The National Supported Employment
Consortium (SEC) for the com-petitive employment of people with
significant disabilities is designed to critically evaluate supported
employment programs nationally and to provide technical assistance on
exemplary programs and practices to state and local agencies. The SEC
was formed in response to the January 31, 1997 Request for Proposals
issued by the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) for a
National Scope Project on supported employment to:
Determine what has been learned from
community-based and statewide systems change projects supported by RSA
and other agencies and organizations in recent years;
Identify and assess new exemplary
supported employment models and practices that have emerged from these
projects; and
Provide technical assistance to States
and other provider agencies based on these new findings.
The SEC project comes at a critical point in the development of
supported employment. Since 1985, the Rehabilitation Services
Administration (RSA) has funded fifty-five, 3-5 year, grants to
develop state systems for supported employment services along with
several community-based demonstration projects. There are many
indications that these grants helped supported employment become a
popular and effective method for assisting individuals with
significant disabilities achieve a competitive level of community
integrated employment. There are, however, frequent disparities
across states and communities in the quality, effectiveness, and
accessibility of employment opportunities and support services for
people with the most significant disabilities. Outcomes for supported
employment participants range from career oriented positions
reflecting personal choice and pay well above minimum wage to poor
quality jobs on the fringe of the competitive labor market paying
marginal wages. In truth, the vast majority of the population for
whom supported employment was originally targeted remains chronically
unemployed.
This disparity in employment outcomes and continued high unemployment
among people with the most significant disabilities point to many
important questions. What are the best practices in the areas of
consumer self-determination, employer partnerships, and work place
supports that encourage meaningful employment outcomes? What are the
identifiable and replicable policies and practices of state systems
that routinely demonstrate the ability to accommodate the employment
service and support needs of a full range of people with significant
disabilities? How can Personal Assistance Services at the work site
be funded effectively to support those who need these services to
achieve their competitive employment goals? What are the funding
designs that strike an effective balance in addressing the interests
and needs of supported employment service recepients, funders, and
providers? How can the continued challenge of inconsistent funding
and provision of extended employment services be met, and what steps
are needed to effectively tap underutilized funding sources for
supported employment services such as the Home and Community Based
Medicaid Waiver?
The dual purpose of the National Supported Employment Consortium is
to address these and related questions through a variety of evaluation
studies and to disseminate widely the results of the studies and
information on exemplary practices. The SEC is administered by the
Virginia Commonwealth University Rehabilitation Research and Training
Center on Workplace Supports. Its membership includes the Indiana
University Institute on Disability and Community, the Boston
Children's Hospital Institute for Community Inclusion, Transcen
Incorporated, Indiana University/ Purdue University Indianapolis, and
the University of Montana Rural Institute on Disabilities, along with
a number of additional national experts. Since its inception October
1, 1997, the SEC has initiated a variety of evaluation studies,
conducted a series of national training sessions and published a
variety of newsletters on best practices, sponsored a Summer Institute
where direct service staff received intensive training, initiated a
web-based certificate course that provides interactive in-service
training, worked hand-in-hand with rural communities to develop
supported employment opportunities, and provided a wide variety of
prescriptive technical assistance that matched national experts with
state and community level requests for assistance.
The fifteen papers contained in this current monograph reflect the
breadth and depth of the SEC's evaluation activities and its intent to
frame results in a practical, best practice oriented viewpoint. The
papers in the monograph address supported employment issues and
practices in four areas. First, in the area of current trends and
future directions, Paul Wehman and John Bricout identify and analyze
the full range of employment supports needed by persons with the most
significant disabilities. Jeanne Novak and her co-authors describe
the national trend towards more results based funding of supported
employment and provide numerous recommendations for agencies
considering this funding approach. Valerie Brooke and her co-authors
describe the implementation of a results based funding design in
Alabama that incorporated intensive in-service training on quality
supported employment services. Second, in the area of improving state
level implementation, Martha McGaughey and David Mank analyze the
evidence of systems change in supported employment to date and the
factors influencing that change. Gary Bond and his research team
describe the initial results of their research efforts targeted at
designing a quality of supported employment implementation scale that
will help generate more meaningful employment outcomes. Susan Foley
and her co-authors evaluate state-level interagency collaborative
efforts in supported employment with a focus on exemplary practices.
In the area of evaluating policy initiatives influencing supported
employment, Martha McGaughey and David Mank describe the policy
framework within which systems change takes place, and Jeanne Novak
and her co-authors identify the many public initiatives that are
influencing the move to more results based funding designs. Finally,
in the critical area of improving supported employment services and
outcomes, Katherine Inge and her co-authors evaluate the results of a
demonstration project that assisted individuals with very significant
physical disabilities work competitively. The paper offers a number
of best practice recommendations. Ed Turner and his co-authors
provide insight into the challenges faced in securing and directing
Personal Assistance Services by individuals who need this support to
work competitively. Cary Griffin evaluates the factors influencing
the provision of supported employment in rural areas and provides
numerous best practice recommendations for improving the quality and
effectiveness of these services. Darlene Unger reports on the results
of research on how employers view workplace supports. Pat Rogan and
her co-authors describe a qualitative research effort to evaluate
workplace supports in practice with emphasis on maximizing supports
available at the job site, and Paul Wehman and John Bricout conclude
the monograph by discussing the blending of practices identified as
natural supports into a workplace supports model of supported
employment services.
This first monograph published by the National Supported Employment
Consortium describes the initial set of results from a wide variety of
evaluation studies that are works in progress. The monograph's range
of authors and topics reflects the comprehensive nature of the SEC
evaluation effort. The SEC is designed to provide a steady flow of
information on critical issues and best practices, and future
dissemination efforts will continue to use a variety of written,
web-based, and face-to-face methods to assure wide dissemination of
information on SEC evaluation efforts.
The Editors
Manuals - SE Handbook