Narrative: d. 1.

In 2018, the DVRS Vocational Rehabilitation program renewed their state level memorandum of agreement with DPI. The revised agreement includes the updated requirements of the final federal regulations on Title IV of WIOA. The purpose of the agreement is to outline a collaborative partnership between the two agencies to provide state level approval and support for enhanced transition services to students with disabilities. The revised agreement with DPI also specifies the manner in which pre-employment transition services are coordinated and provided within NC schools as well as how students with disabilities, including those who are potentially eligible for VR services, will be identified and served in compliance with federal regulations. The DVRS and DSB Program Specialists for Transition Services compile annual reports for DPI, as requested according to our agreement, summarizing VR activity for the state fiscal year.

In addition to a state level memorandum of agreement, the DVRS and DSB local offices and local education agencies (LEA) customize a local Third-Party Cooperative Agreement (TPCA) to outline how the agencies will work together to ensure that VR services are administered to students with disabilities. The TPCA stipulates administrative funding to support VR staff, outlines procedures for information sharing, and requires a process for referring students with disabilities to VR in order for the Divisions to carry out the VR program. DVRS TPCAs with 90 of the 115 city/county-wide LEAs in North Carolina contribute funding towards 190 positions including VR counselors, business relations representatives, vocational evaluators and additional VR support staff such as casework assistants and casework technicians available to provide VR transition services to students with disabilities served by the local education agency. In areas where a TPCA has not been established, the local manager designs a process for students and youth in the local area to access VR services. Since the issuance of WIOA Title IV regulations, DVRS has worked to formalize and implement the new requirements under WIOA including pre-employment transition services. Following a series of interim policy directives, DVRS released policies and procedures in March 2018 outlining three primary mechanisms for making pre-employment transition services available to students with disabilities in the state who need them: DVRS staff-provided, purchased via fee-for-service, and contracted projects. These mechanisms allow for flexibility and growth to meet the varied needs of students with disabilities across the state based on a diversity of staff capacity and local resources as well as the needs of local schools and school districts. implemented strategies for serve transition-aged youth. Under WIOA and as the Title IV regulations are finalized, DVRS will be enhancing programs and services to transition-aged youth with increased focus on students with disabilities and pre-employment transition services. New programs are intended to align the Division with federal requirements under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, namely pre-employment transition services, as well as provide improved transition services to students while they are in high school. DVRS expects that continues to target a flexible approach to making VR and pre-employment transition services available to students with disabilities for added value to citizens and NC public schools. 

Plans for Coordination with Education Officials

DVRS plans to maintain and strengthen its programmatic relationships with school transition services through its continued active participation by the Division’s Transition Program Specialist on the State Transition Team. This team, including DVRS, NC Department of Public Instruction (DPI), college/university, parent, student, and community and advocacy organization representation was formed to develop statewide goals and provide better coordinated transition activities for students with disabilities to achieve better results with post-school outcomes, including obtaining employment or attending post-secondary education. Currently, NC’s Capacity Building Plan is focused on two goals:  (1) improving provision of services in inclusive settings, improving soft skill development, and improving self-determination and self-advocacy skills through interagency collaboration and (2) improving student and parent knowledge of and engagement in the transition planning process through the provision of resources, guidance documents, and tools.

In 2018, a sub-team of the State Transition Team was formed to focus on targeted impact that could be achieved by state agency membership. This Core Sub-Team is working to devise a Joint technical Assistance and Training Plan in order to continue work in providing state-level technical assistance and training on WIOA requirements as well as to promote training around alignment with Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Perkins V programs. The TA and training mechanism will focus on common messaging to special educators, career technical education professionals, and VR staff across the state. The goals are to provide a variety of levels of training and assistance to meet local transition teams where they are and move them forward with compliance and innovation to achieve the very best post-school outcomes for students with disabilities around the state. The state is continuing to work on a Transition Toolkit for teachers and anticipates the development of toolkits for parents, students, and agencies that will be individualized at the local level.

DPI consultants are providing transition training to LEAs to promote student-led IEPs, and DVRS provided training to VR counselors and LEA representatives where focus was placed on the role of the VR Counselor in the IEP and identifying the need for and arranging for pre-employment transition services.  These initial trainings occurred February (Joint Transition Conference-- including DSB) and April, 2016 (NCDCDT training conference).

