The American public education system is not intended to be a dead end road. Students with intellectual and learning challenges are included in elementary and secondary education, but that is where their access ends. Parents know this and struggle to find ways to keep their children growing. Students know this and feel academically frustrated and socially isolated.

High school special education programs typically emphasize pre-employment skills over academic coursework. Unfortunately, students are not given the intense training they need to develop age-appropriate academic and social skills, both critical to career advancement. Secondary special education sometimes is like playing tennis with the net down. Students graduate high school with weaker academic, foundational, social, and workplace skills than they are capable of achieving. Then, they leave high school unable to navigate typical college courses even with the assistance of disability support services.

Postsecondary special education excites access and attitudinal barriers just as entrenched and powerful as the access and attitudinal barriers to racial minority students, older students, women students, physically disabled students, and English learners as students. ReThink Higher Ed serves this unique student population for whom there is little if any college preparation and no serious or viable postsecondary option with a challenging and specialized degree program — Passport: The Degree Program for Unique Learners.