Beyond the Gym, Three Small Tips to Add Big Value in Your Class
May is National Physical Fitness Month. While this theme fits well within the purview of P.E. classes, reinforcing healthy habits can energize the classrooms too! Especially important during this time of finals and test taking. Check out the tips below for three easy ways to promote wellness for you and your students: 1. Deep Breaths […]
WIOA Pre-ETS Solutions for Success
To address WIOA Pre-ETS requirements, classroom instruction that allows for exploration and skill development is essential in a student’s movement from school to the community. Exploration needs to be varied and progressive – jobs and careers explored in the classroom need to relate to opportunities found in the greater community. Instruction needs to be engaging […]
What is WIOA?
The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) places a significant emphasis on the provision of services to youth with disabilities. It emphasizes the need for youth with disabilities to have more opportunities to practice and improve their workplace skills, to consider their career interests and to get real world work experience. It also requires vocational […]
Wisconsin Partners With Vocational Rehab and High Schools for Pre-ETS Success
At the recent Texas Conference on Transition, experts from across the country weighed in what the WIOA mandate for Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) means in practice. Again and again, presenters commented that though implementation may look a little different everywhere, collaboration between public school special education classrooms and local vocational rehabilitation counselors will be key […]
To Our Teachers: You Are Something Special
It’s Teacher Appreciation Week and Project Discovery sends applause and our “Thank You” from the heart to the diverse community of educators we serve and are inspired by throughout the year. You are creative, innovative and have the most passionate hearts for your students. For all of us, the greatest reward is seeing those students succeed. […]
Minnesota Embraces Mandates and Seeks Funding for WIOA Pre-Employment Services
WIOA recognizes that individuals can’t simply be thrust into the workforce without proper preparation. A recent article in The Minnesota Post highlights that additional state funding is necessary to achieve the worthy pre-employment transition goals of the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). WIOA legislates a framework for fostering employment for all individuals, including those with disabilities. Currently, […]
What Is WIOA? – Introducing #EmbraceTheMandate
What exactly is WIOA? WIOA is the acronym for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, a federal law signed in 2014 and implemented in 2015. Totaling just under 300 pages, WIOA both reauthorizes and reforms pieces of the 1998 Workforce Investment Act. Adults have always been covered under the law. Now, youth with disabilities and […]
Beyond Autism Awareness: Supporting Interests Brings a Wealth of Talent to the Workforce!
(http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/site/ataglance/files/2017/02/engineers.jpg) Research published in the Journal of Occupational Therapy in Mental Health, gives individuals with Autism and their supporters a new reason to celebrate bringing their talents to the workplace. Published in February 2017, new data suggests that, when supported, the strong interests of individuals with Autism may in the long term, develop into successful […]
Inclusion is Good for Business
During Autism Awareness Month, Project Discovery is all about moving beyond awareness to empowerment. We have the tools to develop job ready and life ready skills for all students, and we tip our hats to employers, like Microsoft, SAP, EY (formerly Ernst & Young), that are taking aggressive steps to hire individuals with Autism. Below […]
Microsoft Welcomes Talented Individuals with Autism
Microsoft is actively seeking candidates for an ever-expanding list of opportunities, including roles in software engineering, data science, customer service and operations. This was hardly breaking news, until Microsoft announced that these hires would be part of a new program to recruit individuals with Autism. Mary Ellen Smith, Corporate Vice President for Worldwide Operations, introduced Microsoft’s new initiative at the United Nations on World Autism […]