Vocational Rehabilitation Program (Combined or General)

RESULTS OF THE ANALYSIS OF THE REPORTED PRE–EMPLOYMENT TRANSITION SERVICE NEEDS OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

SPPE staff members in 2018, under guidance of the WV SRC–DRS Joint Committee on Needs Assessment, conducted a qualitative analysis of the reported service needs of 1,004 persons with significant disabilities of various age and disability groups statewide. These individuals represent a good sample of consumers with significant disabilities that will continue to seek assistance from agencies in coming years, ceteris paribus. All 55 counties in West Virginia were represented in the sample. SPPE staff members separately analyzed the needs comments of the 449 students with disabilities included in the sample. The needs comments were analyzed and grouped based on their indication or implication of need of one or more of five required Pre-ETS:

– Job exploration counseling;

– Work–based learning experiences, which may include in–school or after school opportunities, or experience outside the traditional school setting (including internships), that is provided in an integrated environment to the maximum extent possible;

– Counseling on opportunities for enrollment in comprehensive transition or postsecondary educational programs at institutions of higher education;

– Workplace readiness training to develop social skills and independent living; and

– Instruction in self–advocacy, which may include peer mentoring.

The demographic profile of these 449 students with disabilities consists of the following characteristics:

Gender: 50.6% male, 49.4% female;

Race: 92.9% White, 6.9% Other (African American/Hispanic/American Indian/Native Hawaiian/Asian), 0.2% Unspecified;

Age: 96.9% under 20 years old, 3.1% 20-34 years; and

Primary Impairment: 4.9% Sensory/Communicative Impairments, 10.9% Physical Impairments, 84.2% Mental Impairments.

Of the 449 students with disabilities providing needs comments, 106 (23.6%) indicated or implied a need for one or more Pre-ETS.

As part of the Comprehensive Statewide Needs Assessment, the following report presents the results of the qualitative analysis on the needs comments of these 106 students with disabilities who indicated or implied a need for one or more Pre-ETS.

Job Exploration Counseling (72, 67.9%); Counseling on Opportunities for Enrollment in Comprehensive Transition or Postsecondary Educational Programs (13, 12.3); Work–Based Learning Experiences (6, 5.7%); Instruction in Self–Advocacy (2, 1.9%); and Workplace Readiness Training (1, 0.9%).

AS REPORTED BY DRS FIELD STAFF

WIOA requires that the comprehensive statewide needs assessment include an assessment of the vocational rehabilitation service needs of “youth with disabilities, and students with disabilities, including their need for pre–employment transition services.” DRS field staff that serve transitioning youth are one key resource in identifying the service needs of youth with disabilities in West Virginia. Therefore, needs assessment surveys completed by 100 DRS field staff were analyzed in order to identify students’ needs for Pre-ETS.

Respondents

There were 34 respondents, 34% of the 100, that indicated having a primary caseload of School/Transition. However, a number of field staff have a secondary caseload of School/Transition. In total, 77 field staff (77%) reported regarding needs for at least one Pre-ETS category. This number includes 37 field staff (37%) who also reported a service gap for at least one Pre-ETS category. The breakdown of these 77 respondents by position is as follows:

Rehabilitation Counselor Trainee, 12 respondents (15.6%)

Rehabilitation Counselor, 60 respondents (77.9%)

Senior Rehabilitation Counselor, 28 respondents (36.4%)

Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, 13 respondents (16.9%)

Branch Office Manager/Supervisor, 17 respondents (22.1%)

District Manager, 6 respondents (7.8%)

Rehabilitation Services Associate, 13 respondents (16.9%)

Note: Percentages do not total 100%, because staff were instructed to indicate previous positions as well as current positions.

Office Location

Respondents were from 25 branch office locations, with some respondents indicating more than one office (typically managers). The Parkersburg and New Martinsville offices were the only locations not represented by the Pre-ETS respondents. The total number of respondents by district and office location are as follows:

District 1 (21 Respondents) — Charleston–10, Point Pleasant–4, Ripley–1, Spencer–2, Teays Valley–6.

District 2 (18) — Clarksburg–7, Elkins–4, Morgantown–4, Fairmont–3, Weston–3.

District 3 (6) — Parkersburg–0, New Martinsville–0, Weirton–5, Wheeling–1.

District 4 (8) — Beckley–2, Lewisburg–2, Oak Hill–2, Princeton–5, Summersville–5.

District 5 (10) — Huntington–7, Logan–1, Mullens–1, Welch–1.

District 6 (14) — Keyser–8, Martinsburg–6, Moorefield–7, Romney–6.

