Of particular interest to VR leaders, managers, administrators, and counselors
Credential Attainment Training
On February 9, 2022, Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) and the Vocational Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Center for Quality Management (VRTAC-QM) shared new technical assistance (TA) on Credential Attainment Rate - one of the six performance indicators for the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). The training provides an overview of the indicator; outlines the Case Service Report (RSA-911) data elements used in reporting the indicator; highlights performance results from Program Years 2019 and 2020; specifies how the indicator is calculated; details how to report some of the Credential Attainment Scenarios; answers questions posed to RSA and VRTAC-QM related to the indicator; and links to policy guidance and other technical assistance resources.
To complete the training, log-into your VRTAC-QM account. Visit Performance for more information related to the WIOA performance accountability system.
V8 of RSA-911 Edit Checks for PY21Q3 Reports
The RSA has developed for VR agency use V8 of the Edit Checks for RSA-911 PY 2021 Q3 reports submitted between April 1, 2022 and May 15, 2022.
V8 makes two changes based on agency feedback:
DE 22: Student with a Disability: RSA added an edit that prevents DE 22 from being coded as 1, 2, or 3 if the individual’s age on the day the quarter began is greater than the upper limit of the age range reported in DE 74: State Definition for Age of Students with Disabilities.
DE 378: Type of Recognized Credential Attained Post-Exit: RSA modified the edit to require DE 84: Enrolled in Postsecondary Education be coded 1 or 2 if DE 378 is coded 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8.
The U.S. Departments of Education and Labor compiled TA for the Program Year (PY) 2022 WIOA State Plan Modification process. Contact your RSA State liaison for additional information.
VR agencies may find the following resources (located on WorkforceGPS) useful when developing and finalizing the WIOA State Plan modification for PYs 2022-2023.
Compiled TA for PY 2022 WIOA State Plan Modifications. The purpose of this resource is to provide States suggestions to consider while preparing and finalizing the WIOA State Plan modification for Program Years 2022-2023 plan period.
WIOA State Plan Portal. The WIOA State Plan Portal is the approved method by which States submit and modify Unified and Combined State Plans.
February is Black History Month. This an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in United States history. To learn more about the history and celebration of Black History Month access one of the following resources:
Of particular interest to VR leaders, managers, and administrators
VRTAC-QM recently released a new podcast episode for VR managers and administrators! Episode 10: VRTAC-QM Manager Minute: Get in and Get er’ Done! How California Makes VR Work for Customers!Joining Carol Pankow in the VRTAC-QM Studio is Mark Erlichman, Deputy Director, Vocational Rehabilitation Employment Division, California Department of Rehabilitation. In this episode of Manager Minute, Mark discusses California’s use of rapid engagement to get customers in and move them as quickly as possible through the VR process to maximize their opportunity for success. The California DOR Team has a variety of initiatives that they are working on. Mark and Carol chat about a handful of those projects. Listeners also learn about California’s expedited enrollment process, resource navigators, and sector-based service teams.
Of particular interest to VR managers, administrators, counselors, and service providers
Calling all VR professionals who work with youth! Mark your calendars for two exciting
webinars brought to you by NTACT:C.
Strategies for Meaningful Student/Youth/Young Adult Engagement on State and Local Teams
March 17, 2022, 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM ET
This session, presented by members of the NTACT:C Youth Engagement Transition Initiative (YETI), will provide state and local interagency team members with strategies and resources to meaningfully engage students, youth, and young adults in transition team meetings and related activities. State team leaders who will be attending this year’s 2022 NTACT:C Capacity Building Virtual Institute, May 3-5, are encouraged to participate in this session and to actively recruit and engage a student/youth/young adult to be on your state’s CBVI team.
Who Does What? Optimizing Employment Services and Supports through Individual Planning for College Students with Intellectual Disability March 31, 2022, 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM ET
This is the first of a collaborative webinar series from the Think College NCC and NTACT:C. Having the right team in place to support college students with intellectual disabilities to access and succeed in employment is critical—and complicated. Students may be eligible for employment services from various state and federal entities (e.g., ED, DD, VR, HCBS waiver) and coordinating these with existing program services is critical. So where do you start when trying to optimize the resources available and support the best outcomes?
