The special education program for students 18-21 teaches key skills for independence and the workplace.
Frisco ISD students are engaging in community-based learning after graduation with the special education program Aspire.
With Aspire, Frisco ISD is helping students ages 18-21 by bridging the gap between high school and the workplace. Mostly based at local businesses, the Aspire program has even connected students with their future jobs.
The focus on work skills and training for the next step of their lives means that when students are hired at a job, they leave Aspire.
“That’s the goal,” said Justin Kent, Frisco ISD’s director of transition services. “The success rate is higher for students who leave with a job before aging out at 22. If we can be involved in that transition process, and help them find their fit and graduate before age 21, the success rates go through the roof.”
What is Aspire?
Aspire is community-based instruction and work-based learning for students 18-plus. Students who have an IEP are eligible to participate after graduation and must go through an application process. Teachers can also refer students for the program.
After applying, students are evaluated and observed by transition specialists who are part of an Aspire committee that decides whether each student would be best served by the program.
Students chosen for Aspire are assigned to a work site, where they rotate between practical job tasks as they learn skills such as communication, time management and following a duty list.
Each job site has one Aspire teacher and at least one job coach, a paraprofessional.
“I tell everybody I have the best job in the district,” said Suzanne Schuchardt, an Aspire teacher at Frisco ISD’s Sam Carter Service Center, where students break down items for e-recycling. “It’s amazing to see how quickly our students take to it, and awesome to see their immediate growth.”
Where is Aspire?
Because the program focuses on work-based training, Aspire students are rarely in a classroom. There is no centralized facility for Aspire; students not quite ready for work-based assignments attend Aspire training at Emerson and Memorial high schools.
Out in the community, over a dozen local businesses host students, including:
Embassy Suites Dallas-Frisco
Home Depot
Baylor Scott & White Medical Center
Hotel Indigo
VH Techworks
Frisco Rough Riders
FC Dallas
Big Lots
Collin County Meals on Wheels
Love Pacs
5 Below
Krispy Kreme Donuts
Omni at The Star
Pizza Hut
Credit Union of Texas
Learning in the community
This fall, Aspire students were fanned out across Frisco: At Home Depot, they shelved returned items and kept the store tidy. At Sam Carter, they disassembled computers and other electronics that had been donated for recycling. At Riders Stadium, they cleaned the club area for an event later that night.
And at Embassy Suites, as part of Project Search, students could be seen learning and working everywhere: In the coffee shop, restaurant, kitchens, laundry room, engineering — the whole building is their classroom.
“They get a tremendous amount of experience when they work in different rotations over the year,” Aspire teacher Michael Jones said. “My favorite part of the job is seeing them gain the independence and confidence they need to go out and get a job.”
Grace Patxot, an FISD graduate and Aspire student, works at Riders Stadium and in the Aspire Market at the FISD Administration Building, where her coffee deliveries are made with a bright greeting of “Dude!”
On a recent morning at Riders Stadium, she was ready to work. “Let’s begin! Let’s do it!” she said.
“My teachers are really nice,” Grace said. “I love to work with them. Aspire is nice for us because we can work and are busy.”
Learn more
Visit the Aspire web page.