pathways to careers for students with disabilities

DISCUSSION PAPER

Background

On January 31, 2017, the Texas Workforce Commission (Commission) approved five strategies as part of the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Pathways to Careers Initiative (PCI), to support the provision of Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS). Those strategies are:

  1. Summer Earn and Learn
  2. Charting the Course: Planning for Life and Careers after High School
  3. Career Pathways Academies
  4. Explore STEM!
  5. Transition Planning for Students in Private and Home Schools

Issue

As staff have been working to implement these strategies, several areas have been identified for which changes are recommended to improve expenditure of Pre-ETS funds. As originally proposed to the Commission, the parameters of Summer Earn and Learn, Career Pathways Academies, Explore STEM, and Transition Planning for Students in Private and Home Schools restrict the number of students who can receive services and/or the number of providers that can be funded to deliver the services. Given the total funding required to be dedicated to Pre-ETS, revising these parameters will assist VR to expend Pre-ETS funding and provide services to additional students with disabilities.

Recommendations

  1. Summer Earn and Learn

To allow local workforce development boards (Boards) to serve as many students as possible, staff recommends establishing the targets in Attachment 1 as baseline targets that the Boards may exceed if they are able to serve additional students. Staff also recommends that the funding distribution in Attachment 1 serve as a guideline for planning purposes and that the final amount for which the Boards will be reimbursed be based on payment for the execution of the deliverables associated with providing work readiness training and paid work experience. The goal of these recommendations is to ensure that Boards have the flexibility to serve as many students as possible, ultimately meeting or exceeding the 2018 target of 2,500 students.

  1. Charting the Course: Planning for Life and Careers after High School

No changes are recommended.

  1. Career Pathways Academies

Career Pathways Academies will be year-round programs in which cohorts of students receive intensive Pre-ETS services and instruction to prepare them for successful transition to life after high school. Initially, staff recommended issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP), for up to $1 million, to seek demonstration project proposals from Independent School Districts (ISDs), with up to six projects selected for funding, one in each of the six TWC regions.

Based upon further discussions and a review of existing state statutes regarding interlocal cooperation contracts, staff would like to modify the implementation recommendation. Rather than issuing an RFP, staff recommends the application of criteria that will aid staff to identify at least six ISDs with which to pilot the Career Pathways Academies model. The proposed criteria for selection of the ISDs for demonstration include:

  1. At least one ISD in each of the six TWC VR regions
  2. At least one ISD in each of the following geographic categories as categorized by the Texas Education Agency (TEA)
  3. urban
  4. suburban
  5. rural
  6. At least three ISDs in which at least 50% or more of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals, as reported by TEA for the 2016-2017 school year.
  7. ISDs with whom TWC VR has an established and ongoing working relationship and with whom TWC VR has partnered to conduct a joint project or program within the past two years. This established partnership will be critical to successfully develop and pilot this comprehensive model on an accelerated timeline.

ISDs identified by VR staff as meeting the four criteria listed above will be further prioritized for implementation based on those that exceed the statewide average of 8.9% of students served in special education programs in the 2016-2017 school year.

Other components of the Career Pathways Academies demonstration projects remain unchanged. For example, activities for each selected ISD must build upon and not duplicate the transition services provided to students under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

  1. Explore STEM!

Explore STEM is intended to develop an interest in the STEM fields for students with disabilities. Staff’s initial recommendation was to require a one-week residential experience for students. To provide more flexibility in program design and maximize the use of Pre-ETS funds, staff would like to modify this recommendation to focus on day programs rather than residential programs. Staff also recommends that TWC fund as many quality applications as possible, rather than limiting the number to 10-12, and increasing the budget for Explore STEM from $1M to $3M. Eligible entities would remain institutions of higher education, including community and technical colleges and universities.

  1. Transition Planning for Students in Private and Home Schools

Transition Planning for Students in Private and Home Schools program is intended to foster partnerships that advance the participation and engagement of students with disabilities enrolled in private or homeschool education in Pre-ETS activities across Texas.

Initially, staff recommended issuing an RFP, for up to $500,000, to fund as many high-quality programs as possible based on the available funds, up to eight. Based upon further discussions, and based upon the availability of Pre-ETS funds, staff would like to modify the implementation recommendation. Rather than issuing an RFP, staff recommend that TWC issue an open enrollment solicitation to allow any entity to apply for and receive these funds. No cap will be placed on the amount available. The open enrollment solicitation will specify the deliverables and payment structure associated with the provision of allowable Pre-ETS services to students in home school and private school settings. As noted in the original program design, each proposal must include a work-based learning component, such as job shadowing or internships. Eligible respondents would still include private secondary schools, Local Workforce Development Boards, non-profit entities and other community-based organizations. Eligible respondents must demonstrate partnerships with private schools or entities that can identify students in home school settings. Eligible respondents must also demonstrate partnerships with employers and with individuals or organizations that have the education and experience necessary to provide pre-employment transition services to students with disabilities.

Attachment 1

Pathways to Careers_Revision_DP_01-08-20181-