KY's Postsecondary Inclusion Project (PIP)

KY's Postsecondary Inclusion Project (PIP) is about creating the supports necessary for students with intellectual and other developmental disabilities in KY to have access to, and the full benefits, of post-secondry education. This includes college coursework, participation in a network of post-secondary extracurricular and recreation activities, and ultimately, a career path to a job that truly matches the student's interests and gifts. Post-secondary education, for the purposes of this project, will be defined as any post-secondary educational opportunity, from short term training programs to four year colleges. The PIP will target serving a total 50 students over the three year project period. During Year one, the focus will be on youth living within Central KY and the PIP will aim to serve a total of eight students; during Year 2, eighteen additional students will work toward pursuing post-secondary education of their choice; and twenty-four additional students will work toward pursuing post-secondary during Year Three. The successful transition of youth from high school to post-secondary education is dependent upon thoughtful, well defined transition planning. To this end, the PIP will collaborate with professionals at both the secondary (high school) and post-secondeary (college) levels, to determine perceived barriers and work, together, to overcome these barriers. A central piece to the sustainability of this project will be providing much needed professional development and technical assistance to educator in both arenas. These include, but are not limited to, high school special education teachers, guidance counselors and institutes of high education Disability Services Coordinators. Only by fully engaging these cruicial parners will systems change occur. Though the PIP will certainly keep abreast of current research and other national initiatives related to postsecondary education for those with intellectual and other developmental disabilities, the PIP will be unique in that it will facilitate student access and participation in post-secondary education individually, as possed to following a "prescribed" implementation model. Another exceptional feature of the PIP is that, central to project implementation, on-going recording of KY specific lessons learned will be maintained. This will result in a well documented project history which will positively impact initiative sustainability.