 National Alliance for Secondary Education and Transition
 The National Alliance for Secondary Education and Transition (NASET), a recently established voluntary coalition of over 40 organizations, has developed standards and indicators with the assistance of NCSET into a unified publication complete with tools for administrators and practitioners, as well as a Web site.
National Standards & Quality Indicators
The NASET national standards and quality indicators are research-based benchmarks that articulate quality secondary education and transition services for all youth. These standards and indicators can guide state and local administrators and practitioners responsible for planning and implementing comprehensive transition systems for youth, ultimately becoming a catalyst for constructive change in transition practices and policies nationwide.
The standards are organized into five main content areas:
- Schooling
- Career Preparatory Experiences
- Youth Development and Youth Leadership
- Family Involvement
- Connecting Activities
The establishment of a common vision, along with goals and strategies for improving results for all youth, is necessitated by several significant trends and developments nationally. These include:
- Current policy focus on serving all students
- Recognition that collaboration is needed
- Ensuring all youth have the skills needed for further education and employment
- Ensuring all youth full access to essential learning opportunities
- Families’ expectations for participation
See more about the standards on the NASET Web site.
Transition Toolkit
 The National Standards and Quality Indicators: Transition Toolkit for Systems Improvement (2005) includes the standards and quality indicators, information on supporting research and best practices, and specific system tools designed to support state and community interagency planning groups. The system tools include a process for self-assessment for identifying state and local needs, a process for building consensus and setting priorities in relation to specific identified needs, and a process to support state and community-level action planning. Since the publication of this document in June 2005, more than 3,500 copies have been disseminated nationwide, and the requests continue.
Included in the Toolkit are both content pages and tools to guide state and local administrators and practitioners responsible for planning and implementing comprehensive transition systems for youth, ultimately becoming a catalyst for constructive change in transition practices and policies nationwide. The contents are as follows:
- Introduction
- Standards and Indicators
- Supporting Evidence and Research
- Self-Assessment Tool
- Priority Setting Tool
- Action Planning Tool
Click here to Download the Toolkit.
Web Site
 The NASET Web site was launched in October 2005 to offer the content pages of the national standards and quality indicators toolkit for viewing online, as well as the tools themselves for download in PDF or Microsoft Word. Complete information can be found online at http://www.nasetalliance.org.
NCSET's Involvement
The initial work of organizing and convening NASET, facilitating the development of the standards and quality indicators, and efforts to pilot varied uses and applications of the standards and quality indicators within NASET member organizations, states, and local communities and school districts has been undertaken by the National Center on Secondary Education and Transition (NCSET).
NCSET facilitated the development of national standards and quality indicators, put forth by the recently convened coalition, the National Alliance for Secondary Education and Transition.
In addition to being used as a strategic planning tool by states and local school districts, the standards and quality indicators were also used as an organizing tool for developing or refining state strategic action plans at the 2005 National Leadership Summit on Improving Results for All Youth, held June 14-15, 2005 in Washington, DC. During the Summit, the leadership teams used the standards and indicators to better understand current operations; identify areas of strength, weakness, and opportunity; determine actions for improving and scaling up systems; and assess their progress from the 2003 National Leadership Summit, which was held in September 2003.
Contact Info
If you would like more information or have questions, please contact NASET with your questions, comments, or suggestions (include your phone number, and the city and state where you live) at:
National Alliance for Secondary Education and Transition
c/o National Center on Secondary Education and Transition
Institute on Community Integration
University of Minnesota
2025 East River Parkway
Minneapolis MN 55414
johns042@umn.edu
612-624-1143
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