1. Pre-Employment Transition Services (PETS) and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)
Keith Ozols
Youth Transition Programs Coordinator
Vocational Rehabilitation

2. What we will cover: Overview of WIOA
What we know about the implementation of WIOA
What we don’t know (…yet)
What are the Pre-Employment Transition Services?
Local VR Office Partnerships with School Districts

3. What do you what to know?

4. WIA to WIOA

5. Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)
WIOA reauthorizes the Workforce Investment of 1998 (WIA) including the Rehabilitation Act through the year 2020, was signed by President Obama on July 22nd.

6. Other Programs One-Stop Centers
Adult, Dislocated Worker and Youth formula programs (WIA)
Adult Education and Literacy programs
Wagner-Peyser Employment Service
Vocational Rehabilitation
Other Programs:
Job Corps
YouthBuild
Indian and Native American programs
Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker programs

7. Proposed Regulations Delayed
“The publication of the proposed regulations is currently anticipated to occur in Spring 2015, rather than January 18, 2015, as stipulated in WIOA.”

8. New Regulations:
In Spring 2015, the Departments of Labor and Education plan to concurrently publish five Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRMs) to implement WIOA
Two NPRMs will cover the implementing the Title IV Amendments to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 of WIOA.

9. Overview of WIOA Transitions Services
15% set aside
Definition of Student and Youth with a Disability
Pre-Employment Transition Services (PETS)
Transition Coordination 
Two new definitions: (1) Student with a disability = 16 to 21 who is eligible for and receiving IDEA services or is an individual with a disability for purposes of section 504. (2) Youth with a disability = 14 to 24. Pre-employment transition services must be provided only to "students with a disability.“
Requires all states to use at least 15% of section 110 state allotments for provision of pre-employment transition services. The 15% cannot be used to pay for administrative costs of providing the pre-employment transition services.
Each local office of a DSE must: (1) attend IEP meetings for students with disabilities when invited, (2) work with local workforce development boards, One-Stop centers, and employers to develop work opportunities for students with disabilities, (3) work with schools, to coordinate and guarantee the provision of pre-employment transitions services (4) attend person-centered planning meetings for individuals receiving services under Title 19 of Social Security Act, when invited.

10. Our Mandate
In collaboration with the local educational agencies involved, [VR] shall provide, or arrange for the provision of, pre- employment transition services for all students with disabilities in need of such services who are eligible or potentially eligible for services under this title.

11. PETS: REQUIRED ACTIVITIES
Job exploration counseling
Work-based learning experiences
Counseling on postsecondary education options
Workplace readiness training
Instruction in self-advocacy

12. Disclaimer
The following examples for the five required Pre-Employment Transition Services have not been authorized by RSA or Oregon VR.
These descriptions are simply meant to begin the conversation about what some of the Pre-Employment Transition Services might look like in in the future.
Oregon VR will be issuing policy and guidance when proposed rules are issued from RSA.

13. Job exploration counseling - DRAFT
Determine transferable skills, aptitudes, and interests
Identify viable employment and/or independent living services options
Explore labor market and wage information
Identify physical demands and other job characteristics
Narrow vocational options to identify a suitable employment goal
Select programs or training leading to an employment goal
Investigate training requirements
Identify resources needed to achieve rehabilitation

14. Work-based learning experiences - DRAFT
In-school or after-school work experiences;
Experiences outside the traditional school setting, including internships;
Classroom activities tied to the work experience (e.g. job clubs, instruction where careers are explored, etc.);
Activities defined by training agreements;
Structured training tied to all aspects of a particular industry;
Learning competencies connect to a particular occupation or career.
Summer work experience (WIA, internships, etc.)

15. Counseling on postsecondary education options - DRAFT
Understand how postsecondary education is different than secondary education in terms of reasonable accommodation (i.e. no Special Education), how Disability Resource Centers work, how to survive doing college level work etc.
Utilize resources that facilitate access to postsecondary education such as ; nguide.html ; youth.info/blog/?p=702 ; resources#postsecondary_resources

16. Workplace readiness training - DRAFT
“Soft Skills” training that builds social skills necessary to sustain employment. Sometimes these skills are developed in venues like Job Clubs, classroom activities, NCRC classes, etc.
Courses that develop skills in managing money, navigating in the community, utilization of public transportation, leisure and recreation programs, or other instruction that helps individuals build the “underpinning” skills of life that support the ability to work.
Training that helps individuals find, get, and keep jobs.
Training that helps individuals learn “those skills or tasks that contribute to the successful independent functioning of an individual in adulthood” (Cronin, 1996). We often categorize these skills into the major areas related to our daily lives, such as housing, personal care, transportation, and social and recreational opportunities. Each student’s needs in the area of independent living are unique and should be determined through informal and formal age appropriate transitional assessments.

17. Instruction in self-advocacy - DRAFT
Builds skills to demonstrate, ‘[...]one form of advocacy, occurring any time people speak or act on their own behalf to improve their quality of life, effect personal change, or correct inequalities’”
Increases the ability to articulate one’s needs and make informed decisions about the supports necessary to meet those needs.
Provides students with the skills and abilities to: make choices; make decisions; problem solve; set and attain goals; self-advocate; and independently perform tasks.
Usually takes place between a person who has lived through a specific experience (peer mentor) and a person who is new to that experience (the peer mentee).
An example would be an experienced student being a peer mentor to a new student, the peer mentee, in a particular subject, or in a new school. Peer mentors are also used for health and lifestyle changes. For example, clients, or patients, with support from peers, may have one-on-one sessions that meet regularly to help them recover or rehabilitate. Peer mentoring provides individuals who have suffered from a specific life experience the chance to learn from those who have recovered, or rehabilitated, following such an experience. Peer mentors provide education, recreation and support opportunities to individuals. The peer mentor may challenge the mentee with new ideas, and encourage the mentee to move beyond the things that are most comfortable. Most peer mentors are picked for their sensibility, confidence, social skills, and reliability.

18. Pre-Employment Transition Coordination
Attending individualized education program meetings for students with disabilities, when invited;
Working with the local workforce development boards, one-stop centers, and employers to develop work opportunities for students with disabilities, including internships, summer employment and other employment opportunities available throughout the school year, and apprenticeships;
Work with schools, including those carrying out activities under section 614(d)(1)(A)(i)(VIII) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1414(d)(1)(A)(i)(VIII)), to coordinate and ensure the provision of pre-employment transition services under this section; and
When invited, attend person-centered planning meetings for individuals receiving services under title XIX of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C et seq.).

19. Meeting the needs of WIOA
Project Access Curriculum
High level coordination and planning with ODE and VR Admin
MOU contains PETS
Steering committee established
Transition Network Facilitators