DVRS plans to continue collaboration with DPI leadership on technical assistance grants that focus on improving transition services and employment outcomes for transition-aged youth, including re- submission for the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition (NTACT) Intensive Technical Assistance grant.

Description of policies and procedures for coordination with education officials

DVRS policies associated with transition and pre-employment transition services were updated and enhanced in March 2018 and address the following services and procedures specific to students with disabilities:  

• Summer internships for students/youth with disabilities
• Increased utilization of On-the-Job Training (OJT) with students and youth
• Utilizing Transition Navigators to identify and serve students with disabilities who are potentially eligible and/or to provide VR pre-employment transition services to groups
• Increasing Project Search sites
• Hosting Self-Advocacy summer summits, camps, or school-based workshops
• Enhancing vocational evaluation tools and allocating increased vocational evaluation staff to serve students with disabilities in exploring career options
• Increasing work-based experiences for students with disabilities who require on-the-job supports, such as job coaching, by partnering in innovative ways with community rehabilitation programs.

Additional DVRS policy revisions are underway to clarify procedures around supporting students towards achieving and to report on measurable skill gains and recognized credentials. These policies will also address coordinating training services with individualized education programs (IEPs) through joint planning and collaboration with education officials. Policy work will continue as well in serving students with learning disabilities as the NC Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) implements a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) in their identification of students with learning disabilities.  Through the provision of pre-employment transition services and other VR transition services, the Division aims to engage even more students in work-based learning to allow students to make better informed decisions about their career paths.

DVRS continues to require each local VR office with a TPCA with schools to VR counseling staff serving on a local school transition services team to send an annual report to the school systems with which the Division has a TPCA summarize student participation in VR programs. This report includes data about services and expenditures for students with disabilities provided by the Division and addresses how VR staff members worked with school staff in transition planning for students with significant and most significant disabilities.

Individualized plans for employment for transitioning students

The Division’s casework policies addressing the provision of transition services defines transition services as a coordinated set of activities for a student designed within an outcome-oriented process that promotes movement from school to post-school activities, including post- secondary education, vocational training, integrated employment (including supported employment), continuing and adult education, adult services, independent living, or community participation. Furthermore, DVRS policy states that the coordinated set of activities must be based upon the individual student’s preferences and interests, and must include instruction, community experiences, the development of employment and other post-school adult living objectives and, if appropriate, acquisition of daily living skills and functional vocational evaluation. Finally, DVRS casework policies require that transition services must promote or facilitate the achievement of the employment outcome identified in the student’s individualized plan for employment. In order to plan effectively for the transition needs of students with disabilities in collaboration with other agencies and organizations, DVRS rehabilitation counselors are expected to be active participants addressing the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meeting transition issues when possible. Counselors are expected to participate both directly in IEP meetings and indirectly by other means in planning for the needs of VR consumers. A copy of the transition portion of the IEP is required to be maintained in the case record. Prior to developing the IPE, the VR counselor reviews the Individual Transition Plan (ITP) component for the Individual Education Plan and records any relevant ITP objectives as part of the IPE. The intent of this review is to coordinate educational programming and vocational programming for the benefit of the VR consumer. Additionally, the Division’s policy stipulates that the development of the IPE with a student must be based on interests, aptitudes, capabilities, strengths, and informed choice. The job choice on the IPE for a student in transition may indicate a family of jobs rather than a specific job code, for example, Health Care Worker, Office Work, and Protective Services such as police, firefighter, or security guard. DVRS policy does require career exploration to be provided and documented in order to determine a more specific goal.  Amended job choices, including amendments at closure, must be accompanied by documentation reflecting the process and services that had an impact on the final job choice, including job shadowing, job sampling, and guidance and counseling. Moreover, DVRS casework policy stipulates that the development and approval of an individualized plan for employment must be completed as early as possible during the transition planning process but, at the latest, by the time each student determined to be eligible for VR services leaves the school setting. This includes students with disabilities who are eligible for VR services including eligible students served by the school under an IEP.