Page 30 - May JSF Report

GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY REPORT (2) UPDATE TO THE MILESTONE 1 REPORT
Our Milestone 1 report provided reflections about the future direction of the study regarding Career Services (CS) participants, an updated Gantt Chart with Timeline, and changes to GW personnel associated with the study. In this section, we provide an update to the Milestone 1 report, offer information regarding the status of recruitment of JSF students and graduates, and provide information regarding our Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval of the study application for the second phase of work. The IRB approval included recruitment flyers and emails, participant consent forms, interview protocols for IHE professionals and current and past students and description of data security, methods of data analyses, data security and interviewee confidentiality.
Recruitment of Career Services Providers on the twelve SUSF campuses
During Phase 1 recruitment, the research team reached out to CS providers at the twelve SUSF campuses. Our contact list was developed from information posted on University websites that identified leaders and staff members in CS offices. Names of possible contacts were also provided by some DS providers and members of the Johnson Scholarship Foundation leadership team. Despite a low response rate to our requests to CS providers for interviews, we were able to develop an understanding of the States’ policy emphasis on career development and preparation for employment through higher education. Review of the SUSF websites continues to indicate the State’s commitment to workforce development and training for after college employment through higher education, and to assure students economic sufficiency post college. Repeated reviews of SUSF institution websites indicates that all CS offices offer support to students for development of resumes and cover letters to employers and some assist students as they seek internships and prepare for employment interviews with members of campus offices, community-based service providers or business entities.
Personnel Changes
As indicated in our Milestone 1 report, we asked Dr. Elizabeth Tuckwiller to serve as co-PI during Dr. Kutscher’s parental leave, mid-November 2022 through August 31, 2023. Dr. Tuckwiller is a very thoughtful and committed special education educator and disability advocate. She has been a terrific partner as we have reframed the research model to intensify recruitment of: 1) current and former students awarded JSF scholarship funding to learn about their support for career preparation and employment and their after college work history; and 2) professionals who work in any of the twelve SUSF IHEs to gain a broader understanding of current and past supports that enable students who identify with disabilities, most particularly JSF scholarship recipients, to develop their career goals and related workforce knowledge through experiences in University-based or external internships, part time and/or summer job placements.
We continue to engage the three doctoral students in project work. As doctoral candidates, two of the students are recipients of University funding and are assigned to faculty as Graduate Research Assistants. The third doctoral student is an international student who receives hourly pay for her contributions to the project. Working together, the doctoral students contributed to the proposal to the American Education Research Association (AERA) that will be presented virtually on Friday, April 5, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. ET. They also provided assistance in gathering recent literature on several topics related to the research study including how post-COVID America imagines tomorrow’s workforce, how higher education is thinking about new or revised curriculum that will support a student’s ability to move from college classrooms to employment.
Updated Gantt and Timeline
We noted in our first report that despite our repeated recruitment efforts, only a few Career Services providers responded. Given the low response rate we determined that we needed to adjust our data collection efforts to include other SUSF IHE professionals from campus offices or units (e.g., academic and program advisors, faculty, student activities or affinity group coordinators or mentors) who might also provide career preparation support to students including JSF scholars. The Gantt chart that follows provides an update on the timeline for preparation of the Project RISE Study 2 IRB application and the related timelines and tasks for the approved study.
Page 28 May Report