Visit NTACT:C's website to access recordings of previous trainings such as MOVE: A Mentoring and Self-Determination Initiative for African American Males with Disabilities. This presentation was provided at the NTACT:C 2021 Capacity Building Virtual Institute (CBVI). MOVE strives to empower African-American males with disabilities to overcome barriers, become self-determined, and graduate high school and college and be career-ready. In addition, MOVE provides opportunities for families to become advocates.
Of particular interest to VR managers, administrators, counselors, and service providers
Between October 1, 2015, and August 31, 2021, the RSA provided $11,750,000 in funding to the Vocational Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Center, also known as Project E3. The purpose of Project E3 was to increase VR program participation and competitive integrated employment outcomes for traditionally underserved individuals with disabilities living in economically disadvantaged communities nationwide.
The grantee, Southern University-Baton Rouge, worked with six partner institutions (University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Stout, George Washington University, University of Kentucky, the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, and Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation) to identify barriers to VR participation and employment and implement effective strategies to address those barriers. To this end, they conducted literature reviews of emerging and evidence-based practices, a national State VR agency needs assessment, and structured listening sessions involving community-based stakeholders and groups.
Southern University and partners provided intensive technical assistance to priority population groups in 24 economically disadvantaged communities in 12 States: California, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, and Virginia. Project E3’s intensive technical assistance as well as its targeted and universal technical assistance activities are described below.
Intensive Technical Assistance
Project E3 provided intensive technical assistance during the project through long-term relationships with State VR agencies, community-based organizations (CBO)s, and Community Rehabilitation Programs (CRPs) across four implementation phases: 1) Community Outreach and Orientation for Target Population, 2) Community Needs Assessment and Strategies for Change, 3) Training and technical Assistance to State VR Agencies, CBOs and Capacity of VR agencies, CBOs, and CRPs to sustain promising E3 practices beyond the life of the grant, and 4) Sustainability and Systems Change. Intensive technical assistance activities were designed to achieve improvements for priority populations and communities in the following areas:
Referral sources and application streams to VR,
Capacity of VR counselors to engage and retain clients in the VR process and to expand clients’ employment opportunities,
Capacity of CBOs and CRPs to provide comprehensive supports to VR applicants and participants, and
Capacity of VR agencies, CBOs, and CRPs to sustain promising E3 practices beyond the life of this grant.
Additionally, sustainability planning committees from each targeted community assessed their internal/external environments, identified significant barriers to engagement and potential solutions, developed a shared vision, and created Sustainability Work Plans. The following States recorded videos highlighting their continuation and sustainability plans:
The Leadership Academy Community of Practice developed other videos and resources available in the Project E3 website.
Targeted and Universal Technical Assistance
Project E3’s technical assistance activities responded to common needs identified across VR agencies nationwide and were designed to disseminate successful strategies, best practices, and lessons learned in participating States, communities and nationwide. The Project E3 website features online training webinars, searchable resource materials, and communities of practice. The Project E3 website hosted 96,410 user engagement sessions, 44,080 online training sessions, 2,885 Communities of Practice engagements, and 173,247 social media engagements including Facebook and Twitter.
Highlights of the resources available on the website include:
Descriptions and resources of 21 Project E3 strategies to overcome barriers to employment,
40 Project E3 videos and webinars, 312 journal articles, 42 research summaries, and 413 articles, including plain English summaries,
Leadership Academy and other communities of practice videos and information, and
Aggregate applications, eligibility, Individualized Plans for Employment (IPEs), services under an IPE, employment outcomes, and employment rates for priority populations in the targeted communities improved proportionally relative to the priority population groups in the rest of their respective States. Improvements were particularly noteworthy regarding IPE development and competitive integrated employment attainment after an IPE, in which individuals from priority groups in targeted communities achieved 11 and 9 percentage-point improvements, respectively, relative to their counterparts in the rest of their States.
As a result of the project’s community capacity-building activities, 368 community-based organizations and stakeholder groups participated in VRTAC-TC advisory committees and other initiatives to strengthen comprehensive support systems in the targeted communities. One hundred community-based organizations provided direct support services to VR clients, primarily through 52 formal partnership agreements.
