2018 TASH Conference

Post-secondary education is a relatively new option for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Although it has been explored in Canada for nearly 20 years (Uditsky, Hughson, & Elizabeth, 2012), the U.S. experience is nascent. The first attempts at evaluation have been encouraging, but primarily qualitative and aimed largely at employment as the outcome. The leadership at the Millersville University TPSID team decided that evaluation should be rigorous, quantitative, and aimed at broader quality of life and "things that really matter" dimensions. The work began in 2016. Instruments were derived and adapted from prior studies of deinstitutionalization, supported employment, and self-determination (Conroy, 2018). The instruments have been tested and applied in the early phases of the Millersville TPSID program, with high success and excellent internal consistency reliability. Now the University of Kansas has joined in the quality of life evaluation efforts. Recently an article appeared in a major journal calling for exactly the kind of work Millersville began two years ago: Kathleen Sheppard-Jones, Harold Kleinert, Laura Butler, and Barry Whaley (2018). Life Outcomes and Higher Education: The Need for Longitudinal Research Using a Broad Range of Quality of Life Indicators. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 2018, Vol. 56, No. 1, 69-74.