Transition! This is a word we hear a lot with our upper grades students in special education.
Let’s start by going back to what the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) says about transition IEPs: IDEA 2004 tells us that transition goals must be included in a student’s IEP no later than when they turn 16 years of age. (It’s important to note that many school districts, and individual IEP teams, determine ages younger than 16 to start transition planning!)
IDEA also tells us that the transition IEP must include post secondary goals that are based on age-appropriate transition assessments that are related to training, education, employment, and independent living skills.
When we hear this, it’s easy to think that academics no longer have a role in these IEPs. It’s crucial that we don’t see transition IEPs as an end to academics, but rather a way to integrate academics into functional IEPs.
Here is short snippet from one of the trainings inside of TII membership about transition goal writing:
If you’re looking for more specifics on IEP like general education collaboration and functional behavior assessments – you’re in the right place!
Learn more and become a member of The Intentional IEP today!
To boil it down, one of the main reasons school even exists is to grow our knowledge so we can leave school and enter the workforce in some way, at some point, down the road. We all use the knowledge we have learned through our education towards the careers we have now.
This is the same for our students and their IEPs – we want the skills we teach them now to propel them into a successful future, potentially in the workforce.
For example:
If Charlie completed a transition survey and showed that he would like to work in a childcare setting someday, creating some goals that incorporate the skills he will need to be successful in this setting is exactly the route we should take. For example, this may look like creating time management goals, elapsed time goals, and functional reading goals using words he will need to know. These examples of potential academic goals for Charlie would still fit into the transition requirements.
Adding academics into transition IEPs is important – but why?
The focus of a transition IEP should be just that: transitioning a student into independent adulthood. For some students this requires a lot of 
preparation, while other students just need a bit of additional guidance. Either way, our students need to ensure that the academic skills that they have learned that will assist them in their independence are generalized.
Can they use these skills in natural environments? Will the nuanced branches of each skill be covered so they can use the skill in context?
Many of these academic goals will be very specific to student transition plans and goals, that’s okay! That actually makes sense. Other academic goals will cover broader independent topics, like telling time and counting money.
Either way, independence includes academic skills, which is why ensuring academics play a role in the transition IEP is so crucial.
If you’re an upper grades teacher, having transition plans as a part of your paperwork may just feel like one more thing you have to get done. If we can view transition plans as an extension and an enhancement of academics, it can and will be a less daunting task.
You can use these transition planner resources with your students to get a better idea of what they are looking for as they progress in their future.
Click the image above to join The Intentional IEP where you will have access to this, and so many other resources!
© The Intentional IEP. 2025. All rights reserved.
