Located in:
- Program-Specific Requirements for Vocational Rehabilitation
The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Services Portion of the Unified or Combined State Plan* must include the following descriptions and estimates, as required by section 101(a) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by WIOA:
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* Sec. 102(b)(D)(iii) of WIOA
d. 1. Dsu's Plans
Current Narrative:
IDVR Pre-Employment Transition Highlights. IDVR’s Transition Coordinator has extensive experience and an established network across Idaho public K-12 education system. The Division has developed Pre-ETS implementation strategies to provide services at the following levels, including all required pre-employment transition services (job exploration counseling, work based learning experiences, counseling on opportunities for enrollment in postsecondary education, workplace readiness training to develop social skills and independent living, and instruction in self-advocacy). The Division has continued to modify and improve these strategies, including the coordinated and authorized services, as service delivery and partnerships evolve. For example, The Division has developed numerous Memorandum of Agreements (MOAs) with various Local Education Agencies (LEAs). These include contracting with educators to provide a Self-Advocacy curriculum for students previously developed through a partnership between the State Department of Education, IDVR, a LEA, and National Technical Assistance Center on Transition (NTACT). The Division has also developed MOAs to provide students with an opportunity to participate in a paid work experience.
The Division has also improved coordinated activities by having our VR Counselors work collaboratively with local school personnel to develop effective referral and outreach strategies to maximize opportunities for students with disabilities to participate in Pre-ETS activities. These strategies also include opportunities for students who are receiving accommodations under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. VR Counselors are attending numerous IEP meetings and are working with districts to develop better process for providing timely invitation to VR Counselors to attend these meetings.
IDVR’s Transition Coordinator is working with school principals and special education directors to inform them of Pre-ETS activities. The Transition Coordinator is also communicating with all staff engaged in the delivery of Pre-ETS to help develop and enhance existing referral and outreach strategies within schools.
The Idaho Division of Vocational Rehabilitation is an agency of the Idaho State Board of Education and partners with other agencies under the Board through coordination and collaboration.
IDVR has strong relationships with Education agencies throughout the state, including formal interagency agreements with a number of Local Education Agencies (LEAs), a comprehensive formal interagency agreement which addresses collaborative service provision with the State Department of Education (SDE), and the Idaho Commission for Blind and Visually Impaired (ICBVI).
IDVR and the SDE have developed a comprehensive formal interagency agreement which addresses collaborative service provision. This agreement specifies the programmatic and fiscal responsibilities for each agency. LEAs provide different transition services to students with disabilities for various reasons, adequate funding being one of the major reasons. Therefore, the Division needs to understand the types of transition services that are currently provided by each LEA in order to determine what Pre-ETS activities should be considered for students with disabilities at the LEA level. As a result that need, IDVR is coordinating with educational officials and other state agencies to provide a Transition Institute in the fall of 2018. IDVR is working with the SDE, Idaho Parents Unlimited, three LEAs, Boise State University, ICBVI, the Idaho Council for Developmental Disabilities, and the Idaho Department of Labor to develop and deliver the Institute. The Institute will follow the NTACT (formally developed under NSTTAC) Taxonomy for Transition Programming. The Taxonomy for Transition Programming provides solid practices identified from effective programs and evidence based predictors of post school success for implementing Pre-ETS as well as transition focused education. Districts will bring teams, that will include a VR Counselor to the Institute to develop specific goal directed plans based on district data to improve Pre-ETS and transition focused education based on district need. This will provide IDVR with the specific criteria to determine which agency (IDVR or LEA) has primary responsibility for providing and paying for transition related services for students with disabilities as well as what additional Pre-ETS should be targeted to each LEA.
Lastly, IDVR has partnered with the SDE to implement a Statewide Secondary Transition Plan which correlates to the Division’s Pre-Employment Transition Plan. The goal on the statewide plan is to develop systems for effective collaboration between students, families secondary and post-secondary educators, rehabilitation counselors, and service providers to evaluate the quality and quantity of transition activities and pre-employment transition services. * More in section 2 B.