High school students with disabilities, especially those in underserved districts, continue to experience persistent gaps in workforce integration, postsecondary transition success, and adult independence. Although U.S. transition services are federally mandated and supported by multiple interagency frameworks, districts often struggle to operationalize transition programs as scalable systems that meaningfully prepare students for entry into employment and job retention. This companion white paper advances a district-scale transition framework derived from applied disability employment research originally developed in the Philippine setting and adapted for U.S. implementation based on Dr. Peter Jay Ibarita’s U.S.-based instructional practice and transition-facing professional experience as a J-1 Exchange Teacher. Drawing on empirical findings that job orientation and re-orientation are strongly linked to functional ability, job satisfaction, and quality of life among employed persons with disabilities, this paper proposes a three-tier Transition-Based Orientation and Re-Orientation Model (TBORM). The model institutionalizes onboarding-style transition supports as measurable, replicable components of inclusive curriculum frameworks, work-based learning systems, and interagency collaboration structures. Integrating external research on job experience acquisition, disability employment integration, and job satisfaction predictors, the paper argues that without systematic orientation and re-orientation structures, transition services remain fragmented, compliance-driven, and insufficient to close post-school workforce outcome gaps in high-need U.S. districts.

Keywords                                         

job orientation; disability employment readiness; secondary transition; functional ability; job satisfaction; inclusive curriculum; underserved districts; work-based learning; vocational integration; scalable district systems.