Ensuring Quality Education to Promote Transition: A Summary of Existing Studies

The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) hosted the National Goals in Research, Policy, and Practice working meeting in August, 2015, to identify key national policies, priorities, and practices to serve and support students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) at the secondary level. The purpose of this article is to extend the discussion of several topics discussed at the meeting and suggest future research areas in the areas of: academic instruction; social skills training; balancing/aligning academic, functional, and transition education skills; importance of health and safety skills; extending common core standards to include functional and transition skills; teaching and realizing self-determination skills; preparing students with IDD for postsecondary educational opportunities; weighing the respective benefits of inclusive and community-based instructional activities; and promoting citizenship (teaching voting skills). To ensure quality secondary-level programs for students with IDD, the authors recommend that the above content areas be considered.