Public Policy Impact on Transitional Services as Indicated by Experiences of College Students With High-Incidence Disabilities

Education for individuals with disabilities is complicated by a lack of access to educational services, partly due to the gaps created by different policies meant to provide equal access to services in high school and college. The purpose of this generic qualitative study is to explore the perceptions of college students with disabilities as they transition from receiving services primarily under IDEA in high school to ADA in college. Benet’s polarities of democracy theory served as the theoretical framework for this study. The research question explored the perceptions of college students with high-incidence disabilities about their transitional services as they transition from receiving IDEA-based services in high school to ADA-mandated services in college. Data were collected through document analysis and participant interviews and analyzed using thematic coding with constant comparison of participants’ final high school IEP or 504 plan and interview transcripts. The study found that transitional services for these students needed to be addressed through the use of public policy addressing services received, advocacy, and procedural matters. Further, the research suggested that implementation at all educational levels of programs and curriculums that provide skills and knowledge needed during their transition along with stronger partnerships between stakeholders may provide a solution that can be implemented in daily practice. Pursuing the recommendations and implications of this research could lead to positive social change through greater access to postsecondary education for individuals with disabilities, creating more equitable access to higher education and future employment and participation in society for these individuals throughout their lives

Identifying and Understanding Autism to Support Young Children on the Autism Spectrum

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Principles of Quality Teams

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Logistics Transformation through Sense-and-Respond Logistics Network

Proceedings Paper (for Acquisition Research Program)Commercial and military logistics continue to evolve from amassing supplies, through supply chain management, to (more recently) sense-and-respond networks. The realization that ''demand-pull'' is inherently more efficient than a ''supply-push'' strategy propels the migration from supply chains to demand networks. Major commercial enterprises in the United States and abroad have already transformed their supply chains to include Sense-and-Respond Logistics (SRL) elements. Likewise, military planners and leaders have recently recognized the need to adopt SRL to transform military logistics to significantly enhance military readiness while reducing costs.Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Progra

Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS): Doing It Right

In the twenty-first century, the United States will likely encounter a wide-range of threats, such as those posed by terrorists, rogue states and other non-state actors—all of whom are taking full advantage of globally available, high-tech commercial systems (e.g., from night vision devices, through secure cell phones, to satellite photos). At the same time, technology is changing more rapidly than ever before, and the DoD must learn to embrace the fact that it no longer holds a monopoly on all military-relevant technology (many of the information-intensive innovations result from commercial activities). Furthermore, the rising costs of domestic commitments, such as Social Security and Medicare, coupled with the growing budget deficits, will create an inevitable downward pressure on the DoD budget. These changes have created an urgency for transformation within the defense establishment. We believe this necessary defense transformation will be heavily dependent upon the development of net-centric systems-of-systems; the determination to achieve lower costs, faster fielding and better performance; and a realization of the potential benefits of globalization and use of commercial technology. Greater use of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) systems and components is one strategy that can enable achieving the required DoD transformation, and help to ensure American military success in the twenty-first century. Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) is a term for software or hardware that is commercially made and available for sale, lease, or license to the general public and that requires little or no unique government modifications to meet the needs of the procuring agency. Because of their rapid availability, lower costs, and low risk, COTS products must be considered as alternatives to in-house, government-funded developments.Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research ProgramThis research was partially sponsored by a grant from The Naval Postgraduate Schoo

Rethinking the Lease vs. Buy Decision

Annual Acquisition Research SymposiumNaval Postgraduate School Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Progra