Interagency Collaboration

Organizing and activating stakeholders for collaborative efforts that support students in transition

Interagency collaboration practices facilitate the involvement of community businesses, organizations and agencies in transition education including interagency agreements that articulate roles, responsibilities, communications and other strategies to foster collaboration and enhance curriculum and program development. Researchers have found evidence that interagency collaboration is a factor related to post-school success and successful adult outcomes for youth (Finn & Kohler, 2009; Noonan, Morningstar & Erickson, 2008). The National Technical Assistance Center on Transition (NTACT) includes interagency collaboration as one of the five primary practices in transition programming with the following sub-practices:

  • Collaborative Framework
  • Collaborative Service Delivery (Kohler et al., 2016)

The GAO Report 12-594, Students with Disabilities: Better Federal Coordination Could Lessen Challenges in the Transition From High School (July 2012), discusses challenges accessing federally funded transition services and the extent to which federal agencies coordinate services. Project 10 is mentioned as a Florida initiative that focuses on interagency coordination as a strategy for improving student post-school outcomes (p. 11).

Florida’s Project 10 CONNECT and Pennsylvania’s Communities of Practice are two additional examples of initiatives that have been successful in coordinating services for transitioning youth. To learn more about interagency collaboration, visit the partnership page - Business & Education Partnerships

References

General Accountability Office. (2012, July).GAO Report 12-594: Students with disabilities: Better federal coordination could lessen challenges in the transition from high school. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.gao.gov/assets/600/592329.pdf

Kohler, P. D., Gothberg, J. E., Fowler, C., and Coyle, J. (2016). Taxonomy for transition programming 2.0: A model for planning, organizing, and evaluating transition education, services, and programs. Western Michigan University. Retrieved from https://transitionta.org/sites/ default/files/Tax_Trans_Prog_0.pdf

Noonan, P. M., Morningstar, M. E., & Erickson, A. G. (2008, December). Improving interagency collaboration: Effective strategies used by high-performing local districts and communities. Career Development for Exceptional Individuals, 31, 3, 132–143. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi /abs/10.1177/0885728808327149