State Agency Promising Practice: Washington - Collaborating with a Community College and a Supported-Employment Agency to Facilitate the Transition From High School to Community Employment

Beginning in 2006, the Shoreline Public School District in King County, Washington partnered with Shoreline Community College to offer an off-campus transition program for young adults with intellectual disabilities and developmental disabilities (ID/DD) residing in the Shoreline School District. While participants are still in high school, the Community Based Transition Program offers a structured transitional step between their traditional day and post-secondary education as well as employment in the community. Funding for the classroom space on the college campus, the special education teacher and the education support staff are all provided by the school district. The school also proposed that the King County Developmental Disabilities Division’s (KCDDD) School-to- Work Project (S2W), the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, and the district pool resources to hire a full time employment consultant who would be embedded within the transition program. These stakeholders shared the goal of ensuring that youth with ID/DD transition from high school to employment in the community in accordance with the state’s Working Age Adult Policy*