Tools for Assessment
Transition assessments are required annually to develop and update transition plans. There are many assessments available and we hope you will take time to research and review what is out there. It’s important to choose assessments that are appropriate for your student and that will provide the information the team needs to establish meaningful goals the student can work toward achieving! Remember that assessments should be provided on-going and can be formal or informal. Assessments can take different forms (questionnaires, documented observations, etc.), but whatever form, make sure the results are accessible and that you have documented the assessment in the transition assessment section in the secondary transition IEP. So, take a look at a list of some transition assessments and then explore some of the tools that can assist you in the transition assessment process, like this
Graphic Organizer for Student Assessment Results (★)
Click on a topic below for more information!
Those with a star (★) can be completed electronically.
Establish a timeline for the assessment process at your school, possibly using some of the assessments below.
Please remember that these tools should serve only as a guide and may include suggestions that do not meet the requirements of Arkansas regulations, or exceed requirements in Arkansas regulations. If you have questions when using any of these tools, please contact your Transition Consultant.
Transition Assessment Timeline (★)
Transition Activities Timeline
Using Conceptual Frameworks as a Guide for Transition Planning with Educators and Families
Career Planning Assessment Guide - This guide can be used to improve the quality of services at the local level and the transition planning results for youth. It describes four ways to assess, how to select and use assessment tools (formal and informal), and provides practical information about commonly used published assessments.
Skills Matcher (★) This assessment determines a student's skills and shows career options that might be a good fit.
O'NET Interest Profiler Online Assessment (★) - Spanish (★) - a family of self-assessment career exploration tools that can help clients discover the type of work activities and occupations that they would like and find exciting. Clients identify and learn about broad interest areas most relevant to themselves. They can use their interest results to explore the world of work. Click here for the paper/pencil version.
My Next Move (★) - Search/browse careers by interests or industry.
Job Tips Environmental Demands Rating Worksheet (★)
Dealing with Environmental Demands (★)
Soft Skills Checklist (★) - This checklist assesses non-technical skills common to every job over five major categories: workplace basics, attitude, communication, teamwork and problem solving.
RIASEC Test (★) - This assessment focuses on career and vocational choice. It groups people on the basis of their suitability for six different categories of occupations.
Career Clusters Interest Survey - Spanish - This career guidance tool allows students to respond to questions and identify their top three Career Clusters of interest based on their responses.
Inventory of Entrepreneurial Interests (★) - This assessment can be used to assist students as they explore potential career options, including nontraditional employment such as entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship education facilitates skill sets such as leadership, adaptability, creativity, perseverance and financial literacy.
Employability Skills Rubric - This rubric tool assists with determining a student's employability skills.
Washington Career Bridge (★) - Take this quiz to connect your interests with a career.
General Work Skills and Behavior Assessment - This checklist considers some specific skill sets that correlate to the employment setting and can help determine gaps.
Work Skills Assessment (★) - This form enables students to check off boxes, indicating if they can perform a skill independently or with help or if they would like to learn a new skill.
Executive Function Skills Questionnaire (★) - This questionnaire can be used to determine a student's executive skill strengths and weaknesses.
Authentic Assessments (★) - Use these forms to gather important information based on transition activities and services that go with these forms or use these forms as a way to assess a student’s interests, needs, preferences and strengths. These forms can help students, teachers, and family members obtain information on activities within their transition plan that can enhance future programming, as well as provide evidence that the activities have taken place.
Career and Technical Education Report (★)
Career Fair Reflection Sheet (★)
Career/Job Comparison (★)
Career/Job Initial Review (★)
In School Job Checklist/Data Sheet (★)
This is what I know about a career in the military (★)
Vocational Task Analysis (for students with complex needs)
Employment Support Indicators (for students with complex needs)
Employability Skills Checklist (for students with complex needs)
Career Interest Inventory - Pictorial Version (★) (for students with complex needs)
College Readiness Assessment (★) - Use this assessment to determine a student's academic skills, self-understanding, self-advocacy skills, executive function, and motivation and confidence.
Am I Ready for College? (★) - This survey will help students identify areas that may put them at risk for college failure.
VARK - A Guide to Learning Styles (★)
What's Your Learning Style? (★)
Study Habits Questionnaire (★)
Things That Are Difficult For Me (★)
Digital Literacy Assessments (★) - Use these to assess a student's computer skills.
Study Skills Inventory (★) - This assessment can be helpful to identify the students' current study skills students.
Executive Function Skills Questionnaire - This questionnaire can be used to determine a student's executive skill strengths and weaknesses.
