Located in:
- Program-Specific Requirements for Vocational Rehabilitation (Combined or General)
The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Services Portion of the Unified or Combined State Plan [13] must include the following descriptions and estimates, as required by section 101(a) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by title IV of WIOA:
__________
[13] Sec. 102(b)(2)(D)(iii) of WIOA
- i. Comprehensive System of Personnel Development; Data System on Personnel and Personnel Development
Describe the designated State agency's procedures and activities to establish and maintain a comprehensive system of personnel development designed to ensure an adequate supply of qualified State rehabilitation professional and paraprofessional personnel for the designated State unit, including the following:
- 1. System on Personnel and Personnel Development
- B. Personnel Development
Describe the development and maintenance of a system for collecting and analyzing on an annual basis data on personnel development with respect to:
- B. Personnel Development
- 1. System on Personnel and Personnel Development
- i. Comprehensive System of Personnel Development; Data System on Personnel and Personnel Development
i. 1. B. i. A list of the institutions of higher education in the State that are preparing VR professionals, by type of program;
Current Narrative:
Indiana has one Accredited Rehabilitation master’s program to prepare individuals to sit for the CRC exam. Ball State University Rehabilitation program has been accredited since 2004. Ball State University enrolls 3-10 students annually into the Rehabilitation program and currently has 4 students enroll for the 2019-2020 academic year. Ball State anticipates that 7 individuals will graduate from the program after completion of the 2019-2020 academic term.
Though Indiana has other university institutions that offer degrees in related fields that meet CSPD hiring qualifications (including some that offer Rehabilitation Counseling degrees that are not currently recognized by CRCC), these programs do not offer accredited Rehabilitation Master’s programs. VR does encourage students to participate in internships with the VR agency and believes this to be a valuable VR Counselor recruiting practice. VR will continue to work with local universities to increase the number of interns with hopes of increasing the recruitment pool for vacant VR Counselor positions.
Due to the small number of individuals obtaining graduate degrees in rehabilitation in Indiana, BRS modified its minimum educational requirements for VR Counselor positions after WIOA was passed. Current minimum qualifications include a Bachelor’s degree in rehabilitation or a related area along with at least one year of related experience. Prior to this significant change, the minimum requirements was a Master’s degree in Rehabilitation or related area.