CAPE-Youth Professional Development

OMB Control No: 1230-0NEW

Expiration Date: XX/XX/20XX

Cornell University Consent Form—Group Concept Mapping

Project Title: Professional Development Study

Principal Investigator:

Kimberly Osmani, Ph.D., Cornell University, Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability

You are invited to take part in a research study to strengthen and align professional development across the many systems serving youth and young adults with disabilities. This study, titled “Professional Development Study,” is a research initiative of the Center for Advancing Policy on Employment for Youth (CAPE-Youth), supported by the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP). As part of this study, you will be asked to participate in group concept mapping (GCM) on the topic of professional development and competencies of youth serving professionals, which will include three tasks—brainstorming, sorting, and rating presence, importance, and ease of access. In phase 2, you may also be asked to participate in a follow-up discussion. The purpose of this study is to explore best practices, challenges, and strategies for improving professional development efforts and the subsequent capacity of youth serving professionals including supervisors, and frontline staff within the workforce system, education system and other systems supporting transitioning youth and young adults with disabilities as in attaining their employment goals.

Through these processes, we will:

• Gather information regarding current professional development opportunities and credentialing of youth serving professionals; and

• Identify themes and gaps will inform:

  • A cross-systems rubric of evidence-based practices; and

  • The recommended staff development strategies necessary to elevate the transition and employment outcomes of youth and young adults with disabilities.

In the first phase, group concept mapping (GCM), you will be engaging in an online questionnaire with one prompt regarding what you believe youth serving professionals need to know and know how to do. You will do this step anonymously and complete it on a secure online platform called groupwisdom™. Once brainstorming is complete online, you will sort/categorize the items into meaningful groups. Next, you will submit demographic information and rate each statement three times using four-point scales to indicate:

1. how important you believe each idea is for professionals to know or know how to do to support youth with disabilities;

2. how present this knowledge or ability is in your work setting; and

3. how easy or hard is it for you to access training/professional development in each area.

Data collected in the GCM process will be shared with the Concept Systems Inc. to assist with ensuring fidelity of the process. Once the GCM is complete, the findings will be shared with you to inform phase 2—interviews. These groups will include questions and discussions about identified gaps from the GCM in terms of importance, presence, and ease of access, factors affecting access to meaningful professional development, barriers to professional development, and identified strategies to help fill the gap. We hope to develop a snapshot of what youth serving professionals across a multitude of systems need to increase their skill capacity to effectively support youth and young adults with disabilities as they transition to employment. Our overall goal with this project is to develop a cross-systems rubric of evidence-based practices to be used by policymakers for planning and selecting professional development and to provide technical assistance to policymakers and those preparing and supporting youth serving professionals.

Taking part in this study is voluntary. You may refuse to participate before the study begins, discontinue at any time, or skip any questions/procedures that may make you feel uncomfortable, with no penalty, and no effect on your academic standing, record, or relationship with the university or other organization or service involved with the research.

The GCM process will take you approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes. You have the right to not engage in any step of the GCM process and end your participation at any point. Please note: there are no “right” or “wrong” answers to any of the questions or steps in the process.

The main researcher conducting this study is Dr. Kimberly Osmani, an Extension Associate at Cornell University. Please ask any questions you have now. If you have questions later, you may contact Kimberly Osmani at kosmani@cornell.edu . If you have any questions or concerns regarding your rights as a subject in this study, you may contact the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for Human Participants at 607-255-5138 or access their website at http://www.irb.cornell.edu. You may also report your concerns or complaints anonymously through Ethicspoint online at www.hotline.cornell.edu or by calling toll free at 1-866-293-3077. Ethicspoint is an independent organization that serves as a liaison between the University and the person bringing the complaint so that anonymity can be ensured.

Written electronic consent: Please indicate your decision regarding whether or not to participate in the described research and Group Concept Mapping by selecting yes or no in the online questionnaire platform. Your participation in the described research procedures is your consent to participate in the research.

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The valid OMB Control Number for this information collection is xxxx-xxxx. The time required to participate in the questionnaire is estimated to average 100 minutes, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, gather the data needed and complete and review the collection of information. Send comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to US Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy, 200 Constitution Ave., N.W. Washington, DC 20210 and reference the OMB Control Number xxxx-xxxx.

Privacy Act Statement
Collection and Use of Personal Information

The following statement is made in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974 (5. U. S. C. 552a). Information collected will be handled and stored in compliance with the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 U.S.C. 552a). Furnishing the data requested is voluntary.

We will use the data you provide for the CAPE-Youth Research Project, funded by The United States Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy. In accordance with the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (Title 5 of Public Law 107-347) and other applicable Federal laws, your responses will not be disclosed in identifiable form without your informed consent. Per the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015, Federal information systems are protected from malicious activities through cybersecurity screening of transmitted data.