The high school dropout rate for people with disabilities is twice the rate of the general education population. And less than half of youths with disabilities are competitively employed one year after high school.

Such statistics are the reason why faculty members in the College of Education are working on a new initiative aiming to ease the transition from school to work for people with disabilities.

"We'd like to see people with special needs become independent and self-supportive," said Dr. Fred Loomis (workforce education and development).

Faculty in the departments of Special Education, Rehabilitation Education, and Workforce Education and Development are examining a variety of approaches, including the delivery of new certificate and degree programs at educational institutions throughout the Commonwealth.