Amsterdam, the Netherlands – A new study published in the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation evaluates the impact of Vermont’s Linking Learning to Careers (LLC) program on service usage patterns and outcomes of participating high school students with disabilities, compared to a control group. The findings demonstrate how the LLC intervention, which emphasized work-based learning experiences, resulted in participants across all demographic groups using more preemployment transition services (pre-ETS) and vocational rehabilitation services offered by the state’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. In addition, participation in the LLC program resulted in higher earnings for students who had work experiences.
“When we completed the evaluation of the LLC demonstration program, we wanted to understand the differences in the use of vocational rehabilitation and pre-ETS. We found some notable differences in service use, at least in Vermont, and it’s likely true that there are differences in other states, too,” explained lead investigator Todd Honeycutt, PhD, Mathematica, Princeton, NJ.
“An intentional, comprehensive approach to offering vocational rehabilitation services to youth with disabilities can increase youth’s involvement with a vocational rehabilitation agency. LLC encouraged more youth to use more services, erasing the uptake variations in service use across demographic groups that is evident in other programs. Moreover, students who used work experiences had higher rates of quarterly earnings than students who used other services,” he added.
The study used administrative data from the Vermont vocational rehabilitation agency to track the demographics of the participating youth (e.g., age, sex, race and ethnicity, and health condition), the vocational rehabilitation services they used, and their earnings. The 413 participants in the group who had access to LLC demonstrated greater engagement with the services of the state vocational rehabilitation agency, relative to the 390 participants in the control group with access to other vocational rehabilitation services. In the latter group, females and special education program users were more likely to take advantage of services. Among LLC participants, however, there was no demographic variation in uptake of the array of services.
Youth and young adults—ages 24 and younger—currently make up more than half of vocational rehabilitation participants nationally. Comprehensive transition programs like LLC are designed to help young people with disabilities transition from secondary school to employment and vocational and higher education by offering special services, such as counseling on opportunities for enrollment in comprehensive transition or postsecondary educational programs, instructions on self-advocacy, and work-based learning experiences. These services stand apart from the standard services traditionally offered by vocational rehabilitation agencies.
Because disparities exist in awareness, access, and service use, vocational rehabilitation staff may find it helpful to learn about whom they may or may not be reaching with their services. According to co-investigator Purvi Sevak, PhD, Mathematica, Princeton, NJ, “State vocational rehabilitation agencies are investing a lot of resources into services for students with disabilities. We know a lot about the services those students use, but we don’t know enough yet about who uses which services and what happens to them afterward. Why is that important? Because just offering services to students may not be enough to get the results we all hope for. This study is a small step to filling in those gaps.”
# # #
NOTES FOR EDITORS
The article is “Pre-employment transition and vocational rehabilitation services: Experiences in response to Vermont’s work-based learning program,” by Todd Honeycutt, Marlena Luhr, Emily Harrison, and Purvi Sevak (https://doi.org/10.3233/JVR-230055). It appears online in the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, ahead of Volume 60, Issue 1 (January 2024), published by IOS Press.
The full text of the article and additional information are also available to credentialed journalists upon request; contact Diana Murray, IOS Press, at +1 718-640-5678 or d.murray@iospress.com for additional information. Journalists who wish to interview the authors should contact Todd Honeycutt at thoneycutt@mathematica-mpr.com.
Funding for this study was provided by the Vermont Division of Vocational Rehabilitation under a grant (H421B160002) from the U.S. Department of Education.
ABOUT THE JOURNAL OF VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION
The Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation provides a forum for discussion and dissemination of information about the major areas that constitute vocational rehabilitation. Emphasis is on publishing rehabilitation articles that have immediate application for helping rehabilitation counselors, psychologists, and other professionals in providing direct services to people with disabilities. www.iospress.com/journal-of-vocational-rehabilitation
ABOUT IOS PRESS
IOS Press is an international scientific, technical, medical (STM) publishing house established in 1987 in Amsterdam. We produce around 90 journals and 70 books annually in a broad range of subject categories, primarily specializing in health and life sciences (including neurosciences, medical informatics, cancer research, and rehabilitation) and computer sciences (including artificial intelligence, data science, and semantic web). In addition, we offer specialized services that support scientific advancement. www.iospress.com
