Universal Design for Transition ─ A Roadmap for Planning and Instruction

Christina C. Bartholomew, Ph.D., earned her doctoral degree from VirginiaCommonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond in December 2007. Prior toenrolling in the doctoral program, she worked as a special educator in theCommonwealth of Virginia. During her teaching experience, she worked withstudents with disabilities in both academic and employment settings. She hasserved as the student representative on the board of the Council forExceptional Childrena€?s Division on Career Development and Transition andwas awarded the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society Scholarship Award for VCUa€?sSchool of Education in 2006. Dr. Bartholomew has worked on a statewideproject promoting the instruction of self-determination skills in secondary settingsand has created and implemented professional development seminars formiddle school teachers in the areas of coteaching, collaboration, and assessmentpractices.Dr. Bartholomew has taught several graduate-level courses in secondaryand transition programming, co-teaching and collaboration, instructionalmethods for individuals with intellectual disabilities, and trends and characteristicsin special education. She has presented at numerous state and nationalconferences on self-determination, student-led individualized education programs,and linking transition to academic goals and instruction. She has conducteddissertation research in the area of teacher perceptions of school andclassroom influences on their support for student self-determination, and shehas coauthored articles for educational journals. She currently works in thefield of special education as an adjunct instructor at VCU and as an educationalconsultant.

LaRon A. Scott, Ed.D., received a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice, with a psychology minor, from Radford University in Virginia. He worked as a mental health/mental retardation case manager before completing a master’s degree in education from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Qualified in special education and mental health, LaRon continues his career, which includes working with at-risk and children and adolescents with special needs by serving as an intensive in-home counselor and special education teacher. Mr. Scott teaches students with disabilities in both academic and community settings. He continues to guest lecture in graduate-level courses at VCU on universal design for learning and self-determination. He was recently named the special education department chairperson at the school where he is employed. In 2007, Mr. Scott received the Iva Dean Cook Teacher of the Year Award, given by the Division on Career Development and Transition of the Council for Exceptional Children.

Colleen A. Thoma, Ph.D., earned her doctoral degree from Indiana University,where she began her research on self-determination in transition planning. Sheis currently Associate Professor in the Department of Special Education andDisability Policy and Director of Doctoral Studies in the School of Education atVirginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond. She teaches courseson disability policy, transition and secondary education, curriculum and instruction,and characteristics of students with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities.Her research interests include preparation of teachers to support selfdeterminedtransition planning, student-directed individualized educationprogram development, and the impact of student self-determination on transitionand academic outcomes. She has mentored doctoral candidates at VCU(including her co-author, Dr. Christina Bartholomew) in their own research onself-determination, teacher preparation, and transition services.Dr. Thomaa€?s scholarship, teaching, and service have focused primarily inthe areas of self-determination, transition planning and services, and teacherpreparation. She co-authored a book on transition assessment with Dr. CarenSax