National Soft Skills Association

To promote and enhance programs that increase soft skills

  • Success Stories
  • Research & Publications
  • Join our Mailing List
  • Submit an Article
  • Contact Us

Are Special Education Students Graduating to the Couch?

By National Soft Skills Association 38 Comments

Recent research on students with disabilities was conducted by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization, in partnership with the Huffington Post. The research focused on inequality and innovation in education, and recently issued their report on the plight of students with disabilities in post-secondary settings.

  “About a third of the students with disabilities who enroll in a four-year college or university graduate within eight years.  For those who enroll in two-year schools, the outcomes aren’t much better: 41 percent, according to federal data.”

The report goes on to say that these dismal outcomes are not because students with disabilities can’t handle the coursework, for most can grasp the academic content.  What these students lack are the soft skills that will help them succeed in higher education and life.

What Are Soft Skills and Why Are They Important

Soft skills refers to a group of personal qualities that make a good student or employee, personal qualities such as a positive attitude, communication, planning and organizing, critical thinking, interpersonal skills and more.  These soft skills enable one to critically think, plan and organize, communicate and get along with fellow students, faculty, employees and employers. Soft skills are far more important than pure academic and technical skills training for success in today’s society.

Soft Skills Have Been Ignored by Our Educational Institutions for 100 Years   

It is important to note that research conducted by Harvard University, the Carnegie Foundation and Stanford Research Center has all concluded that 85% of job success comes from having well-developed soft and people skills, and only 15% of job success comes from technical skills and knowledge (hard skills). These statistics were extrapolated from A Study of Engineering Education, authored by Charles Riborg Mann and published in 1918 by the Carnegie Foundation. This is not a typo—it was 1918—and for nearly 100 years our educational institutions have ignored the key elements for personal, educational and workplace success and have insisted on teaching academic and technical skills over soft skills.  (Source: National Soft Skills Association)

 

Regular Education Students vs. Special Education Students

It is important to note that Mann’s research was focused on college and university engineering students.  These students might be considered quite capable of handling the academic rigors of an engineering program, but they were never taught the soft skills necessary for success in their chosen engineering field.  In the case of special education students, the need for soft skills training is multiplied many times over.  Typically, these students struggle in the area of social and emotional development, which is the foundation for all soft skills development.  Clearly our special education programs need to stop focusing all of their efforts on academics for the sake of academics. We need to include soft skills training to provide the keys to future success for all students, with or without disabilities.

The Call for Soft Skills Training in Transition Programs for Special Education Students

Under the current special education law, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), there is a requirement for all special education programs to address the transition process from high school to post-secondary education or training.  A transition plan is to be in place by the age of 16; in fact, in many states it is now by the age of 14.  The federal law requires schools to create individual education programs that include goals, along with a plan to support the learning needs of special education students in order to achieve their post-secondary goals.  Research shows that, in most cases, there are no goals set and no plan at all to support students in non-academic areas, including the development of soft skills.

It is time that our educational institutions wake up to the fact that post-secondary success for all students, not just students with disabilities, must include soft skills assessment and training as well as academic assessment and training.

As one parent in the Hechinger Report states, ”It’s a crisis, our kids are graduating to the couch.”

Filed Under: Research & Publications

About the Author

National Soft Skills Association™ (NSSA) is a national clearing house on past and present research and to identify the best practices within the soft skills field.

Comments

  1. lokesh khuranna says

    September 11, 2019 at 3:55 am

    Nice, blog which motivates us to understand the importance of soft skills. Also, with growing opportunities, special people will get the required skills.

    Reply
  2. samiha_FS says

    October 8, 2019 at 8:07 am

    Merci pour les informations

    Reply
    • chia says

      April 27, 2021 at 6:57 pm

      Wow, that’s what I was searching for, what a stuff!

      existing here at this webpage, thanks admin of this web site.

      Also visit my web page: visit us

      Reply
  3. hadil says

    October 13, 2019 at 2:26 am

    thank you very nice website article

    Reply
  4. karima says

    October 15, 2019 at 9:19 am

    great article,thanks

    Reply
  5. djamila_st says

    October 24, 2019 at 2:05 pm

    I love the idea of a poll

    Reply
  6. samiha_FS says

    October 29, 2019 at 5:14 am

    Thanks, it is very informative

    Reply
  7. djamila_st says

    November 3, 2019 at 9:38 am

    Thank you so much for this information. It is very helpful.

    Reply
  8. Ziane says

    November 4, 2019 at 12:49 pm

    We have benefited the subject thanks

    Reply
  9. djamila_st says

    November 24, 2019 at 3:24 am

    good article,thank you for sharing

    Reply
  10. djamila_st says

    November 27, 2019 at 3:33 am

    this is a fantastic blog article.

