Interagency Collaboration
Collaboration is a predictor of positive postschool outcomes for students with disabilities when it occurs across education, vocational rehabilitation, families, and numerous other partners who provide instruction, pre-employment transition services, and other transition services stakeholders. Well-developed partnerships for planning and service delivery give the greatest benefit to youth and their families.
Vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies are required to enter into formal interagency agreements with State Educational Agencies (SEA) that describe how they will collaboratively plan and coordinate transition services for students with disabilities who need those services, per the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by Title IV of WIOA. This formal interagency agreement is a foundational document and is essential to ensuring that students with disabilities experience a smooth transition from school to post-school activities.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) specifies that schools are to ensure that transition planning and services are coordinated with outside entities, agencies, and services providers as part of students’ annual Individualized Education Programs (IEPs).
Source: The Impact of Deep Collaboration on Work in States: Impact of Aligned Federal Policies (PDF)
Interagency collaboration goes beyond vocational rehabilitation and schools. At the local and state levels, collaboration within and across multiple agencies, services providers, and community organizations can provide students and families the sought-after seamless transition from youth to adult living.
What's New
Student Driven Cross-Agency Assessment Coordination and Implementation: An Overview of the New NTACT:C Collaborative Assessment Guide for Transition Planning
April 18, 2024NTACT:C Strategic Team Planning Pre-Assessment
March 27, 2024Getting Started Resources
Key Resources
- Side-by-Side View: Transition Services
- Community Rehabilitation Providers Pre-ETS Guidebook
- A Teachers Guide to Collaborating with Vocational Rehabilitation
- Resource Mapping Toolkit
- CIRCLES Building Collaborative Partnerships
- Integrated Resource Teams
- Way2Work Maryland Model - Evidence of Impact
- Youth Transition Program
- The Role of Centers for Independent Living
Training
Interagency Collaborations in a Rural Community = Successful Post-Secondary Outcomes for Students with Disabilities
APR. 13, 2023Get to Know Your School Counselor: Improving Collaboration to Support College and Career Readiness for Youth with Disabilities
MAR. 09, 2023Enhancing Interagency Collaboration: Strategies to Improve Student Experiences in CTE
FEB. 07, 2023
Examples of Interagency Collaboration
- Alabama: Transition Unlimited
- Transition Alliance of South Carolina
- Way2Work Maryland – Interagency Collaboration: Working Together for Better Outcomes (PDF)
- Indiana’s JAG – Jobs for America’s Graduates
- Vermont Core Transition Teams and Workforce Collaboration Model: Supporting Youth in High School and Beyond (PDF)
State VR Agency Interagency Collaboration Resources
- Report: State Interagency Collaboration 2019 (PDF)
An overview of states’ progress toward interagency collaboration. States included in this report are Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Alabama, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, West Virginia, Ohio, Rhode Island, North Dakota, Vermont, Tennessee, North Carolina, Utah, Washington, Oregon, Kentucky, Michigan, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.
- Report: State Interagency Collaboration 2020 (PDF)
An overview and celebration of state Interagency Collaborations Systems Alignment.
- Collaborative Initiatives across Career and Technical Education, Vocational Rehabilitation and Special Education: Three State/Local Stories (PDF)
Webinar handout detailing predictors and evidence-based and promising practices specific to interagency collaboration across CTE, VR, and SpEd; effective strategies to build partnerships between CTE, VR, and SpEd; and tools, resources, and practical solutions to use with addressing common barriers at the state and local levels.
