The Transition and Postsecondary Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities Grant is being offered by the Department of Education. The purpose of this educational grant is to establish a coordinating center specifically for institutions of higher education, those offering comprehensive transition, as well as postsecondary programs for students challenged with intellectual disabilities. These institutions include those with authorized grants under the Transition Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities into High Education or TPSID programs.
Recipients of funding from this grant would have the opportunity to establish a center for higher education institutions that would offer students with intellectual disabilities comprehensive programs. As a part of funding approval, the coordinating center would be required to provide programs along with recommendations in connection to standards development, technical assistance, and evaluations. Other criterion of the coordinating center includes:
• Serve as an entity for technical assistance for all transitions and postsecondary programs being offered to students with intellectual disabilities
• Provide students with intellectual disabilities technical assistance for the development, evaluation, and continuous improvement of the programs being offered
• Develop an evaluation protocol that would need to be department-approved for the programs. This protocol would include quantitative and qualitative methodologies as a means of measuring a student’s outcome, along with strengths of the program specific to academic enrichment, independent living, socialization, and supported and/or competitive employment that would include whether students were able to obtain gainful employment after receiving a credential
• Assist recipients of this grant who have grant authorization under the TPSID program in trying to award a worthwhile credential for students once programs have been completed, and which credential would need to be considered as a part of unique State factors, as well as meet developed criteria by the coordinating center but also approved by the Department of Education
• Develop recommendations for all necessary components of the programs to include:
o Vocational, academic, independent living, and social skills
o Student progress evaluation
o Program evaluation and administration
o Student eligibility
o Any issues pertinent to equivalency of participation by a student in the programs by semester, trimester, quarter, credit, or clock hours at an institution of higher education
• Analyze potential funding streams for the programs, as well as provide recommendations for these funding streams
• Develop a model memoranda of agreement that would be used among or between the institutions of higher education, the State, and any local agencies that provide program funding
• Develop methods of regular communication, outreach, and dissemination of information regarding comprehensive transition and postsecondary programs designed specifically for students with intellectual disabilities to institutions with authorized grants under the TPSID program, as well as to prospective students and families
• Host a meeting for all grant recipients with authorized grants under the TPSID program to occur no fewer times than once annually
• Organize a workgroup with the goal of developing and making recommendations for model criteria, along with components and standards of all programs deemed appropriate for developing standards of accreditation. Workgroups are mandated to include:
o Higher education expert
o Special education expert
o Disability organization representing students with intellectual disabilities
o Representative from the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity
o Representative from a regional or national accredited agency or association
o Competitive employment expert specific to individuals with disabilities
o Independent living expert specific to individual with disabilities
• Collaborate with existing coordinating centers also dedicated to the education of students with intellectual disabilities
Funding under this grant is set at $330,000. Therefore, any application proposing a budget that would exceed this amount for a single budget within a 12-month period would be rejected. To apply for the Office of Postsecondary Education: Overview Information; Coordinating Center for Transition and Postsecondary Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities CFDA 84.407B, specific criteria must be met.
For an application package, a request must be made to Shedita Alston, Teacher and Student Development Programs Service, US Department of Education, 1990K Street NW, Room 6131, Washington, DC 20006-8524 or via email to shedita.alston@ed.gov. For the deaf or hearing impaired, a TDD or TTY call can be made to 800-877-8330 toll-free. Additionally, the application package is available in large print, audiotape, computer disc, or Braille.
The application narrative, which is Part III of the application, cannot be more than 70 pages in length, using an 8.53×113 page, one side only, and 13 margins at the top, bottom, and both sides. The narrative must be doubled spaced to include titles, headings, subheadings, footnotes, quotations, captions, and references, along with tables, figures, charts, and graphs. Font for the narrative must be 12 point or higher or no smaller than 10-pitch with fonts of Times New Roman, Ariel, Courier, and Courier New. Applications that do not meet these requirements will not be considered.
Additionally, any appendices would be limited to letters of support, Curriculum Vitae, bibliography, partnership agreements, memoranda of agreement, and one other optional appendix that must be relevant to proposal support. Any appendices cannot exceed five pages. While the page limit does not apply to Part I: Application for Federal Assistance, Supplemental Information Form (required by the Department of Education), and Part IV: assurances and certifications, appendices, or a one-page abstract, and table of contents. Any application with appendices that exceed the five-page limit will not be considered. After the application has been received, the applicant would receive notification.
