In-Service Training for Special Education Teachers Working with Students Having Developmental Disabilities to Develop Effective Transition Goals

Objectives: The purpose was to investigate effects of an in-service training for secondary special education teachers in Turkey. The study was to serve as an initial analysis of the basic knowledge of educators about transition mandates, transition planning and components of quality goals. Methods: Twenty-two teachers of students with DD completed the in-service training. TSTA model was used to structure the training. To assess differences between teachers' knowledge from pre-test to the post-test, paired sample t-tests were employed. Results: A significant increase in knowledge of general transition and goal functionality was observed from pre-test to post-test. Results indicated that the training was effective in both increasing teachers' knowledge and generalization of functional goal writing across content areas. Conclusions: The study revealed the dearth of research related to transition knowledge and generation of high quality transition goals for students with DD.