Idaho Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (IDVR), Idaho Commission for Blind and Visually Impaired (ICBVI), and the State Department of Education (SDE) currently have a formal cooperative agreement.

The agreement stipulates that the vocational rehabilitation agency is mandated to initiate outreach to, and identification of, students with disabilities who could benefit from transition services. This involves informing the student (or, when appropriate, their representative) as early as possible about the vocational rehabilitation program, its purpose, eligibility criteria, application procedures and scope of available services.

The Division’s transition coordinator has met with a large majority of the LEAs across the state to create awareness of the changes in the VR program and to market Pre-ETS. These activities consist of a series of face to face meetings in communities across Idaho including key stakeholder engagement through a series of regional special educator meetings, presentations at statewide administrator meetings, presentation at Tools for Life to parents, students and educators, outreach to Idaho Parents Unlimited, outreach to the Idaho Interagency Council on Secondary Transition, and ongoing discussions with the Idaho State Department of Education.

Additionally, IDVR’s School Work Transition counselors, have worked with educational counterparts to significantly increase number of potentially eligible students receiving pre—employment transition services and being found eligible for the VR program.

Finally the Division’s transition coordinator has worked with the SDE and the Council on Developmental Disabilities to provide outreach to Spanish speaking families about the process of transition, Pre-ETS, and traditional VR services. Presentations were given to families in Spanish in their community by IDVR’s transition coordinator, a VR Counselor, and the SDE’s transition coordinator on how to access Pre-ETS and other VR services as well as on how to improve the educational transition process.