion Monitoring Tool, with Carlo Vialu, PT, MBA, and Peggy Morris, OTD, OTR/L, BCP. This workshop is designed for Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, and Speech-Language Pathologists and will convey ASHA, APTA, and AOTA CEUs. Please share with your staff.

Special Education Directors,

Project EASEL, in partnership with ADE/ESS, invites you to tune into the Exploring Strategies for Social Emotional Learning fall and spring professional learning series. We plan to share various information and strategies to support your understanding and implementation of assertiveness, self-efficacy, and self-regulation. 

The ADE/ESS Secondary Transition team would like to thank those who participated in the 2021 PSO data collection season. The PSO Survey helps PEAs collect and report information to meet Indicator 14 requirements. Between June 1 and September 30 of this year, PEAs statewide worked hard to reconnect with former students who had IEPs when they exited high school during the 2019–2020 school year. Through their efforts, 6,245 former students responded to the survey, for a 78.7% participation rate with 71.8% of respondents engaged in postsecondary education/training or employment. A more detailed view of this year's PSO Survey results will be posted on the PSO Website by October 31, 2021.

Special Education Directors,

The ADE/ESS Secondary Transition Team is excited to announce a virtual professional learning opportunity on Wednesday, September 29, 2021 from 2:30–3:30 p.m. for school administrators, school counselors, Career and Technical Education (CTE) staff, and special education staff. Please share with any other stakeholder who is interested in this topic.

CTE Recruitment for Inclusion of Students with Disabilities: Innovative Strategies from a Panel of Your Peers