Start on Success Framework for Transition from School to Work
In its first 15 years, Start on Success (SOS) has more than doubled the odds that participating high-school students with disabilities will go on to further education or employment. Download a printable outline of the Start on Success Framework for Transition from School to Work and the practical steps that make them work.
These results are achieved by combining three major elements. Each one of these basic elements, done well, will open paths to a satisfying career for many students with disabilities. But when they are combined, the result is something genuinely transformative.
Education and Programming that Breaks the Mold
At its best, SOS creates a fundamentally different kind of learning experience from the traditional high-school classroom. It’s based in the community; it exposes students to successful peers and role models; and it broadens their daily routine beyond anything a conventional education would have envisioned.
Transition Services that Work Together in a Coordinated Way
Plenty of public and community-based agencies offer services for young people with disabilities. But these various services don’t always work in concert. SOS builds and sustains partnerships among many public agencies and organizations and keeps them involved throughout the course of each student’s transition.
A Business Community Fully Engaged in the Project
In SOS, students spend a portion of their day in paid, entry-level positions at local businesses. Their job-site supervisors are company managers who often become mentors, career guides, and skill developers. To be certain that the student interns provide valuable service to the companies, and that the supervisors contribute to a positive difference in student’s lives, companies need to be thoroughly involved in the design, execution, and evaluation of every SOS effort.
More Start on Sucess Resources
- Download a sample resource guide from the Connecticut SOS program (Text Version).
- Download a sample resource guide from the Connecticut SOS program (PDF Version).
- Download a sample comprehensive curriculum from the Pittsburgh SOS program.
- Download a sample Self-Advocacy Instructor's Guide (PDF Version).
- Download a copy of the SOS Mentor Manual
- Download SOS's National Data Collection Outline, as a method of tracking students.
- Download "SOS Lessons Learned, 1994 – 2010".
- Learn how to take align your SOS program with high-growth priorities of local businesses to take advantage of funding opportunities.
- Learn more about Customized Employment Plans that emphasize person-centered assesments to build a student's strengths and identify goals.
- Learn more about multiple-agency funding of Individual Employment Plans.
- Learn more about financial Education and asset development for youths.
