1. Do We Have all the Workers? Strategies for Gaining Representativeness Loujeania W. Bost, Ph.D. NDPC-SD & Deanne Unruh, Ph.D. NPSO State Planning Institute Charlotte, NC  May 2008

2. Session Overview Importance of representativeness Brief overview of strategies State-to-state sharing of strategies to increase response rates Rating of strategies

3. Indicator 14: Percent of youth who had IEPs, are no longer in secondary school and who are competitively employed, enrolled in some type of postsecondary school, or both, within one-year of leaving high school. (20 U.S.C. 1416(a) (3) (B))

4. Findings from state data collection efforts are used to:  Report at the national, state, and local levels through the State Performance Plan/Annual Progress Report (SPP/APR)  Guide and improve transition services delivered to transition age youth with disabilities

5. What is representativeness? A measure of whether the sample or respondent group are similar to the target population on key characteristics. Suggested rate is +/- 3 percent Key characteristics for Indicator 14 include: –Disability type –Ethnicity/race –Gender –Exit status

6. Why is representativeness important? Ensures those that data were collected on are similar to the larger target population More confidence can be placed on decisions made from the data to improve PSO outcomes. OSEP requires states to report it on –Disability type –Ethnicity/race –Gender

7. What sub-groups typically are under represented? Dropout/early leavers Youth with emotional/behavioral disorders Low incidence disability types Some states have found a low representation in their Native population

8. Strategies to improve response rates of hard-to-find youth In-school (pre-exit) strategies –Have LEAs maintain current contact information & update biannually. –Encourage LEAs to recheck fall enrollments annually for students who may have returned to school. –Collect multiple contacts at pre-exit survey (cell, e-mail, family Ph. Numbers) –Update student contact information at Summary of Performance review

9. Strategies to improve response rates of hard-to-find youth Post-school (pre-exit) strategies: –Use multiple data sources (e.g., parents) as respondents to survey –Use multiple methods of data collection (e.g., phone, e-mail) –Make survey user-friendly (visually appealing & easy to complete) –Send “heads up” letter to youth & families before administrating survey –Attempt to locate students via the Department of Motor Vehicles –Go where students are: locate them at their favorite places

10. Strategies to improve response rates of hard-to-find youth MORE Post-school (pre-exit) strategies: – “Google” students: A high percentage of students can be found at www.myspace.com and www.classmates.comwww.myspace.com www.classmates.com –Pay students to keep in touch –After students leave, send a written correspondence (e.g., birthday card) every 6 months. (the P.O. will inform you of forwarding addresses. –Send postcard with forward service or change of address request –Ensure interviewers are culturally & linguistically appropriate. –Learn from the “stars”: Query districts that have high response rates for what they do.

11. What strategies has your State used? Ones from the list? Other ones? How well did they work?

12. Rate these Strategies Feasibility/Doability –Think of resource cost (time/$$) Ease of implementation –How easy is it? Likelihood of increasing response rate

13. QUESTIONS?