Pre-ETS Needs and Gaps

Within the survey, each service was accompanied by checkboxes in two columns: Need and Gap. Respondents were asked to “please indicate whether most of the consumers you serve in your area can benefit from the service” by placing an ‘X’ in the Need column for that service. Additionally, respondents were asked to “indicate whether you feel there is a service gap (i.e., services are needed, but not available in sufficient quantities) for each service by placing an ‘X’ in the Gap column.”

Service need/use for each Pre-ETS category was assessed to allow respondents to indicate which services their consumers need/use most often. This was done independently of the service gap assessment as some services may be highly needed/used but are readily available and therefore do not require an increase in availability.

Pre-ETS categories are listed below with the percentage of respondents indicating need in parentheses:

Job Exploration Counseling (72%)

Counseling on Postsecondary Opportunities (72%)

Workplace Readiness Training (69%)

Work-Based Learning Experiences (66%)

Self-Advocacy Training (64%)

Respondents that indicated a perceived service gap were totaled for each service.  The number and percentage of respondents who reported a gap for the service are in parentheses followed by the number of responses by DRS office location. Some respondents identified more than one office.

Work-Based Learning Experiences (25, 25%) -- Charleston-4, Clarksburg-1, Elkins-2, Huntington-3, Keyser-2, Logan-1, Martinsburg-3, Moorefield-3, Mullens-1, Point Pleasant-1, Romney-2, Spencer-1, Summersville-2, Weirton-3, Welch-1, and Weston-1.

Workplace Readiness Training (25, 25%) -- Charleston-3, Clarksburg-1, Elkins-4, Huntington-2, Keyser-2, Logan-1, Martinsburg-2, Moorefield-2, Mullens-1, Point Pleasant-1, Princeton-1, Romney- 2, Spencer-1, Summersville-1, Weirton-1, Welch-1, and Weston-3.

Self-Advocacy Training (19, 19%) -- Charleston-4, Clarksburg-1, Elkins-2, Huntington-2, Keyser-2, Logan-1, Martinsburg-1, Moorefield-1, Point Pleasant-1, Princeton-1, Romney-2, Spencer-1, Summersville-2, Teays Valley-1, and Weston-1.

Job Exploration Counseling (13, 13%) -- Charleston-3, Clarksburg-1, Elkins-2, Huntington-2, Logan- 1, Martinsburg-1, Point Pleasant-1, Spencer-1, Summersville-1, and Weston-1.

Counseling on Postsecondary Opportunities (12, 12%) -- Charleston-3, Elkins-2, Huntington-2, Logan-1, Martinsburg-1, Moorefield-1, Ripley-1, Spencer-1, Summersville-1, and Weston-1.

Overall Service Needs for West Virginians with Disabilities

Respondents were asked to identify the top five overall service needs for different consumer groups with which they have experience with providing VR services. Respondents were asked to indicate if they did not have experience working with the consumer group. The number and percentage of respondents who indicated a gap for the service are in parentheses followed by the number of responses by DRS office location. Some respondents identified more than one office.

Note:  New categories created to incorporate answers that were not specific to a pre-existing service category from the survey. For example, the “Overall Training” category was created to include a number of open-ended responses where the respondent indicated a need for training, but not a specific type; for example, “Training options” and “Training services.” The Miscellaneous category contains individual responses that were not clear in meaning or otherwise could not be grouped into a particular theme.

Transitioning Youth

The survey asked, “From your experience with transitioning youth with disabilities, please list the TOP FIVE services that you feel these consumers need in your service area.” There were 74 respondents to this question.  The most commonly reported service needs were:

Transportation (38, 51.4%) -- Beckley-3, Charleston-2, Clarksburg-3, Elkins-1, Fairmont-1, Huntington-2, Keyser-3, Lewisburg-2, Marshall-1, Martinsburg-3, Moorefield-1, Morgantown-4, Mullens-1, Oak Hill-2, Point Pleasant-2, Princeton-5, Ripley-1, Romney-3, Spencer-2, Summersville- 5, Teays Valley-2, Weirton-4, and Wheeling-1.

Job Exploration Counseling (26, 35.1%) -- Charleston-4, Clarksburg-4, Elkins-3, Fairmont-2, Huntington-3, Keyser-1, Martinsburg-1, Moorefield-1, Point Pleasant-2, Romney-1, Summersville-1, Teays Valley-3, Weirton-1, and Weston-2.

Work-Based Learning Experiences (23, 31.1%) -- Beckley-1, Charleston-1, Clarksburg-6, Fairmont- 3, Huntington-1, Keyser-2, Lewisburg-1, Logan-1, Martinsburg-2, Moorefield-4, Oak Hill-1, Point Pleasant-1, Princeton-3, Romney-2, Summersville-2, Teays Valley-1, Weirton-1, and Welch-1.

