The Center on Secondary Education for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (CSESA) was a research and development project funded by the U.S. Department of Education from 2012-2018 that focused on developing, adapting, and studying a comprehensive school-based and community-based education program for high school students on the autism spectrum.

CSESA was a six-year project that brought together experts in autism, secondary education, adolescence, and implementation to work in collaboration with high schools, families, adolescents with ASD, and community members to improve high school experiences and post-secondary outcomes for individuals on the autism spectrum.

CSESA was a research and leadership center. Our research activities have included focus groups, two pilot studies, and a large randomized control study in public high schools in three different states. Our leadership activities included publishing articles, presenting at state, national, and international conferences, and creating resources that can be used by individuals on the autism spectrum, families, practitioners, and community members.

In 2018, the CSESA team was awarded a Follow-Up grant by the U.S. Department of Education (https://ies.ed.gov/funding/grantsearch/details.asp?ID=2168)  to support data collection from students involved in the CSESA study during their last years of high school/first few years post high school. Resources developed during this project period are also housed on this website.