Strategies to Increase Collaboration Between School Counselors and Transition Specialists: A Multi-Tiered Approach to College and Career Readiness

School counselors are trained to holistically serve all students’ personal and academic development while also fostering college and career readiness (CCR). However, many school counselors inadequately serve students with disabilities due to a lack of training and/or time. Transition specialists are professionals staffed in the special education department whose primary role is to provide postsecondary transition support to students with disabilities. Though a collaborative approach would benefit most students, school counselors and transition specialists have not historically coordinated their efforts to provide CCR support to students with disabilities. To address this gap, this conceptual article describes a collaborative, multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) approach utilizing both school counselors and transition specialists to better support students with disabilities in their CCR and postsecondary planning. Specific examples of how to implement a collaborative approach are provided. Implications for school counselors and counselor educators are discussed.