Start on Success partners with the Connecticut
State Department of Education Bureau of Special Education to develop
a cluster of urban transition programs in central Connecticut. SOS
began with a program in New Britain, and has since expanded to serve
New Haven, Middlefield/Durham, and New London.
Our
Accomplishments
The New Britain program continues to
expand the number of special education students from
New Britain High School (NBHS) served by Start on Success. We
recently added five new work sites on
Central Connecticut State University campus, thereby providing
students with a greater variety of career clusters. CCSU is an
especially beneficial environment, where students receive regular
exposure to and encouragement from college-level students. This
exposure has encouraged several of our graduates to attend community
college. At the worksite, each student receives weekly and monthly
evaluations on his or her work performance, and a mentor provides
comprehensive evaluations three times per year.
In New Haven, we have also increased
our worksite offerings and the number of students served. Students
can now choose from 12 different worksites ranging from food service
to early childhood education, graphic arts to law enforcement. Our
career preparation activities have targeted sophomores at
Wilbur Cross High S
chool,
resulting in 100% of participants completing career interest and
learning style inventories. WCHS staff excels at utilizing
assistive technology, so we’ve collaborated with WCHS and
Albertus Magnus College: AMC undergraduates mentor Start on
Success students in exchange for assistive technology training
provided by WCHS.
The New London program began in the
2003-2004 school year with eight students from
New London High School, and has increased steadily both its
student base and its community partnerships. Participants receive
real-world worksite experience which reinforces their classroom
discussions on topics like communication skills and self-advocacy.
For many students, simply being able to tell friends and family they
earn a paycheck markedly improves their sense of personal importance
and purpose.
Connecticut’s newest Start on Success site is
in the Durham/Middlefield area (Regional School District 13).
Middletown High School showed early success with its program working
with
Wesleyan University, but when funding was discontinued District
13 took over, partnering with Wesleyan, Middlesex Hospital, and
Aetna Insurance Company. Students receive career coaching, academic
credit for their work, and one-on-one worksite mentoring. The
mentors have proven to be the incentive several participants needed
to stay in school and graduate on time. In two cases, students’
performance earned them summer job offers beyond the period of the
internship. We’re particularly pleased that many mentors asked to
participate again next year.
Leaders of all four Connecticut sites meet
regularly with the Bureau of Special Education and the SOS National
Director to share ideas and coordinate plans.
Our
Challenges
Start on Success programs everywhere share the
core belief that obstacles can be overcome, a belief which informs
how we cope with continuing funding shortfalls, too. In New Haven,
when the district denied a request to fund SOS support staff, the
coordinator responded by creating a Technology in Education
course for seniors. The course offers students practical
training while also providing personnel to support Start on
Success. The funding crunch was most obvious at Middletown High
School: despite the program’s first-year success, the school board
discontinued the SOS grant. Fortunately the nearby
Regional School District 13 has picked up the program.
Our
Future
The New Britain Start on Success program is
pursuing a partnership with the Hospital for Special Care, so we can
offers internships in healthcare. The New Haven site secured a gran
t
from communications company SBC to fund a technology specialist, and
will be extending its outreach to high school freshmen. New London
will focus on reaching out to more students and forming more
extensive community partnerships. District 13 will expand the
academic credit program and formalize performance evaluations for
its participants. The Project Coordinator will collaborate closely
with teachers to foster a strong “school to work” connection. All
locations continue to look for innovative and replicable ways to
serve central Connecticut’s special education population.
