Abstract
Kenya is a Black woman and a new vocational rehabilitation (VR) counselor. Her colleagues are Jessica, a White special education teacher, and Rachel, a White transition specialist. The transition team is working with Jalen, an 18-year-old Black male with a learning disability. He lives with his younger sisters and mother in a small rural town. His younger sisters are 7 and 9 years old, and his mother expects him to care for them after school while she is at work.
Jalen also cuts his friends’ hair out of his mother’s house to earn extra money for the household. His mother is hesitant about allowing him to cut hair while she is away from home. However, she understands that cutting hair is his passion and working from home allows him to care for his sisters. As a career goal, Jalen would like to own a barbershop, like his Uncle Leon. He looks up to his Uncle Leon, who has encouraged him to attend barber school to earn a barbering license.
Kenya, Jessica, and Rachel are at odds about how to best support Jalen for preemployment transition services (pre-ETS). Kenya is focused on leveraging Jalen’s work experience and the individualized plan for employment (IPE). Jessica is focused on creating an individualized education plan (IEP) and transition plan that Jalen can reasonably meet to graduate on time and is concerned about his ability to pass the English state test that he desperately needs to graduate with a standard high school diploma. Rachel is focused on making sure his educational and vocational goals align but is worried that home responsibilities should be solely his mother’s priority. The education team is lost on how best to collaborate in supporting Jalen’s transition goal of becoming a barber.
The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA; 2014) guidelines require state VR agencies in coordination with local education agencies (e.g., K−12 schools) to deliver pre-ETS, including (a) job exploration counseling, (b) work-based learning experience, (c) postsecondary education counseling, (d) workplace readiness, and (e) self-advocacy training to students with disabilities (SWDs; WIOA, 2014). There is guidance for providing transition-aged SWDs the needed vocational training and support through WIOA (2014) to improve poor postschool outcomes (e.g., employment, postsecondary education access, and independent living; WIOA, 2014). However, many secondary educators, rehabilitation counselors, and transition teams lack adequate preparation to collaborate while delivering pre-ETS to culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students (Benitez et al., 2009; Neubert et al., 2018). Hence, there is a need to ensure service providers (e.g., secondary special education teachers, vocational rehabilitation counselors, and transition specialists) have the necessary skills to collaborate using culturally responsive practices in delivering pre-ETS to CLD SWDs.
“Ladson-Billings (1995) lists three criteria for empowering students: (a) academic success, (b) cultural competence, (c) critical consciousness to challenge social orders.
There are several practices supported by research to improve culturally responsive outcomes for CLD students (e.g., direct instruction, behavior-specific praise, collaborative teaching); however, very few articles guide education teams on how to collaborate to provide culturally responsive pre-ETS to CLD students. One approach to attempt culturally responsive collaboration in pre-ETS to CLD students is to use critical consciousness practices. Culturally critical consciousness refers to self-reflection and analysis of “personal beliefs and instructional behaviors about the value of cultural diversity, and the best ways to teach ethnically different students for maximum positive effects” (Gay & Kirkland, 2003, p. 182). When critical consciousness methods are a priority in education, it can involve education teams engaging in a process whereby they recognize their power and privilege and engage in discourse that values culture when problem solving solutions for CLD students (Cervantes-Soon et al., 2017).
Recent research on critical consciousness indicates that education teams could develop collective critical consciousness that leads to a discussion on race, power, privilege, and other sociocultural factors that changes the way these providers see their role and changes the way they deliver services to CLD students (e.g., academic instruction; Sacramento, 2019). We posit that education teams, like Kenya, Jessica, and Rachel, who apply a critical consciousness approach to collaborate in the delivery of pre-ETS will problem solve how to be accountable in their working relationship, resulting in more meaningful and effective culturally responsive transition plans for CLD SWDs.
CLD Evidence-Based and Research-Based Solutions
To decrease implicit bias, microaggressions, and deficit-based beliefs about CLD students, culturally responsive methods (e.g., cultural competence, culturally relevant pedagogy) have been beneficial (Gay, 2013; McIntyre & Hulan, 2013). The concept of culturally relevant teaching or responsiveness practices, as defined by Ladson-Billings (1994), seeks ways to “empower students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes” (pp. 16−17). Ladson-Billings (1995) lists three criteria for empowering students: (a) academic success, (b) cultural competence, (c) critical consciousness to challenge social orders.
