MAINE STATE STANDARDS OF SERVICE FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE MEMBERS OF SPECIAL POPULATIONS (revised April 2007) 
Introduction 
Three basic themes constitute key conceptual underpinnings of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-270): 
• Quality career and technical education offerings; 
• Increased emphasis on high wage, high skill and high demand positions for students with special needs; and 
• Improved accountability for program outcomes and impact. 
Maine will continue to honor and refine the State Standards of Service for Students with Special Needs originally developed in compliance with Section 118 in Perkins II. 
The following document therefore sets forth a comprehensive set of measures of access and standards of service for students who are members of populations with special needs. These measures and standards were originally based on the language of Section 118 and on other relevant passages in Perkins II and have been revised and updated in conformity with new provisions in Perkins IV, and designed for use by local recipients in the development, monitoring, and evaluation of Perkins-funded programs. 
This revised (Perkins IV-compliant) edition of the State Standards of Service will be applied to the Planning Instructions for Local Applications for Assistance under Perkins IV. Since Perkins III, the Maine Department of Education’s Career and Technical Education Team has instituted a complete automated web-based reporting system which for all of the Perkins reporting functions from the local educational agencies including the sections on special populations and non-traditional students. 
The various specific standards of service are grouped under five general headings: 
1. Equal Access; 
2. Services for Students With Disabilities; 
3. Services for Disadvantaged Students; 
4. Services for Students Preparing for Nontraditional Training & Employment; and 
5. Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation. 

1. EQUAL ACCESS 
Equal access to a full range of quality career and technical education programs, services, and activities must be provided to all secondary and postsecondary students in the State of Maine, including members of special populations and target groups. 
Members of special populations and target groups shall not be discriminated against in any way on the basis of their population or group status, or the economic status of their communities. 
Members of special populations include: 
• individuals with disabilities; 
• individuals from economically disadvantaged families, 
• including foster children; 
• individuals preparing for nontraditional 
• training and employment; 
• single parents, including single pregnant women; 
• displaced homemakers; and 
• individuals with other barriers to educational 
• achievement, including individuals with limited English proficiency. 
A full range of quality career and technical education programs has been defined by the State Board of Education in the Criteria of Program Quality, adopted on December 8, 1993 and revised on April 14, 1999. Included are comprehensive, competency-based, and outcome-oriented specific occupational preparation and technical education programs, apprenticeship preparation and apprenticeship training programs, technical and professional preparation programs, youth apprenticeship/career internship programs, cooperative education, and career preparation programs. 
Quality career and technical education services and activities include: affirmative outreach and recruitment; enrollment, assessment, and placement; membership in a career and technical student/youth leadership organization; and comprehensive career guidance and counseling. 
Assessment and career guidance, career development, and career counseling services must be provided to students who are members of special populations by professional counselors specializing in services to special populations, with particular emphasis on their prospects for successful program completion and entry into the world of work 
Comprehensive information on the educational and employment opportunities represented by career and technical education, and on the requirements and procedures for enrollment, must be made available to all Maine students and their parents no later than the beginning of the ninth grade. The State Department of Education and local educational agencies must ensure that providers offer information and enrollment assistance, in an appropriate and accessible form, to any prospective student of any age. 
2. SERVICES FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 
Each recipient of Federal assistance under the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act must establish or participate in an area coordinating committee on transition of the disabled, following guidelines established by Maine’s Interdepartmental Committee on Transition (ICOT), to oversee and coordinate school-to-work transition and placement services for students with disabilities. 
Students with disabilities enrolled in career and technical education shall be afforded all the rights and protections guaranteed under the Maine State Special Education Rules, Chapter 101, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and its implementing regulations, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). 
Career and technical education programs, services, and activities for students with disabilities must be provided in the least restrictive environment consistent with federal and State laws and regulations and that is appropriate for them in their progress. In addition, a full range of supplementary services must be made available to facilitate enrollment and success of students with disabilities in regular vocational education programs consistent with their Individual Education Plan (IEP), including (paramount to 34.CFR 300.42): 
• curriculum modification; 
• equipment modification; 
• classroom modification; 
• special support personnel and services; and 
• special instructional aids, devices, and systems. 

Special preparation programs will be made available to all students including students with disabilities for whom enrollment in a regular career and technical education program is inconsistent with their Individual Education Plans (IEPs) and their employment plans. 

3. SERVICES FOR STUDENTS WITH DISADVANTAGES 
Career and technical education programs, services, and activities for economically disadvantaged students, students of limited English proficiency, and students with other barriers to educational achievement should be provided in the most integrated environment possible. 
A full range of supplementary services must be made available to facilitate the success of disadvantaged students in regular career and technical education programs, including: 
• curriculum modification; 
• special support personnel and services; 
• special instructional aids, devices, and systems; 
• dependent care and transportation; and 
• English language instruction. 

4. SERVICES TO STUDENTS PREPARING FOR NON-TRADITIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT 
In common with other programs supported with Federal assistance, the career and technical education community should support societal efforts to move toward gender balance in occupational choice. 
Under ideal circumstances, the percentage of students of each gender enrolled in each career and technical education program should approximate the percentage of students of each gender enrolled in its sending schools. Short of that, the percentage of students of each gender enrolled in each career and technical education facility should approximate the percentage of each gender enrolled in its sending schools. In addition, the percentage of students of each gender enrolled in each career and technical education program should approximate the percentage of workers of each gender represented in the labor market. 
All career and technical education programs must cooperate fully with the State program to eliminate sex bias and stereotyping in secondary, postsecondary, career and technical education. Any programs exhibiting a gender imbalance greater than 75/25 must be defined as gender-biased. All feasible and appropriate efforts should be made to reduce gender imbalances to the 60/40 level or below in every program. 
Toward this end, a full range of support services must be made available to ensure access to all career and technical education programs for both men and women students, and to facilitate the success of students who seek to enter occupations that are nontraditional for their sex and are preparing for nontraditional training and employment. 
Included among these support services must be: 
• comprehensive career guidance and counseling services directed toward the elimination of sex bias and stereotyping; 
• affirmative outreach and recruitment efforts; 
• support systems for students entering nontraditional programs and occupations; and 
• dependent-care services and transportation.