Page 43 - 2024 May report

GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY FINAL REPORT (12)
2. State-level policies focused on career development are not necessarily trickling down to
students.
As described in our Milestone 1 report, the ongoing review of actions taken by the current State Governor and his administration suggest a deep commitment to workforce development across the SUSF institutions. Specifically, the 2023 Florida Statues required that SUSF institutions ensure all incoming students (i.e., freshmen, transfer students) are connected with career services. Individual IHE plans were to be in place and approved by March 1, 2022.
Furthermore, per Florida statute, career services offices are required at minimum to support students in: (a) Exploring and identifying career opportunities; (b) Identifying in-demand jobs and associated earning outcomes; (c) Understanding the skills and credentials needed for specific jobs; (d) Identifying opportunities to gain on-the-job experiences; and (e) Creating a digital resume.
Within this context, our conversations with disability services professionals and JSF scholars provide some additional insights. While several disability services professionals referred to the new workforce development requirements and seemed aware of the Florida Statute and their IHE’s implementation of related policies and practices, none of the graduates or current scholars expressed an awareness of the Statute or related policies and practices on their campuses. Although most of the interviewed students were further along in their studies and would not have been directly impacted by the policy requiring students to be connected with career services, all students and graduates would have had access to the supports described in the statutes. Despite this, some students seemed only vaguely aware of career services on their campus and were largely unaware of the state of Florida’s commitment to career development.
3. Disability services professionals are the right lever for reaching college students with disabilities and for campus-wide change regarding disability, but they are already stretched thin.
Interviews with graduates and current students confirmed the central role of disability service professionals in students’ university experiences. As one graduate explained, “Honestly, they were amazing. They were very informative. I was a little confused going through the process, but they made it very clear what they needed of me and how they were there to help me.” Another graduate echoed this sentiment, saying, “The people in that office [Disability Services] were crazy amazing.”
Like the disability services professionals, some students felt that disability services offices would be a logical place for them to receive support with the career development process. When asked what recommendations they had for universities, one former student suggested, “Maybe a center within [the disability services office] that is specifically, like, designated to help students get into the workforce, if that’s making sense. That, you know, those specific people and [disability services] building are working towards helping students get into the workforce.”
Two interviewed participants indicated that their disability services office was already offering support with career services. One graduate explained that he continued to work with his alma mater’s disability services office to offer career development support. He said, “I’m actually taking a strategies and career class with them to help them recruit other students so that we can have more people on campus less afraid of getting a career and facing their disability.” One current student believed that his university’s disability services office could provide support with disability-specific career development questions, such as disclosure, saying, “I am sure that they could help me, you know, kind of navigate those questions. But right now, I’m not super sure.” The same student indicated that the office tries to offer career development opportunities in addition to academic accommodations, saying, “They [disability services] not only use that as hey, we’re going to help you get registered for your accommodations, but they also work to find job opportunities or things that would be interesting to students looking for work.”
Education / A Powerful force for change Page 41