From Career Goal to Education/Training Needs (★) Student Form Teacher Form
Authentic Assessments (★) - Use these forms to gather important information based on transition activities and services that go with these forms or use these forms as a way to assess a student’s interests, needs, preferences and strengths. These forms can help students, teachers, and family members obtain information on activities within their transition plan that can enhance future programming, as well as provide evidence that the activities have taken place.
College/Technical School Initial Review (★)
Integrated/ Co-Taught/ Inclusive Data Sheet (★)
On Campus College Visit Reflection (★)
Post Secondary School Comparison (★)
Vocational Task Analysis (for students with complex needs)
AIR Self-Determination (★) User Guide Educator (★) Parent (★) - Spanish Student (★) - Spanish
Self-Determination Checklist/Student Self-Assessment (★) - Use this 19 item checklist for students to evaluate their self-determination skills.
Field Hoffman Self-Determination Assessment Battery (★) measures cognitive, behavioral, and effective traits to determine levels of self-determination. Perspectives are gathered from students, parents, and teachers and can be combined to provide a more comprehensive picture of students' self-determination.
Observation Checklist Student Scale Parent Perception Scale Teacher Perceptions Scale Scoring Key
Self-Determination Skills Checklist (★) - This collection of checklists breaks down five broad categories of self determination (Self-Awareness, Active Participation in School Based Meetings, Self-Advocacy, Choice Making, Self-Management/Self-Regulation) into small components.
Self-Determination & Self-Advocacy Questionnaire (★) - This questionnaire helps identify levels of knowledge and skill in different areas of self-determination from the student, parent and teacher perspective. There are two teacher forms: one for accommodations for academic needs and one for employment that can be completed by a teacher who works with the student directly in a tech-prep, school-to-work, or career/vocational area of education - a great way to include your school’s CTE teachers in transition planning!
Student Transition Questionnaire
Adolescent Autonomy Checklist (★) - This checklist rates the student’s independent living skills and identifies areas in need of additional instruction.
My Work Skills List - This tool will help assess the current skills an individual has that can transfer to other jobs, making the student aware of any gaps, needs, and strengths to work on as they prepare to enter the world of work. The team can then include deficit areas in the IEP to work toward improvement.
Casey Life Skills (★) Youth (★) Caregiver (★)
Independent Living Skills Assessment (Determining the Need for Independent Living Postsecondary Goals) (★) - This form is designed to help the IEP team decide if a student needs a postsecondary goal in the area of independent living.
Washington State's Life Skills Inventory Independent Living Skills Assessment Tool (★)
Transitioning from high school to adult life often makes you think of where you will live, go to school or work. Healthcare is often overlooked but is an important part of a successful transition! The Healthcare Transition Readiness Assessment (★) helps assess an individual's ability to take care of their health needs.
Transitioning to Independence: How Ready Are You? (★) - Young people can take care of their own health conditions or disabilities in a variety of ways. This FREE assessment from Shriners Hospital will help you build the skills you need to make a successful transition to adult care and independent living.
PACER's Transition Health Plan for Youth with Disabilities & Their Families (★) - Use this form to help transition-age youth with disabilities and their families plan for youth to assume greater or full responsibility for their adult health care.
Transition Healthcare Checklist (★) - This is about the skills a student needs to learn to take care of their health when they become an adult.
Insight Healthcare Checklist (★) - This brief focuses on healthcare transitions and provides strategies that can be used post-high school to help youth stay healthy.
Caregiver Checklist (★) - This checklist identifies issues and creates a greater understanding of the skills and abilities that will help your child transition to adulthood.
Financial Literacy Quiz (First Financial Credit Union) (★) - This quiz will help you determine what you know and what you don’t know about personal finance.
The City University of New York Financial Literacy Quiz - This quiz can help you build your financial skills and learn to make appropriate decisions in managing personal finances.
Assessment of Financial Skills and Abilities - This 76-item checklist identifies a student's current knowledge and areas in need of instruction in regard to finances and money management.
Executive Function Skills Questionnaire - This questionnaire can be used to determine a student's executive skill strengths and weaknesses.
Transition Student Interview (★)- A great place to begin gathering information on your student!
Student Transition Questionnaire
Quickbook of Transition Assessments
The TAGG (★) - The TAGG is a new on-line transition assessment for secondary aged youth with disabilities, their families, and professionals. TAGG items derive from research identified student behaviors associated with post high school employment and education. The TAGG provides a norm-based graphic profile, present level of performance statement, lists of strengths and needs, and suggested IEP annual transition goals. Click here to watch a demo video.