    Reply
  11. djamila_st says

    January 5, 2020 at 3:47 am

    Beautiful article. thank you

    Reply
  12. hadjmer says

    April 16, 2020 at 9:37 am

    Beautiful article. thank you

    Reply
  13. nassim says

    April 27, 2020 at 9:01 am

    Excellent information

    Reply
  14. nassim says

    May 15, 2020 at 5:49 am

    Merci pour ce très bon billet introductif

    Reply
  15. nassim says

    May 18, 2020 at 1:21 pm

    merci pour cet article
    All the information which have you shared with us is very useful

    Reply
  16. FLL says

    May 31, 2020 at 8:31 am

    nice article thanks for sharing. fll

    Reply
  17. simon says

    May 31, 2020 at 8:48 am

    thanks for sharing such a nice post

    Reply
  18. simon says

    May 31, 2020 at 8:48 am

    excellente article Merci pour le partage.

    Reply
  19. safia says

    November 10, 2020 at 10:34 am

    good sharing

    Reply
  20. saber says

    December 6, 2020 at 2:31 am

    This is very good. thank you

    Reply
  21. safia says

    January 10, 2021 at 3:54 am

    Great Article
    http://Virtuelcampus.Univ-Msila.Dz/Facdroitsp

    Reply
  22. ferahtia_FS says

    January 14, 2021 at 2:31 am

    thank you so much

    Reply
  23. safia safia says

    January 19, 2021 at 3:00 am

    Like!! Thank you for publishing this awesome article.

    Reply
  24. rahma says

    February 9, 2021 at 3:05 am

    great article; many thanks for your share. . .

    Reply
  25. rama says

    February 9, 2021 at 3:07 am

    really it’s good post, thanks for published. .

    Reply
  26. ferahtia.FS says

    March 3, 2021 at 1:58 am

    THANKS SO MUCH

    Reply
  27. ferahtia.FS says

    March 21, 2021 at 4:44 am

    Very interesting post. This is my first time visit here. I found so many interesting stuff in your blog especially its discussion. Thanks for the post!

    Reply
  28. ferahtia.FS says

    March 21, 2021 at 4:45 am

    very good article thanks for sharing

    Reply
  29. ferahtia.FS says

    March 21, 2021 at 4:46 am

    thank you very nice website article

    Reply
  30. ferahtia.FS says

    March 21, 2021 at 4:50 am

    Iam loving this, and thanks for sharing

    Reply
  31. ferahtia.FS says

    March 21, 2021 at 4:50 am

    thanks for sharing

    Reply
  32. ferahtia.FS says

    March 30, 2021 at 3:02 am

    thanks so much for the information
    http://virtuelcampus.univ-msila.dz/facscience

    Reply
  33. safia says

    May 30, 2021 at 4:50 am

    I like to follow your blog, hopefully the better your posts are, so that I am more comfortable to come back next time.
    facdroitsp

    Reply
  34. rahma says

    October 13, 2021 at 3:47 am

    Thanks for being quite helpful and for obtaining this form of tremendous useful guides millions of ‎individuals are really desirous to be informed on.‎

    Reply
  35. rama says

    October 13, 2021 at 3:53 am

    I need to to thank you for this wonderful
    post!! I definitely enjoyed every little bit of it.
    I have you saved as a favorite to check out new stuff you post?‎

    Reply
  36. rama says

    October 13, 2021 at 3:53 am

    I need to to thank you for this wonderful
    post!! I definitely enjoyed every little bit of it.
    I have you saved as a favorite to check out new stuff you post?‎……………….

    Reply
  37. ferahtia_FS says

    November 22, 2021 at 1:46 am

    Very informative Thanks Buddy

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent Articles

Study: Boosting Soft Skills Is Better Than Raising Test Scores
Study: Boosting Soft Skills Is Better Than Raising Test Scores
The Value of Soft Skills in the Labor Market
The Value of Soft Skills in the Labor Market
Why Soft Skills Are so Difficult to Teach
Why Soft Skills Are so Difficult to Teach
The NOT So Surprising Thing that Google Learned about Its Employees - And What It Means for Today’s Students
The NOT So Surprising Thing that Google Learned about Its Employees - And What It Means for Today’s Students
Soft Skills Resistance
Soft Skills Resistance
Flight of the Mind
Flight of the Mind
Tasha Schuh's Story - The power of a positive attitude
Tasha Schuh's Story - The power of a positive attitude
Soft Skills: Not A Commodity, A Necessity
Soft Skills: Not A Commodity, A Necessity
The Real Skills Gap
The Real Skills Gap
Skills Employers Seek
Skills Employers Seek

Archives

Have you written or seen an article that you would like to see on our site? Please contact us regarding guest post/article opportunities. Not all submissions are accepted, and you may be asked to make changes to your article before publication.

Submit an Article

Copyright © 2015-2019 National Soft Skills Association. All Rights Reserved. · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use