Workplace Readiness Training (16, 21.6%) -- Charleston-1, Clarksburg-2, Elkins-1, Fairmont-1, Keyser-2, Martinsburg-3, Moorefield-4, Morgantown-1, Point Pleasant-1, Princeton-1, Romney-2, Teays Valley-2, Welch-1, and Weston-2.

Overall Training (15, 20.3%) -- Charleston-3, Elkins-2, Fairmont-2, Keyser-1, Mullens-1, Point Pleasant-1, Princeton-1, Ripley-1, Spencer-2, Summersville-1, Teays Valley-2, and Weston-1.

RESULTS OF THE ANALYSIS OF THE REPORTED PRE-EMPLOYMENT TRANSITION SERVICES PROVISION BY WEST VIRGINIA HIGH SCHOOLS TO STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

In November 2019, as part of the Comprehensive Statewide Needs Assessment, DRS conducted an assessment of the need and availability of Pre-ETS for students with disabilities at high schools across the state.  The five required Pre-ETS activities (as mandated by WIOA) for students with disabilities are:

1. Job exploration counseling
2. Work-based learning experiences
3. Counseling on opportunities for transitioning from school to work or into postsecondary training or education programs, including college, university (Counseling on Postsecondary Opportunities)
4. Workplace readiness training to develop social skills and independent living skills
5. Instruction in self-advocacy

To assess the availability of Pre-ETS for students with disabilities at high schools, DRS counselors held formal meetings with school principals, vice principals, counselors, special education teachers, and other related staff. During these meetings, DRS counselors asked school staff, for each of the five required Pre-ETS activities, whether the service was currently available to the school’s students with disabilities and if so, how the service was provided.

The SPPE Unit rated each of the responses to the five Pre-ETS questions using a 1-3 Likert scale.

A rating of 1 indicated that the school does not provide the service (or has a very limited capacity) to its students with disabilities. A rating of 2 indicated that the school was providing services to some students with disabilities but not all, or by providing a minimal level of service to all students with disabilities, suggesting remaining unmet need/demand. Finally, a rating of 3 indicates that the school was sufficiently providing the service to its students with disabilities.

Results

In total, 110 high schools from 54 of the 55 counties participated. No schools from Jefferson County participated, despite requests. All six DRS districts were represented.

Total scores for each school’s responses were calculated by adding the scores for each required Pre-ETS activity. A total score of 5 would indicate that none of the services were being provided by the school, while a total score of 15 would indicate that all five required activities of Pre-ETS were provided sufficiently by the school. One school had a total score of 5 (Morgantown) and no school had a total score of 15. Total scores ranged from 5 to 13, with a mean of 9.8 and a mode of 10.

For each service, statewide average scores were calculated, ranging from 1 (indicating no provision of service in high schools across the state) to 3 (indicating sufficient service provision by all high schools in the state). The most sufficiently provided Pre-ETS statewide was Counseling on Post- Secondary Opportunities (2.15), followed by Job Exploration Counseling (2.11), Work Based Learning Experiences (2.04), Workplace Readiness Training (1.88) and Instruction in Self-Advocacy (1.66). Across all five Pre-ETS categories, the statewide average score was 1.97.

Across all five required Pre-ETS activities statewide, a rating of 1 was scored for a total of 106 responses (Job Exploration Counseling – 16; Work Based Learning Experiences – 10; Counseling on Postsecondary Opportunities – 19; Workplace Readiness Training – 20; and Instruction in Self Advocacy – 41), a rating of 2 was scored for a total of 356 responses (Job Exploration Counseling – 66; Work Based Learning Experiences – 86; Counseling on Postsecondary Opportunities – 56; Workplace Readiness Training – 83; and Instruction in Self Advocacy – 65), and a rating of 3 was scored for a total of 88 responses (Job Exploration Counseling – 28; Work Based Learning Experiences – 14; Counseling on Postsecondary Opportunities – 35; Workplace Readiness Training – 7; and Instruction in Self Advocacy – 4).

The results of the survey indicate that most high schools in West Virginia are providing some level of required Pre-ETS activity. However, there are locations within the state in which Pre-ETS are not provided or are provided minimally by the school. To ensure that Pre-ETS are available to students with disabilities in high schools statewide, as well as eliminate duplication of services, DRS will prioritize and emphasize Pre-ETS provision in categories and high schools which were rated as 1, with secondary priority to those high schools and Pre-ETS categories which were rated as 2. Additionally, DRS will continue to explore and expand options for Pre-ETS provision and best practices statewide.