Transition Assessment Matrix (★) - This site has been put together by the Indiana Northeast Cadre of Transition Leaders and the Indiana Secondary Transition Resource Center. You will be able to choose the Transition Domain (Employment, Education/Training, Independent Living) that you wish to explore transition assessments for. Once you choose a domain, you may then choose the appropriate grade level(s), and the disability area(s) that are most similar to the needs of the student(s) you are assessing. A great tool to explore transition assessments that address your students needs!
Person Centered Planning (PCP) Brief - Person Centered Planning meetings can be considered an approach that brings team members, including educators and agencies, together to plan for a student’s future. The process is done through a mapping process where all participants can have input. It’s a great tool in the transition planning process. Ask your Transition Consultant for more information.
Community-Based Skills Assessment - This tool was designed to assess an individual’s knowledge, skill and social communication abilities.
Personal Preference Indicators (for students with complex needs)
Applying PPI Indicators to Post-Secondary Outcomes (for students with complex needs)
Often parents have information that can be included in a transition plan, making it more meaningful. If you are a parent, consider reviewing these simple, yet important tools, and providing the information to your child’s teacher.
Parent Transition Survey (★) - Spanish (★)
Parent Questionnaire for Transition Planning (with cover letter) (★) - This is a generic questionnaire from Ross-Pike Educational Service District in Ohio (www.rpesd.org) that is given to parents of students with a wide range of educational needs. The information included can assist in making educational plans which focus on your child's post-school goals.
The Parent Inventory (★) - Complete this form and send to your child's teacher as an assessment that could be used in developing their transition plan to work toward employment goals.
Parents of Teenagers Survival Checklist (★) -This quick and easy assessment allows you to rate your student's ability on a variety of skills including seeking employment, hygiene, transportation and current events.
IDEA requires the consideration for technology needs for students with disabilities. These could be services or devices that are defined in IDEA. When students are planning to transition into the adult world it is critical that they are aware of available technology that they can use to support them in the post-secondary environment. IEP teams (including students and families) can greatly benefit from the tools provided below:
Transition Skills Checklist (★) - use this assessment to determine what skills your students demonstrate and what skills they need to acquire.
Assistive Technology Assessment Process Planner (★) - use this process planner when classroom strategies and tools do not meet the student’s needs.
Assistive Technology Implementation Plan (★) - use this template to develop a plan to implement assistive technology with your students.
Family Information Guide to Assistive Technology and Transition Planning - this guide will provide you with information on transition, how to ensure your students' assistive technology needs are supported in the transition from high school to adult life, and information on laws related to transition and accommodations. There are many tools and valuable resources within this guide to help include consideration of assistive technology in the transition process.
Student Self-Evaluation Matrix (★) - The self-evaluation matrix is intended to measure and improve assistive technology transfer to higher education settings.
Assistive Technology Protocol for Transition Planning (★) - use this form when transition planning to review the student's assistive technology needs.
Transition Assessment Planning for Students with Significant Disabilities (★)
Employability Skills Checklist
Job Tips Environmental Demands Rating Worksheet (★)
Dealing with Environmental Demands (★)
Parent Questionnaire for Transition Planning
Parent Transition Survey (★) - Spanish (★)
Personal Preference Indicators
Applying PPI Indicators to Post-Secondary Outcomes
Pictorial Interest Inventory (★)
Career Interest Inventory - Pictorial Version (★)
SETT (Student, Environment, Tasks, Tools) Scaffold for Consideration of Assistive Technology Needs
Transitioning to Independence: How Ready Are You? (★)
Healthcare Transition Readiness Changing Roles for Youth (★)
Community-Based Skills Assessment - This tool was designed to assess an individual’s knowledge, skill and social communication abilities.
Person Centered Planning (PCP) Brief - Person Centered Planning meetings can be considered an approach that brings team members, including educators and agencies, together to plan for a student’s future. The process is done through a mapping process where all participants can have input. It’s a great tool in the transition planning process. Ask your Transition Consultant for more information.
Secondary School Success Checklist - This evaluation of student skills can be completed by staff, families, and students. It can support teams in identifying priority goals related to independence and behavior, transition, social competence, and academic skills (with a focus on literacy). Positive outcomes in these domains have been directly linked to postsecondary success for students on the autism spectrum.
Teaching Students with Visual Impairment - a helpful resource for classroom teachers learning how to meet the unique needs of a student with visual impairments, parents of students with visual impairments, administrators and visual impairment professionals . It has general transition information and banks of goals/activities for different areas.
Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired - a great resource to parents of students who are blind, deaf-blind or visually impaired and the professionals who serve these students.
