The SCPP Model
What is the South Carolina Pathways Project (SCPP)?
The SCPP is a disability-led collaborative addressing the need for better transition resources and programming for students with disabilities as they progress from high school to adulthood.
The SCPP Collaborative includes:
- South Carolina Department of Education
- Able South Carolina
- South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation
- University of South Carolina
- AccessAbility
- Walton Options for Independent Living
- Dorchester School District Four
- Rock Hill School District Three
- South Carolina Public Charter School District
- Sumter School District
- Williamsburg County School District
Why do we need it?
In South Carolina, 1 in 3 people (about 33%) has a disability, which is higher than the national average of 27% (Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2021). In the 2021-2022 schoolyear, the national average for students with disabilities earning a high school diploma averaged about 71% (Digest State Dashboard, 2024). However, only 55.8% of students with disabilities graduated with a high school diploma in South Carolina, which is the second-lowest graduation rate for these students in the country (Lyerly, 2023).
After high school, people with disabilities are more than twice as likely to be unemployed than people without a disability. South Carolina has the ninth-highest unemployment rate for people with disabilities in the United States (Hire Me SC, 2024).
How will we do it?
South Carolina Pathways Project creates a powerful opportunity to build a seamless, student-centered transition system through genuine collaboration among CILs, SCDOE, SCVRD, USC, and LEAs. By working together across systems, these partners can align policies, coordinate services, and ensure that transition planning begins early and focuses on each student’s long-term independence, employment, and self-determined goals. This unified approach replaces fragmented efforts with shared responsibility, allowing students with disabilities to move confidently from school to adult life with the skills, support, and opportunities they need to thrive.
Implementation Council
The Implementation Council (IC) is the professional decision-making body of the South Carolina Pathways Project (SCPP), comprising representatives from each of the SCPP partners. Its purpose is to ensure all aspects of the grant are aligned with the project's mission and goals. The Implementation Council meets monthly to share project updates, present items for approval, and discuss next steps within the project's scope. The Implementation Council also works with the Student Stakeholder Workgroup to ensure that the disability-led student perspective is at the forefront of all project initiatives.
Student Stakeholder Workgroup
The Student Stakeholder Workgroup will serve as a collaborative body that represents the voices of current and former students with disabilities. It will support the efforts of the Implementation Council by offering critical insights and feedback, ensuring that student needs are addressed in educational decision-making processes.
The Student Stakeholder Workgroup is made up of transition-age students with disabilities from each of our five pilot school districts. These students meet monthly to work on leadership, self-advocacy, and pre-employment skills, as well as to discuss the work being done by the Implementation Council across the state. Student Stakeholder Workgroup members use their lived experiences as students with disabilities to offer critical insights and feedback to the Implementation Council. This feedback is one of many ways in which we are making sure that our work is disability-led.
Employment Preparation Services
Employment Preparation Services teach students with disabilities how to advocate for their needs, practice work-readiness skills, build money management knowledge, and explore education and training paths after high school. Students from all of the SCPP Collaborative school districts will receive Employment Preparation Services from the Centers for Independent Living throughout the state. These no-cost classes will occur in person or virtually during the school day in the student's existing classrooms with their teachers’ support.
Pathways to Diplomas
The South Carolina Department of Education works with all SCPP school districts to create multiple Career and Technology Education (CTE) courses that address workforce needs and educational standards. These courses will help reduce barriers for students struggling to meet the South Carolina high school diploma requirements.
For examples of these courses, visit SCDE CTE Programs & Courses.
Mapping Assets for Post-School Success (MAPS)
Mapping Assets for Post-School Success is a web-based program designed to create digital community resource maps for transition planning. These maps document local transition services and supports, such as CILs, potential employers, higher education programs, and recreational facilities. They can be easily updated and shared with students and their families.
Each SCPP school district will work with its local CIL and the Transition Alliance of South Carolina (TASC) to create general and student-specific community resource maps as part of the students' transition to adulthood.
Work-based learning Experiences and Paid Apprenticeships that lead to Competitive, Integrated Employment (CIE) after high school
Work-based learning Experiences “use[s] the workplace to provide students with knowledge and skills that will help them connect school experiences to real-life work activities and future career opportunities” (NCTAC, 2024) These can include many different experiences, such as job shadowing, internships, paid work experience, volunteering, and more.
Apprenticeships are paid, structured, on-the-job learning opportunities with related classroom-based instruction. Youth apprenticeships allow students to graduate with their high school diploma and a portable, industry-recognized credential.