The focus on academic success and a foundation of cultural competence are embedded in emerging evidence-based practices for teaching. The practices include (a) collaborative teaching, (b) responsive feedback, (c) modeling, and (d) instructional scaffolding (Aceves & Orosco, 2014). Collaborative teaching gives teachers the chance to learn from each other and create positive interdependence (Aceves & Orosco, 2014; Cook & Friend, 1995). Responsive feedback is when teachers offer ongoing, critical, and immediate feedback sensitive to the student’s needs (Aceves & Orosco, 2014). Modeling involves explicit and detailed explanations relevant to students. Instructional scaffolding involves control for the difficulty and allows for flexibility in learning approaches (Aceves & Orosco, 2014). Service providers need adequate knowledge and skills about cultural responsiveness when working with diverse students and families to ensure differences, perspectives, and experiences as strengths for building successful long-term plans.
“For students, critical consciousness may be most useful at the transition stage for career development.
The last criterion from Ladson-Billings (1995) is critical consciousness to challenge social orders. The three components of critical consciousness include critical reflection (i.e., reflection on inequities), critical motivation (i.e., belief in being a change agent of inequalities), and critical action (i.e., creating change and actions of activism; Watts et al., 2011). Critical motivation mediates both critical reflection and critical action (Diemer et al., 2016; Watts et al., 2011). It is a form of self-efficacy that holds a political context (Diemer et al., 2015) used in the first step of this article’s process. Critical reflection is the second, and critical action is the third step of critical consciousness.
For students, critical consciousness may be most useful at the transition stage for career development. Students who have greater critical consciousness also have a better awareness of their vocational identity and career path (Diemer & Blustein, 2006). However, it is not only students who need more critical consciousness during the pre-ETS process but also the service providers on the transition team working directly to support better outcomes for CLD SWDs. The act of being critically conscious is to be antioppressive and to encourage others also to be antioppressive. When students and teachers are more critically conscious about social orders, they can develop their self-actualization and be better prepared to take steps toward the known self-determination and self-advocacy models in special education (del Carmen Salazar, 2013).
Combining critical consciousness with the need for transition teams to collaborate effectively during pre-ETS planning and delivery is essential to support CLD SWDs. Transition team service providers are the people that support students and families to make informed decisions about services in the community; thus, collaboration should happen at every step of the pre-ETS process through a critical consciousness lens, which is illustrated in Figure 1 and includes the following:
Step 1: Building relationships and critical motivation during transition planning goals
Step 2: After-transition planning, critical reflection, and thinking about supports to enhance pre-ETS implementation
Step 3: The use of culturally responsive practices and critical action during pre-ETS delivery
Culturally responsive preemployment transition services framework and process
Step 1: Relationship Building and Critical Motivation During Transition Planning
Transition Service Providers
Students from CLD backgrounds and their families may have difficulty forming trusting relationships after years of challenges within the school system (Romero, 2018). Service providers must build professional relationships with each other before they can begin supporting students and families. Professional relationships require each member of the transition team to know job duties, roles, and strengths that each member can provide during service delivery. Solid relationships allow for team members to critique each other and provide feedback for critical motivation. The team must believe change is possible and be willing to change for themselves, students, and their families as individuals and as a group to challenge inequality (Jemal, 2017). To achieve critical motivation, the team members should hold each other accountable for their privileges and understanding their bias (Gay & Kirkland, 2003).