The Transition Competencies Checklist (★) - students can use this self-evaluation tool to assess their strengths and weaknesses in skill areas crucial to transition.
Work Readiness Inventory - The WRI helps individuals recognize and address the demands of the workplace by identifying their readiness concerns or areas of weakness. This 36-item self-report identifies levels of concern in six areas crucial to work readiness including responsibility, flexibility, skills, communication, self-view, and health and safety.
Transition to Work Inventory - This inventory helps an individual identify their job options and make their career transitions more effective and rewarding. Individuals will review a list of 96 non-work activities and rate how much they like each one. Simple self-scoring allows them to connect their answers to the 16 career clusters, which then lead to a list of related jobs, self-employment options, and paths for education and training.
Employability Skills Inventory - The ESI is a self-report measure that allows workers to quickly assess their own strengths and weaknesses so they may improve their skills through additional training and experience and make themselves more marketable. It assists administrators by giving them a quick overview of their client’s employability, helping them determine the training and additional skills needed most. The ESI feeds into the following scales: basic skills, thinking skills, personal qualities, resource management, information skills, interpersonal skills, systems management, and technology use.
STEM Careers Inventory - In just five steps, this easy-to-use assessment helps students and young people discover their personality types and match them to STEM and green careers. Users respond to 72 brief items, total their scores, and identify their Holland RIASEC personality types. They then identify appealing jobs that align with their top personality types. Green job titles are in a green typeface for quick and easy recognition. Another step features a worksheet for researching careers of interest and lists career exploration resources. In the final step, students match their personalities to education-related career clusters and career academies.
Picture Interest Career Survey - PICS is an easy way for people with limited reading ability or special needs to explore their career interests and find a job that fits. It’s a quick way for people to identify occupational interests by using pictures of people at work rather than text-based items.
Assessing Barriers to Education - The ABE helps individuals: assess the barriers preventing them from pursuing some form of postsecondary education; identify the postsecondary options most readily accessible to them; and eliminate myths about the process of furthering one's education. In addition, this unique tool helps counselors, coaches, and administrators to better allocate their time and resources to deal with each client's specific barriers.
College Survival and Success Scale - The CSSS measures a student’s ability to get the most from post-secondary education and training and use it to build a successful future. While more students are trying to further their educations, nearly half fail to graduate with a degree. The CSSS is designed to help them identify potential pitfalls to their educational success and implement strategies to overcome them.
Financial Literacy Inventory - The FLI measures a person’s basic knowledge of money management with five scales: Income and Careers, Banking and Budgeting, Credit and Debt, Savings and Investing, and Rights and Risks. It helps individuals determine how much they know about effectively managing their money. The FLI then offers guidance on how to improve the individual’s financial literacy and manage their money better through specific suggestions and online resources.
Life Skills Inventory - The LSI helps individuals identify life skills they may need to develop to become healthier and more productive and provides a wealth of suggestions for improving these skills. The assessment addresses communication skills, stress management skills, anger management skills, money management skills, time management skills, and career skills.
Transferrable Skills Scale - The Transferable Skills Scale is a brief assessment designed to identify an individual's strongest transferable skills. Based on the data, people, things, and ideas model used extensively by career counselors and the U.S. Department of Labor, it asks individuals to rate their skill levels on 96 tasks. The resulting score helps define their skill levels in eight categories: analytical, numerical, interpersonal, organizational, physical, informational, communicative, and creative skills. Each skill set is also specifically linked to O*NET job titles, and an Occupational Exploration worksheet helps individuals further research the jobs that match their transferable skills.
TPI Informal Assessments for Transition: Independent Living & Community Participation - Assess your students' abilities to manage independent living and monitor progress for planning after instruction.
Enderle Severson Transition Rating Scale - ESTR Publications provides you with transition assessment instruments for learners with mild disabilities and moderate to severe disabilities to include parent forms for gathering information about learners in non-school environments. It assesses employment, recreation and leisure, home living, community participation, and post-secondary education.
Transition Planning Inventory - Third Edition - The TPI-3 provides school personnel with a systematic way to address critical transition planning areas. Key information is gathered from students, parents, guardians, and school personnel through the use of rating scales and open-ended questions. It is used to identify transition preferences, interests, strengths, and needs regardless of methodology; develop necessary plans; and act on resultant goals.
Brigance Transition Skills Inventory - The Brigance TSI helps educators easily assess independent living, employment, and additional post-secondary skills to support transition planning for middle- and high-school students. It can assist with determining the present level of performance in transition skills, developing transition goals and objectives for IEPs that meet IDEA requirements, assessing a wide range of student abilities, and monitoring and reporting progress toward transition goals.
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