Evaluating a Postsecondary Education Program for Students with Intellectual Disabilities: Leveraging the Parent Perspect
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Evaluating a Postsecondary Education Program for Students with Intellectual Disabilities: Leveraging the Parent Perspective Rumi Agarwal1,2,3 · Laura Heron1,2,4 · Shanna L. Burke1,2
© The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Postsecondary education (PSE) programs serving individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) aim to improve life outcomes by increasing skills in three key areas: academics, independent living, and employment. To ensure that PSE programs are successful, ongoing evaluations are necessary. It is particularly important to gather parental perspectives given the integral role they play regarding decision making for students with ID. This qualitative study analyzed data from 58 interviews conducted with parents whose child was enrolled in a PSE program nested within a large public university. Thematic analysis with a deductive approach was the established theoretical model used to guide the analysis. Themes related to capability, opportunity, motivation, and behavior are presented, and future recommendations for PSE programs are discussed. Keywords Postsecondary · Intellectual disability · Developmental disability · Parent · Evaluation · Qualitative
Introduction A significant employment gap exists between individuals with and without a disability. Almost 74% of individuals without disabilities are employed, compared to approximately 34% of working-age individuals with disabilities (Winsor et al. 2017). Individuals diagnosed with an intellectual disability (ID), in particular, experience even lower employment rates reported at 16% by state agencies (Hiersteiner et al. 2016). Due to these high unemployment rates, individuals with ID experience poverty, which in turn impacts community integration, social belonging, * Rumi Agarwal [email protected] 1
BRAINN Lab, School of Social Work, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, 11200 S.W. 8th Street, AHC5 585, Miami, FL 33199, USA
2
FIU Embrace, Florida International University, 11200 S.W. 8th Street, MARC 150, Miami, FL 33199, USA
3
Department of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, 11200 S.W. 8th Street, Miami, FL 33199, USA
4
Department of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Florida International University, 11200 S.W. 8th Street, Miami, FL 33199, USA
productivity, satisfaction, empowerment, independence, and quality of life (Jahoda et al. 2008; Kober and Eggleton 2005). Evidence indicating that access to higher education is linked to increased employment rates (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2015), led to the revision of the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) in 2008, which intended to increase access to postsecondary education (PSE) programs for young adults with ID (U.S. Department of Education 2010). The HEOA increased the availability of financial aid, established the National Coordinating Center, and funded 52 Transition and Postsecondary Education Programs for Stu
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