Kenya, Jessica, and Rachel realize that their initial working relationship is not adequate to support Jalen’s needs. Being the only Black member of the team, Kenya feels that Jessica and Rachel are not understanding her point of view as a VR counselor and a Black person when she tries to humanize Jalen’s situation. Jessica and Rachel do not realize how their biases are impacting the team’s relationship. Kenya speaks up about how she feels and says that Jessica and Rachel should be more aware of their actions of bias and exclusion. The team members all agree that they are motivated to change and believe that a team-level change has to be a priority before they can adequately support Jalen. Jessica and Rachel discuss with Kenya that they should learn more about individual biases and privileges. To have a better working relationship with each other, they decide to discuss three questions using a critically conscious lens:
1. What are some ways we can have a better working partnership?
2. What are the strengths of each of our positions?
3. What are some of the weaknesses of our positions?
After each member responds to the questions, they decide on a plan for how to support each other’s strengths and weaknesses. They develop a communication system that includes checking in at least twice weekly to share updates about Jalen’s transition activities. Through their active communication and knowledge of strengths and weaknesses, they realize that work schedules are a significant barrier. Jessica is available the least, so she is the point of contact to schedule meetings and updates. Kenya has the latest working hours, so she is the point of contact when Jalen’s mother is off work. Rachel has the most flexible schedule, so she is able to meet more with Jalen one-on-one to discuss any issues. Kenya and Rachel are also able to do home visits and check in on Jalen when needed. Through this process, Kenya, Rachel, and Jessica are able to work out a plan that allows them to have better collaboration in preparation to address all their concerns about Jalen’s situation. The next step is to understand Jalen and his family’s concerns fully.
“The interpersonal skills developed during the team collaboration should also translate
over to students and families.
Students and Families
The transition team’s rapport with families and students is required to gain meaningful information. The interpersonal skills developed during the team collaboration should also translate over to students and families. A key component for developing rapport and supporting students and families is caring. Gay (2018) states caring requires “confronting some long-held educational conventions and assumptions” (p. 63). Avoiding dialogue about students’ well-being and life outside of school limits transition teams’ ability to build genuine relationships. The confronting of beliefs and assumptions requires teams to critically reflect on moving past “How can I best serve my students?” to “How can I be emotionally available and invested in the long-term progress of my students?” For transition providers, being emotionally available and invested in long-term progress requires them to understand what historical and institutional barriers are in the way of the student and their family. There are two levels involved to be emotionally available and invested. First is the working knowledge level, which includes information about the student, family, and team members. The second is the personal level through critical motivation, which is to empower Jalen to reach his goals and foster engagement in his community to make a change.
At this point, the team members know very little about Jalen’s goals, so they need to gather more information. During this process, Jalen reveals that he wants to move forward to become a barber with a shop that is also disability-friendly, but there are several barriers in his way. He wants to work to be financially independent, but his responsibilities at home do not seem to make that feasible. To encourage critical motivation in Jalen, the team must show genuine interest in him through being inviting and caring. Rachel and Kenya do this by finding commonality with Jalen and following up about their common interest. Jessica does this by making sure he feels supported in all his classes. The team also does this with his mother to gain more information about Jalen’s situation, future, and how the family could also support his goals. The team asks a few questions about him and his family. Sample questions include the following:
1. In what ways, if any, do you feel empowered at school and home?
2. Do you participate in the community, like church or religious activities or certain clubs? What does participating in these activities look like, or how does it make you feel?
3. Do you believe you can make a change in your community? If so, can you describe ways in which you want to make a change in your community?
4. Are there other people you would like to have join your meetings or support you?
5. Can you describe any barriers you may face in achieving your goals?
In conjunction with typical transition goal-planning questions, such as “future goals” and “have you ever had a job,” these questions open a deeper conversation about the team being critically motivated.
Step 2: Critical Reflection and Enhancing Implementation After Transition Planning
Step 2 of a critical consciousness pre-ETS process requires that service providers use critical reflection among themselves. It is essential that the team does research on community support and uses flexible planning skills to achieve transition goals and build asset-based capital. To do so, the team members should combine their social capital and the student and family’s cultural and social capital. The IEP or IPE meeting should not be the first or last time the family is contacted. Pre-ETS providers oversee the development of the transition plan and provide opportunities for students and their families, which means service providers have the power to facilitate change for students and families on their caseloads (Achola, 2019). Therefore, to critically reflect and practice collaboration, service providers must recognize systems of oppression and support team members in recognizing systems of oppression (Gay & Kirkland, 2003) as barriers for CLD SWDs during transition.
