Special education assistant professor Holly Whittenburg’s research paper about rural youth with disabilities making the transition from high school to adult life has received the “Must Read Article on Transition” from the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division on Career Development and Transition (CEC-DCDT).
Whittenburg played a vital role in the development and completion of this research article with the lead being WSU doctoral graduate Andy Scheef, who is now a faculty member at the University of Idaho.
Whittenburg said the research paper, titled “Supporting positive post-school outcomes for students with disabilities in rural locations”, offers specific strategies and approaches to help special educators, school leaders, and adult service organizations improve outcomes for these students.
“These communities possess unique strengths and assets,” Whittenburg said. “I want to tap into those strengths to help improve post school outcomes for rural youth with disabilities.”
Growing up in a small, rural community herself, Whittenburg’s research has been focused on the unique challenges kids with disabilities living in these communities face each day.
Whittenburg said her objective is to ensure that educators have the knowledge and skills they need to engage in evidence-informed practice, while also advocating for and providing rigorous inclusive learning experiences to students with disabilities from diverse backgrounds.
“Winning this award is important to us because it means that the DCDT members and other readers found our article useful in their work,” she said. “It also means that more people are likely to read it and make use of it, this is exactly why we wrote this article.”
In addition to supporting teacher practice and professional development, the paper covers partnership with vocational rehabilitation agencies, improving public policy, and leveraging the strengths of rural communities.
“We hope this award can bring more light to these topics and provide leaders around the country with new ideas,” Whittenburg said.
Whittenburg was a huge support to Andy Scheef, associate professor of special education at University of Idaho, who led this project and Lauren Bruno, assistant research professor at the Kansas University Center on Disabilities.