Additional information
A final report will be available soon on the NCRTM. The NCRTM will provide a link to the report and related resources in a subsequent newsletter once it is published.
You may contact RSA project officer Felipe Lulli at felipe.lulli@ed.gov for more information and related resources about Project E3.
Of particular interest to sign language interpreters
Established in 2005 as the Collaborative for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence, the center now goes by CATIE. The CATIE Center is committed to promoting excellence in interpreting education. Their work involves Deaf and hearing faculty, staff, students, stakeholders and innovative partners both locally and nationally.
2022 is a time of new beginnings and transitions, including a new year and a new semester. The CATIE Center is pleased to announce resources available from two grant projects that just wrapped up (Behavioral Health Interpreting (BHI) and Graduation to Certification (GTC)), as well as to introduce two new grant projects.
Previous Grant Projects:
Behavioral Health Interpreting (BHI) Project. BHI has concluded its five-year program as of December 31, 2021. During this five-year cycle, the CATIE Center was pleased to have supported interpreters in increasing their Behavioral Health Interpreting knowledge and skills. Materials created can be found at https://healthcareinterpreting.org/bhi-dissemination-2/. The project included:
Created 6 free introductory webshops open to anyone.
Created 9 modules open to certified interpreters.
Supported interpreters to attend the Mental Health Interpreter Training Core (MHIT).
Supported interpreters who completed the MHIT Core in practicum experiences and credentialing (Qualified Mental Health Interpreter - QMHI credential).
Created new practicum sites and supervised interpreting opportunities in a variety of settings.
Graduation to Certification (GTC) Program. The CATIE Center’s GTC project created a variety of learning opportunities for novice interpreters, particularly recent graduates of IEPs. Those resources, which are too numerous to describe here, are available at: https://noviceinterpreters.org/dissemination/. The CATIE Center encourages students and novice interpreters to use these free resources regularly. As well, mentors and interpreter educators can download these resources and use them “as is” or modify them for use in their learning management system. In addition, we are in the process of analyzing the outcomes of the project and will share lessons learned and recommendations for the field of interpreter education later this year.
The CATIE Center would like to thank all our partners, subject matter experts, sign models, and participants who collaborated with us to make this work possible.
New Grants 2021-2026 The CATIE Center is excited to announce that it has received two new grant project awards.
Level Up: Advancing Healthcare Interpreter Competencies
LaTanya E. Jones, M.S.M., NIC - PI/Project Director
The overarching goal of Project Level Up is to increase the number of working interpreters who are trained and qualified to interpret in healthcare settings, thus reducing the gaps in equity in healthcare communication for deaf, hard of hearing and DeafBlind individuals. There are two tracks:
The Self-Directed track allows certified and not yet certified interpreters to take online educational opportunities. These webshops and modules will increase knowledge and skills for interpreting effectively in healthcare settings.
The Cohort Track will accept 35 certified interpreters every year for five years. Participants will apply and once selected will work through the online educational and induction phases as a group with expert facilitators, mentors and supervisors.
Dive In: Building Skills and Confidence in Interpreting
Erica Alley, Ph.D., NIC Advanced - PI/Project Director
The goal of the Dive In project is to increase the competence of novice interpreters to interpret in a wide variety of work-related settings. The Dive In project will be designed in a three-phase cohort model to prepare novice interpreters to attain the required credentials needed in the locations in which they work, including NIC, CDI, BEI, or state licensure. There will also be an online self-directed track open to any person who identifies as a novice interpreter. We look forward to supporting novice interpreters in their endeavors to gain the skills they need to enter the field.
The St. Catherine University CATIE Center projects are funded by the following awards from US Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration:
Behavioral Health Interpreting: #H160D160003 (2017-2021)
Graduation to Certification: #H160C160001 (2017-2021)
This newsletter includes some acronyms for RSA-funded Technical Assistance Centers and other grantee offerings. Links to these centers are included in the “RSA-Funded Assistance and Other Resources” section of the NCRTM.
The National Clearinghouse of Rehabilitation Training Materials (NCRTM) is maintained by New Editions Consulting, Inc. and is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), under Contract No.91990021C0033. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