Jalen reveals that he is most empowered when teachers and friends support him at school. At home, he feels empowered when his Uncle Leon teaches him new cutting styles or when he has enough money from cutting hair to pay for his shoes and toys for his sisters. He wants to make a change in his community by opening a barbershop for young men, particularly those with disabilities, to hang out before or after getting their hair cut. His mom supports his goal of owning a shop and wants him to continue to go to school. The team, Jalen, and his mother also agree that his Uncle Leon should be a part of his education meetings so that he can also share what ways he is available to support Jalen. They also reflect on Jalen’s career discovery class, which is a time he does work experiences; however, the jobs he has been assigned are not jobs that challenge or interest him. In addition to support from Uncle Leon, leveraging unique assets available within the community could also be a way to position Jalen for success. For example, Jalen discusses doing odd jobs at the local church and becoming more involved at the local Boys and Girls Club. These community-engaged establishments are often forgotten pillars of opportunities in minoritized communities and could be an asset for the team when reflecting on community support for Jalen.
The team now critically reflects on this information and thinks about the following:
1. How can we be open to supporting Jalen based on his answers? What is the best way to communicate with him and his family? How can we provide the best-informed choice about his career goals?
2. Whom do we know in the community could we partner with to assist in providing opportunities?
3. What experiences can we provide to build on interest and understanding of those interests? Can this be policy related or community based?
4. Who can help mentor Jalen in addition to his family to build on his interest and experiences?
5. What can we do to understand more about Jalen and his family?
6. What additional information about support does the team think the family needs to know?
Step 3: Respond by Incorporating Cultural Responsiveness and Critical Action Into Pre-ETS Delivery
Pre-ETS consists of job exploration counseling, work-based learning experience, postsecondary education counseling, workplace readiness, and self-advocacy training but in no particular order (WIOA, 2014). During these pre-ETS phases, it is essential to engage in additional reflective questions to ask and answer based on actions that could influence the student’s perception of themselves (Evans et al., 2014; O’Sullivan, 2013) during the pre-ETS process. It is also noteworthy to understand how cultural norms and beliefs shape the activities that happen during pre-ETS. To recognize cultural norms and expectations, the team members should be open to learning and being aware of ideas that may not fit with their worldview; even if they are of the student’s race or ethnicity, cultural differences may also be a factor.
Self-Advocacy and Critical Action With Students
Self-advocacy and critical consciousness are finding the balance of being mindful of cultural influence but also the person. Exposure can allow the student to understand what is available to them (Leong et al., 2014; O’Sullivan, 2013; Sears et al., 2013). Interests are ever-changing; therefore, students may be flexible in their idea of interest. Students should also be responsible for exploring their interests by researching and questioning what makes them happy. The main idea is to use this time to build self-esteem and self-awareness by providing students time to explore who they are, what they can do, and how they fit into the world (Diemer et al., 2016; Howard, 2003; Ladson-Billings, 1995). In this case, the balance of understanding Jalen’s interest and his responsibilities at home means that the transition team should work out a way to support his interest during different times. Jalen also must self-advocate to promote his interest.
The team wants to provide a balance for Jalen to have time to watch his sisters and gain meaningful work experience in a local barbershop that is close to the school. The balance that seems the best is based on Jalen’s advocacy and the team’s critical action response based on his advocacy. Jalen would like to have an off-site work experience for one of his classes. He speaks up about how he will be on time and responsible while off-site. He also advocates for the barbershop owner to sign off on work-related goals. Before the team and Jalen made a case for him to have off-site work experience, Jalen’s work experience was not one he enjoyed. Now he is happy about his placement and ability to work and learn in a shop. Although he does not have his license yet, he can still learn the business of running a successful barbershop.
