Project SEARCH: Work-Based Transition Program for Young Adults with Disabilities

Historically people with significant disabilities were restricted to places such as adult activity centers, sheltered workshops, nursing homes, and institutions. Studies have shown the high school drop-out rate for this population is higher than those who are non-disabled. Policy makers concluded that these individuals needed to be better prepared for a successful adult life beyond high school. Individuals with developmental disabilities in the state of Missouri are over two times less likely to be employed than the national average. Laws have been passed to provide supports and services for individuals with disabilities to be as independent as possible. This paper explored the perspectives of a host site employer, parents, agency staff, and young adults with developmental disabilities in their participating experience of a one-year high school transition program with the main goal of employment. The students experienced employment through internships within a health care business setting. I conducted interviews, questionnaires, and observations in order to gain insight into the perspectives from each partner. Research questions included: How does Project SEARCH work? What are the parent perspectives on why and how Project SEARCH has prepared their children with developmental disabilities for competitive employment? What are the student perspectives on why and how Project SEARCH has prepared them for competitive employment? What are the business host site’s employer and other agency staff perspectives on why and how they have prepared students with developmental disabilities for competitive employment? Findings found within the research were that Project SEARCH was a collaborative effort among various agencies to provide internships in a completely immersed business setting to students with developmental disabilities in iii which the ultimate goal was competitive employment. Parents perceived the program as indispensable to the increase in skill sets that occurred. Students perceived the experience obtained in the program as increasing their self-advocacy and self-confidence skills. By purchasing a license for the Project SEARCH program, the agencies involved have increased the opportunities for young adults with disabilities to obtain job readiness skills that impact the participant for the rest of his or her life. The results indicated although not every intern was employed upon exiting the program, skills beyond measure were obtained due to participation in an immersed workplace setting with specialized instruction in employability skills

Black Women in the Economy: Facing Glass Ceilings in Academia

The shrinking population of Black male doctoral degree holders may hold much of the key to the problems of Black women. Declines in Black male interest in doctoral degrees, has clearly not spelled gains for the recruitment of Black female scholars. New evidence of these patterns is visible in the latest government data on academic achievement of Black women and teaching job success. While Black women are achieving at high rates, they are also systematically by-passed by an expanded recruitment of African and Caribbean males to fill teaching positions in doctoral and research institutions. This new trend has probably reduced Black women\u27s chances more than any other. Second, the new found Black male networks have had major success in assuring members get support and information on academic jobs. Major questions need to be raised about these trends and more attention focused on unearthing and correcting root causes of specific discriminatory treatment of Black women in university faculty hiring and promotion

Distinguishing Motive Through Perception of Emotions

The question of whether people use perceived expressions of emotion to infer motive is tested in this study. Naïve observers viewed target subjects performing a simple «tower building» task under more or less motivating conditions. Observers ranked target effort levels and ticked emotions displayed of four targets. Motive rankings matched target motive conditions well. Emotion checklist scores also showed high accuracy when compared with target self-reports of emotions experienced. Regression showed that most of the variance in motivation ratings was accounted for by emotions observed. Discussion centers on applications of this understanding of emotive perception in organizations, and the relation between the first two components of Salovey and Mayer’s (1990) model of emotional intelligence

Women, families and work : how to help L&Q's women residents into work and tackle the barriers they face

Women’s rates of employment are lower than men’s. Housing association residents' rates of employment are lower than those in other tenures. Thus women housing association tenants have high rates of out-of-work benefit claims and high rates of poverty. It is known that women housing association residents with children face constraints to employment, ranging from their own individual circumstances to shortages of services and problems with the jobs available. In this context, housing associations, including L&Q, have increasingly become involved in providing information, support and training to help their residents both to get work and also to progress in it. The research aimed to better understand the constraints felt by L&Q’s women residents with children making the transition to work, and the supports that could them make and sustain the transition. It also aimed to identify a range of practical ways in which L&Q could support women residents to overcome barriers to work. It complements ‘Real London Lives’, another research project carried out by L&Q and its 15 partner housing associations which form the G15 group in London (http://reallondonlives.co.uk

Women, Families and Work : How to help L&Q's women residents into work and tackle the barriers they face

Women’s rates of employment are lower than men’s. Housing association residents' rates of employment are lower than those in other tenures. Thus women housing association tenants have high rates of out-of-work benefit claims and high rates of poverty. It is known that women housing association residents with children face constraints to employment, ranging from their own individual circumstances to shortages of services and problems with the jobs available. In this context, housing associations, including L&Q, have increasingly become involved in providing information, support and training to help their residents both to get work and also to progress in it. The research aimed to better understand the constraints felt by L&Q’s women residents with children making the transition to work, and the supports that could them make and sustain the transition. It also aimed to identify a range of practical ways in which L&Q could support women residents to overcome barriers to work. It complements ‘Real London Lives’, another research project carried out by L&Q and its 15 partner housing associations which form the G15 group in London (http://reallondonlives.co.uk

Navigating the Rough Waters of Change : The New OhioLINK ETD Service

On January 14, 2013, the OhioLINK community was informed that the Electronic Theses & Dissertations (ETD) service was down for emergency maintenance. Few in the community could have predicted that single event would trigger a tidal wave of changes that ultimately resulted in a complete system rebuild. Panel participants will discuss the situation from their perspectives as OhioLINK ETD stakeholders. Implementing a new consortial system is a tricky undertaking even with adequate time to plan for the development. What additional pressures come into play when an emergency necessitates rapid development and implementation? What is the impact of changing to a new system in the middle of the academic year during the weeks leading up to the community’s busiest ETD season? How will the hundreds of papers submitted but not approved before the system went down be handled? What adjustments will stakeholders need to make in the short term to realize the long term benefit of an improved consortial ETD submission and approval system? What improvements have been realized with the new system? Communication is vitally important during times of transition. What successes and/or failures of communication can be identified in hindsight? How would the situation be different if the Ohio ETD community had not gathered in the summer of 2012 to discuss their needs and desires for a better system that provided a foundation for functional requirements? What are these new functions and how are they working so far? What future enhancements are on the horizon for the new system? The panelists will discuss these and other issues in a session designed for active audience participation