The Rehabilitation Act, as amended in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (WIOA), highlights the need to improve outcomes for transition-age students and youth with disabilities. The amendments require state vocational rehabilitation agencies to allocate 15% of their federal funding to provide pre-employment transition services (Pre-ETS) to an expanded population of transition-age students and youth with disabilities. Rapid implementation of this mandate required state vocational rehabilitation agencies to begin offering the five required Pre-ETS before mechanisms for monitoring and improvement could be created and field-tested. Nearly a decade since the passage of WIOA, many states are still without practical mechanisms for evaluating Pre-ETS despite increasing emphasis on using evidence-based practices in public programs.
OBJECTIVE:
The objective of this article is to present insights from the systematic implementation of The Transition Readiness Toolkit (TRT) within a state vocational rehabilitation agency.
METHODS:
We detail the creation of the TRT, our approach for implementing it across multiple states, and how it supports data-driven decision making for Pre-ETS providers and agencies.
RESULTS:
Initial results of implementation are promising. State VR agencies and Pre-ETS providers are using the data to increase accountability and understand the impact of their services.
CONCLUSION:
We present reflections on use of the TRT in a state agency and implications from an evidenced-based policy framework.
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