As a Transition Coordinator with The Menta Education Group, you will prepare students aged 14-22 to embrace life after school in a behavioral, emotional and social capacity. You will bridge the critical gap between school and adult life by implementing an "outside-the-school-walls" mindset that centers on fostering student independence, building robust community networks and navigating the real world.
Hillside, IL.
General Staff Hours 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Monday-Friday. Occasional Responsibilities beyond work hours.
Student Support, Coaching & Self-Advocacy
Supervision & Behavioral Management: Supervise students in groups and individually, monitoring behavior to ensure alignment with programmatic expectations.
Student Counseling: Counsel students on personal, social, behavioral, or academic issues affecting their educational progress.
Person-Centered Planning: Ensure every student actively leads or participates in their own Individualized Education Program (IEP) transition meetings. Utilize assistive technology, visual choice boards or person-centered tools to provide a voice for students with limited or non-verbal communication.
Goal Realism & Guidance: Manage complex dynamics where a student's post-secondary dream conflicts with parental wishes or current skill realities. Apply strategies like "failing safely" (e.g., career-testing, job shadowing and temporary classes) alongside stepping-stone goals to gently navigate reality without crushing student ambition.
Compliance, Data, & Transition Assessments
Student Evaluations: Evaluate individual student abilities, interests and personality characteristics using tests, records, interviews and professional sources.
Multi-Faceted Assessment: Administer age-appropriate formal and informal transition assessments evaluating independent living, travel/transit skills, and actual work behaviors to formulate compliant, measurable post-secondary goals.
IDEA Compliance: Apply strong knowledge of Individualized Education Act (IDEA) transition mandates to draft audited, highly scrutinized goals and dynamically pivot plans based on assessment data.
Rigorous Progress Tracking: Utilize robust organizational systems such as digital tracking tools, rubric-based feedback from job coaches, and student self-monitoring checklists to track and document progress when students are off-campus at work-based learning sites.
Collaboration, Networking & Program Development
Community Site Development: Develop and maintain strong relationships with community sites, public transit systems, and external agencies.
Work-Based Opportunities: Develop work-study programs, internships, and volunteer opportunities for students to gain competitive experience while completing their high school curriculum.
Agency Connections: Manage the "Service Cliff" by facilitating warm handovers introducing families directly to agency contacts and connecting students with Vocational Rehabilitation (VR), Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS), and developmental disability boards.
Business Empathy & Partnerships: Proactively engage local business owners, pitching inclusive hiring benefits and demonstrating how a transitioning student adds tangible value to their workforce.
Workplace Intervention & Crisis Management
Workplace Learning Labs: Safely intervene when work-based placements experience friction, behavioral incidents, or employer misunderstandings.
Student Independence Coaching: Use workplace mistakes as a live curriculum, coaching students on how to navigate portals, look up records, request legal accommodations,and repair professional relationships independently rather than filling out paperwork for them.
Education: Bachelor’s Degree strongly preferred.
Background in education or social work preferred.
Regulatory Knowledge: Demonstrate deep, compliance-centered knowledge of transitioning students as per the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates.
Transition & Coaching Experience: Documented knowledge and/or experience placing and coaching students in jobs, as well as assisting them in transitioning to college, career, and independent life.
Systemic Mindset: Demonstrated ability to constantly focus on the "real world," utilizing community agency networks, public transit routes, and outer-community resources.
Behavioral & Performance Knowledge: Knowledge of human behavior, performance, and specific student needs (e.g., Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD).
Professional Soft Skills: High level of professionalism, strong decision-making skills, and the ability to communicate calmly, transparently, and effectively in writing across varied audiences, including resistant families, school teams, and litigious stakeholders.
This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive, and the employee shall perform other reasonably related school duties as assigned by administrators. This organization reserves the right to revise or change job duties and responsibilities as the need arises. This job description does not constitute a written or implied contract of employment.
The Menta Group operates 26 programs and 18 schools in Illinois and Arizona. Our mission is to provide innovative solutions to critical problems in education and human services.
We envision a society in which all youth can be successful. As an organization, we are especially committed to making success a reality for high-risk youth. Our mandate is to be the recognized national leader in serving high-risk youth in educational and social service settings through the provision of empirically based innovative solutions to critical problems in education and human services. We strive to make a positive impact on high-risk youth and the professionals who work with them by focusing on program development, professional training, and child advocacy. We adhere to policy that says no student will be rejected, suspended, or expelled.
Our organization pursues innovative, state of the art practices and collaboration as a means to fulfill our mission. This pursuit has fostered the philosophy governing our service models, enhancing the success of our students, the effectiveness of our programs, and the value our programs have for the parents and the public school districts we serve.
