HELENA — An advocacy organization says it’s going to be visiting Montana high schools this year, to see how well they’re doing at preparing students with disabilities for the transition to life after graduation.

“It's not an adversarial process, and it's not a gotcha,” said Tal Goldin, director of advocacy for Disability Rights Montana. “It's about going and seeing how things are going.”

(Watch the video for more on Disability Rights Montana's plan for monitoring.)

Disability Rights Montana says the law is clear about what schools need to do to make sure students on individualized education programs, or IEPs, are ready for what comes next. They want to get a better picture of how the system is working in Montana right now.

Goldin says about 21,000 students across the state are on IEPs, for a wide range of disabilities that require changes to either what they learn or how they’re taught. Under federal law, schools are required to update those plans once a student reaches age 16, to include goals and “transition services” needed to help them be ready for education, training, jobs and living on their own after graduating.

“That's the same goals that we have for every student, right: further education, employment and independent living,” said Goldin. “But for students with disabilities, they may need more direct and specific planning to accomplish those goals.”

Goldin says Disability Rights Montana has sometimes found those transition plans aren’t detailed enough – or aren’t there at all. During the rest of this school year, they’re looking to visit three to four school districts to meet with students, parents, and staff. They could do more monitoring visits next year.

“Asking about how this is going, what does transition planning look like, what are some strengths and deficits that you see there,” Goldin said. “Sometimes then we follow up with recommendations, if there are things that we're concerned about or things that could be done better. A lot of times they ask us for resources, so we'll share that. Then sometimes, schools will even ask us for training.”

Goldin says one of the biggest challenges is to get these students the type of work experience that can help them figure out what they can do and want to do after graduating. He says they’ve encouraged school districts to partner with vocational rehabilitation programs, which help adults with disabilities connect with employers and may be able to use those connections to help students as well.

Disability Rights Montana has also opened an online survey, where they’re asking students with disabilities to weigh in on how prepared they feel for life after high school. While it’s aimed primarily at students, it can also be answered by parents, guardians, teachers or others.

“We'd like to get broad data about how it's going from as many people as possible,” said Goldin.

Goldin says transition planning is in the law because it’s something very important for these students, but hasn’t always been made available.

“There’s this indignity of low expectations, and this presumption that people with disabilities are just going to end up in group homes or in institutions like the State Hospital, so we don't have to plan for how they're going to get a job,” he said. “That's wrong, and it’s wrong from all kinds of perspectives, but it's particularly wrong from an economic perspective. That's not true. People with disabilities work all the time and are perfectly capable of making a living off paying taxes, contributing to society.”