Rural America has long been perceived as "left behind" by policies that leave it struggling while benefiting bustling urban cities and suburbs. That narrative holds some truth: rural America has a declining population, along with lower educational attainment and lower workforce participation than urban America. But while rural America…

We use longitudinal data on high school students in Washington State to assess the relationships between English Language Arts (ELA) teacher value added and other qualifications and the high school and postsecondary outcomes of their students. We also investigate whether these relationships differ for students with and without disabilities. We…

Youth with disabilities face many barriers in making the transition from high school to stable long-term employment. Researchers used case study methodology to examine the career development process and postschool employment outcomes for a sample of individuals with disabilities who were working in living wage occupations 7 to 10 years after…

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) administers programs that assist in educating children and youth with disabilities, provides funding for vocational rehabilitation (VR) services for youth and adults with disabilities and supports research to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities. OSERS established…

"The Condition of Education 2018" is a congressionally mandated annual report summarizing the latest data on education in the United States. This report is designed to help policymakers and the public monitor educational progress. This report contains indicators on the state of education in the United States, from prekindergarten through…

This book is a guide designed for rehabilitation agencies to plan for staff retirements and other turnover. It examines the process of succession planning, necessary tools, resources, and positioning the organization for future success. Chapters have the following titles: (1) "Succession Planning in a Dynamic Environment"; (2)…

This study sought to replicate a 1984 Vermont study on the work status of handicapped youth, using data from 415 mildly and moderately handicapped students who graduated high school in 1985 in Delaware with either a diploma or a certificate. The study also sought to expand the Vermont design to include a broader range of factors relating…

To improve the services provided to clients in vocational rehabilitation, a study was conducted to determine what staff shortages exist by occupational discipline and which of them could be addressed by education and training. Data collection involved a questionnaire completed by 95 percent of the 83 directors of state agencies responsible for…

These five papers deal with topics related to problems associated with transition from school to independent living for handicapped youth. "Individual Transition Plans: From Lip Service to Implementation" (Joseph Stowitschek, Cheryl Kelso) reports on a study to determine the extent to which individual transition planning is advocated by…

This review examines employment and postsecondary education outcomes for youth with disabilities leaving secondary schools, as well as studies of educational practices reporting high-quality outcomes. Practices that appear to improve outcomes for these students are supervised work experiences and functionally oriented curricula that connect…

A study used data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988-1994 to compare postsecondary outcomes among 7,007 students with and without disabilities who participated in secondary vocational education. Students with disabilities who participated in vocational education earned more wages than peers with disabilities who did not…

This report used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and the National Longitudinal Transition Survey (NLTS) to evaluate outcomes for 11 categories of students with disabilities in comparison with nondisabled students. The study focused on youth in the last years of secondary school and in the 2 years after leaving secondary…

The first volume in this document is the final report of a study examining personnel shortages and training needs in vocational rehabilitation. Primary data were collected from surveys mailed to directors of all 83 state vocational rehabilitation agencies, with responses received from 79 agencies for a 95 percent return rate. To validate these…

Findings from the National Longitudinal Transition Study (NLTS) of Special Education Students indicate strong gains in the first five years after high school in the four outcome areas of employment, wages, postsecondary education, and residential independence. Outcomes differed widely by disability category, gender, ethnicity, and high school…

Presenters at a public hearing testified about strategies that were working and those that were considered not to be working in the Wisconsin vocational education system. The strategies that were cited as "working" were: education provided to businesses by VTAE (Vocational-Technical Adult Education district) colleges; interaction between…