What My Students With Disabilities Taught Me About Career-Connected Learning

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I’ve spent more than a decade as a special education teacher in New York City, and the hardest part of the job has never been the students; it’s been the paperwork. Too often, the IEPs and transition plans I review feel like empty documents — words on a page that fail to capture the real strengths, passions and goals of the young people I work with. I’ll never forget sitting at my desk late one evening, staring at a stack of IEPs that felt more like compliance checkboxes than roadmaps for my students’ futures.

One IEP in particular stopped me cold. Dan, a bright eleventh grader with a shy smile and a love for fixing things, had already shadowed his uncle, a local electrician, and dreamed of running his own business someday. But when I opened his transition plan, it reduced all of that ambition into a single, vague word: maintenance. No details or steps. No reflection of who he was or who he wanted to be. And he’s not alone.

Every year, thousands of students with disabilities are ushered through high school without a clear path forward. According to the 2012 National Longitudinal Transition Study, only 39 percent of students with disabilities enrolled in postsecondary education within eight years of leaving high school, and employment outcomes are even more sobering. According to a 2024 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, youth with disabilities face unemployment rates twice as high as their peers without disabilities.

Yet, it doesn’t have to be this way. When we create transition plans rooted in students’ strengths and connected to real opportunities, we give them more than compliance; we give them a future they can see themselves in.

Our responsibility as educators is not just to prepare paperwork, but to prepare pathways, so that students are equipped with the skills, support and belief they need to step boldly into their next chapter.

From Compliance to Expanding Horizons Through CBOs

In schools across the country, students with disabilities are often siloed into “life skills” courses without exposure to rigorous academics, career-connected learning or work-based experiences. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires that transition planning begin by age 16, or earlier in some states, but compliance doesn’t always equal quality in support. Over the last decade, I’ve seen transition plans copied and pasted year to year, failing to reflect students’ evolving interests and skills.

Even when students express career goals, we sometimes underestimate their capabilities or overlook how accommodations can be embedded in job training. In schools, we often focus on core academics and not career exposure, assuming that most students have to be prepared for college and not truly preparing them for the world of work.

I knew we had to do better. So with the support of my school leadership, I created a pilot program called the Work-Based Learning Fridays initiative. Every week, students engage in real-world career exposure in internal and external opportunities with community-based organizations (CBO). Internal opportunities mean that CBOs push into the school community, or that work-based learning and job exploration are embedded within instruction or career-focused classes designed and led by school stakeholders. External opportunities take students beyond the school walls, connecting them directly with CBOs, businesses and cultural institutions through internships, job shadowing, volunteer work or career exploration experiences in real-world settings.

For many, it was their first time feeling seen for their abilities, not their limitations. One student with autism, who often struggled academically but dreamed of becoming a doorman, was given the chance to work with New York City Center, a CBO partner in our school community. He greeted guests at the door and helped direct them to different areas of the theater. When he returned, his face was lit with pride as he told me, “I loved that experience! I can’t wait to do it again.” That single opportunity sparked a shift, and I began helping him apply for front-of-house positions in theaters across the city, chasing a vision of independence and meaningful work.

Through our CBO partnership with Roundabout Theatre, their team provided 1-to-1 mentorship to students and brought in teaching artists to lead internal courses, giving our students hands-on technical theater training. Their support extended to our school productions as well, where one student, Jen, thrived while collaborating with our theater teacher on lighting and sound engineering for the plays. I then supported her in applying to their three-year, Theatrical Workforce Development Tech Fellowship Program, an opportunity that has since launched her into the world of Broadway and off-Broadway productions.

With KickNKnowledge, a student discovered a passion for marketing, using storytelling and branding to connect with audiences in ways he had never experienced in the classroom. Through the Billion Oyster Project, students volunteered to clean up oyster piles, gaining hands-on experience with environmental restoration while also learning about maritime jobs and the vital role of New York City’s waterways. Collaborations with CBOs like Bridges to Work, MNTCAC, and Community Options further provided students with essential pre-employment training and skill development, giving them not just exposure but tangible preparation for the workforce.

This initiative became more than just a work-based learning day; it became a gateway to possibilities for our students with disabilities. For the first time, our students were no longer defined by their challenges, but by their potential and the futures they could see for themselves.

Intentionality and Policy

While our work-based learning programming created meaningful opportunities for students, the work is far from perfect and is still evolving. Each step in the creation and implementation revealed successes and gaps, reminding us that building truly inclusive pathways is an ongoing process that should continue to transform as the needs of the students transform. From this journey, a few key lessons emerged:

• Start Early and Be Intentional: Start introducing students to career clusters as early as ninth grade, which allows educators to identify interests and build out supports long before high school graduation.
• Leverage Strengths, Not Deficits: Use interest inventories, student-led IEP meetings, volunteer work and job opportunities to help students recognize what they are good at and how those strengths connect to career pathways.
• Bring the Community Into Your Classroom: Build partnerships with local businesses and cultural institutions. Consider inviting guest speakers, arranging site visits, creating volunteer opportunities, co-designing projects and providing connections through work-based learning opportunities.
• Build in Soft Skills and Accessibility: Embed social-emotional learning, communication strategies, life skills and universal design principles. For example, visual supports, scripts, modeling or noise-canceling headphones can assist students by reducing barriers, reinforcing expectations and creating more accessible pathways to learning and participation.
• Track, Adjust, Repeat: Monitor student growth through employability profiles, performance rubrics and post-graduate follow-up, evolving with student needs.

Additionally, policy must also catch up and school-level innovation must be supported by better policy. Weighted student funding reflects the real cost of providing robust transition services, including travel stipends for job sites, paying for CBOs, and additional support staff. Interagency collaboration between schools, vocational rehab services and community providers streamline access to adult services.

Get students with disabilities connected with programs like Access-VR and OPWDD before graduation. These programs can provide job coaching, vocational training and independent living support tailored to each student’s needs, helping them build a foundation for employment and community inclusion. Flexible Diploma Pathways also recognize work-based learning and credential attainment as valid indicators of readiness.

Lastly, investment in educator training is vital so that every educator can provide students with meaningful transition planning with the appropriate support.

Building Bridges, Not Barriers

This type of work reminds me that school communities cannot thrive in isolation — we must tap into external resources and community-based organizations to unlock opportunities that help students not only succeed in school, but thrive in life.

I often think about the phrase “least dangerous assumption,” which is the idea that we should presume competence and possibility, not limit based on disability labels. I’ve seen too many students underestimated, their potential confined by our own narrow thinking. But I’ve also seen the opposite. I’ve seen students blossom when given the tools, the trust, and the opportunity.

I realized transition success is not simply a checkbox. Not a vague job title. But a real plan, built on strengths, backed by authentic opportunity, and supported by genuine belief in the students’ full range of abilities.

It’s time we bridge the gap for all our students. Their futures are assets to our workforce and our communities. Let’s build the bridge together.