Job-Placement and Postsecondary Education Counseling
In job-placement and postsecondary education counseling, team members must continue discussing barriers and motivations impacting self-regulation and self-direction, such as socialization and self-esteem (Evans et al., 2014). For teachers and counselors to correspond with culturally responsive practices, they help students recognize their emotions and help them work out their choices (e.g., scaffolding and responsive feedback). Sometimes students are not aware of their options, and this can become frustrating. Reassure students that their decisions about the next steps in their lives are complicated but achievable. It is essential to process feelings to become more focused on tasks. Let the students know that they are not alone, and they should share their ideas with teachers, peers, family, or community members to get more insight into their choices. If students express that they have specific fears about their choices, provide information to weigh the pros and cons of a situation. Assisting students in thinking through issues can build self-confidence and self-regulation (Evans et al., 2014).
During job-placement counseling and postsecondary education counseling with Jalen, Kenya is able to find out why Jalen has not passed his English state test. Jalen is at an impasse with his English teacher. He does not like how the teacher calls him out in class and feels like the teacher is disrespectful toward him. The English teacher is not accepting of Jalen’s learning differences. Jalen wants to pass his English state test to go to barbering school without getting a GED. He has considered getting a GED a lot because of the English state test, but his mom is adamant about him finishing with a regular diploma. After Kenya probes for more barriers and how Jalen has felt about his current position in school and its impact on his future, with Jalen’s consent, she brings this information to the team. As a team, the colleagues provide informed choices to Jalen and his mother about the options they may have, including changing teachers for the next semester, tutoring options, and educating the English teacher about Jalen’s feelings and appropriate inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classes. Through critical action, the team, Jalen’s mother, and Jalen educate the English teacher, and Jalen receives tutoring services through the school for many students struggling with the English state test. As a result, the principal and administration are open to providing more inclusion and culturally responsive training for all teachers and schoolwide tutoring programs for state testing.
Work-Based Learning Experience and Workplace Readiness
Communication of high expectations and being specific about goals are crucial for work preparation (Howard, 2003). Encourage students to know that they can reach their goals, even if they have made mistakes. Also, consider the empowerment of others, like peers, family, and community leaders. If students have concerns about working, remind them of people who have been in the same position. It would be an excellent opportunity to have college or peer mentors if that resource is available, particularly a person of color as a mentor. Students may be able to relate to someone more than teachers; give them more opportunities to network and build relationships with others. Involving community leaders, like the mayor or chamber of commerce, in mentoring and services projects could also help students feel a sense of accomplishment by working with someone outside the school. The social aspects of work can be encouraged by allowing students to make connections and review goals as often as possible.
The team has a community visit day organized with the mayor, and during this community visit day, Jalen meets people from the Lux Cuts Barbershop Academy. He meets another young man, Michael, who is interested in supporting haircuts for people with disabilities. They connect on the fact that they want a disability-friendly shop that empowers young men of color. Michael tells Jalen about all the requirements to get into the academy and hair industry tips. Michael even invites Jalen to the Battle of the Cutz hosted by the academy as a hair show. The team is proud of Jalen and support him by continuing to visit the semiannual hair show. Jalen is eventually a model for the show and gains a greater connection that lands him a scholarship to the Lux Cuts Barbershop Academy. The experiences he has gained by having more exposure in the hair industry affords him new cutting methods and an understanding of tools and brands that will help him excel in his career.
Conclusion
These guiding questions and scenarios are framed in a way that will allow education teams to consider ways to collaborate using a critically conscious approach to support CLD students. As seen through the vignettes, service providers must hold each other accountable at every stage of planning pre-ETS for CLD SWDs to develop culturally responsive transition plans, emphasizing critical consciousness. Critical consciousness can advance foundational practices for transition teams to collaborate at the professional level and with the student and family. The adoption of critically conscious behaviors (i.e., critical motivation, critical reflection, and critical action) as a way for teams to collaborate in delivering pre-ETS is necessary to improve transition outcomes for CLD students. Transition team members’ willingness to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the planning process to support CLD SWDs is the first step in improving planning and delivery of pre-ETS. The next is critically reflecting on how to include different supports into the planning process, which requires thinking about systemic issues that may become barriers to the transition process. The last step describes the uses of critical action by providing resources and knowledge for students and families to assist with advocating to reduce systemic barriers. Pairing a culturally responsive model and pre-ETS could be positive for the team and students to build a relationship and support system.
