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  1. TITLE: Delivering on the Promise: U.S. Department of Education Self-Evaluation to Promote Community Living for People with Disabilities

  2. AUTHOR: Specific author unknown (KACW 3/13/03)

  3. PUBLIC INPUT: In the Fall of 2001, the Department of Education (ED) participated in several "public input" activities organized by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) where they received information from the public about the following concerns:
    • The value and importance of work in the life of an individual with a disability;
    • The importance of choice in service delivery and employment options;
    • The critical need for independent living services and resources;
    • The lack of employment and educational opportunities for individuals with disabilities;
    • The need to promote integration in work and school settings;
    • The need to increase access to assistive technology for students and adults with disabilities; and
    • The growing risk of school failure for students with disabilities.

  4. Initiatives Promoting Community Options:
    5. The Olmstead Project - The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) began a joint project with HHS and the Department of Labor (DOL) to promote grass-roots advocacy in support of home/community-based waivers under Medicaid. The Independent Living Research Utilization project (ILRU) and the Brain Injury Association, Inc. (BIA) are jointly conducting this project by assisting states to implement the Olmstead ruling and designate a core group of cross-disability leaders to work with states to develop their five-year comprehensive plan for providing supports and services. ED, HHS and DOL funded the training, while the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation supported the developmental work.

    On January 22, 2001, OSERS changed the definition of "employment outcome" to eliminate extended employment such as sheltered workshops and other types of employment in segregated settings. The State VR Services Program has expanded its reauthorization in 1992 in the areas of "consumer involvement" and "informed choice". Consumer involvement is mandated at both the individual and systems levels self-directed "individual plans for employment" and consumer participation.

    Under IDEA, transition planning begins at age 14, or younger, if determined appropriate by the child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) team. The transition requirements of IDEA challenge education and other service providers to improve the post-school results of students with disabilities by planning and preparing students and families for independent living. IDEA provides for transition services to include post-school adult living objectives, such as identifying, arranging for and coordinating any anticipated services before the student leaves the secondary school setting. The 1992 reauthorization of the Rehabilitation Act required the development of formal agreements between the state VR agencies and the state education agencies responsible for special education programs. The appropriate agencies within ED are working with state VR agencies to improve post-school results for students with disabilities leaving secondary school and train VR personnel in transition services planning, involving regular and special education teachers in these activities.

  5. Special Education Activities: The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) assists in providing early intervention services to children from birth through age 2, and special education and related services to children with disabilities ages 3 through 21. The reauthorization of the IDEA in 1997 added new provisions to allow flexibility to improve results and promoted more inclusive practices and better coordination of services at the local and state levels. OSEP has identified the following programs and services that relate directly to community-based services and is actively engaged in increasing self-determination in community living

    • A local educational agency (LEA) may use up to 5% of its IDEA Part B funds to develop strategies to improve the access of eligible children and their families to comprehensive social, health, and educational services that can help students succeed in school by linking public and private agencies to provide these services.
    • The LEA must ensure that assistive technology devices and services are made available to a child with a disability if required as a part of the child’s special education and related services. Under certain conditions, students with disabilities may keep and use their assistive devices after he or she leaves school, even if IDEA funds purchased the device.

  6. Post-Secondary Education: The ED Office of Post-Secondary Education (OPE) has several programs that address the needs of individuals in postsecondary settings encouraging community and independent living, including:
    • Demonstration Projects to Ensure Students with Disabilities Receive a Quality Higher Education Program provides technical assistance and professional development in universities to provide teachers with the skills and support to improve their methods of teaching students with disabilities.
    • The Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnerships (LAAP) supports partnerships of postsecondary education institutions, businesses, associations, and any other relevant organizations to create effective distance education/training programs.
    • The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) is mandated to "encourage the reform, innovation, and improvement of postsecondary education, and providing equal educational opportunity for all" by improving the quality of postsecondary education and improving access to postsecondary education.
    • The Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) duty is to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence through enforcement of civil rights. OCR engages in proactive measures by providing technical assistance to states and local school districts. OCR’s Program Legal Group has prepared a resource document on transitioning from secondary school to post-school opportunities. OCR is also conducting targeted technical assistance and training initiatives to assist school district personnel, school personnel, state special education directors, students with disabilities and their parents, parent groups, and other stakeholders to meet their legal responsibility to transition student into postsecondary institutions.

    An example of this technical assistance is the Cleveland OCR enforcement office that has developed a series of regional conferences to provide a forum to assist students with disabilities as they transition from high school to college, vocational, technical, proprietary school, or employment.

  7. Results of the Self-Evaluation-Issues and Solutions: ED conducted a self-evaluation of the laws, regulations and policies that relate to the programs and projects that it administers.

    Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS)

    Issue: The Olmstead decision mandated community living options, but efforts need to be made to ensure that ED and other federal agency statutes, regulations, and programs that require and encourage community living alternatives are being properly implemented at the state and local levels.

    Solution: OSERS with DOL and HHS, has undertaken funding the Olmstead Project in which cross-disability leaders and advocates are trained to work with states to develop and implement the comprehensive state plans for providing consumer-directed home and community-based services for persons with significant disabilities.

    Issue: Transition services to individuals with disabilities are a shared responsibility between special education programs and state VR service programs. Improved coordination between these programs at the state and local levels will lead to the provision of better transition services for students with disabilities.

    Solutions: Coordinate joint agency monitoring of state VR agencies and state education agencies to improve implementation of transition services requirements under the Rehabilitation Act and the IDEA and provide technical assistance to state and local agencies.

    Establish a "prime study group" under the Institute on Rehabilitation Issues and develop a publication targeted to VR counselors, appropriate school officials, and other service providers on transition from school to work for young adults with disabilities.

    Issue: The Parent Training and Information (PTI) projects provide training and technical assistance to individuals with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities on the rights, remedies and programs under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, IDEA and Olmstead which is particularly important for the families of transition-age youth because they need to know about the resources available to assist their child as they transition into the community.

    Solutions: RSA and OSEP will coordinate technical assistance activities designed to provide information on the Olmstead decision and how PTI projects may serve parents and their children with disabilities when information and assistance is needed on home and community living options. PTI projects can help families raise the expectations they have for community integration by showing them that community alternatives to institutionalization do exist. Parent centers can also develop and disseminate written materials for parents in a variety of formats such as handouts, newsletter articles, or pamphlets explaining Olmstead and provide information on community-based services.

    Issue: The Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) supports a wide range of programs and activities that help young people and adults secure the knowledge and skills they need to achieve successful careers. The Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act provides more than $1 billion annually to states to support the improvement of vocational and technical education programs at the secondary and postsecondary levels, including students with disabilities. Local education agencies and institutions of higher education are allocated 85 percent of the funds by formula. States may reserve 1 percent of the total funds allocated to the state to serve individuals in institutions, such as correctional institutions and ICFMRs. OVAE currently lacks sufficient information on expenditures and information to know the extent to which this authority has been used to support state institutions for persons with disabilities, and if so, for what purposes.

    Solution: OVAE will collect information about this issue to evaluate the extent to which state implementation of the authority is consistent with the Executive Order. OVAE expects to make recommendations for amending the authority based upon these findings as part of its forthcoming proposal to reauthorize the Perkins Act.

    Issue: The Adult Education and Family Literacy (AEFLA) Act provides more than $500 million annually to states to support community-based adult basic education, English literacy, and adult secondary education instruction. An estimated 16 percent of the nearly 3 million individuals served last year were between the ages of 16 and 19; another 25 percent were between the ages of 19 and 24. Due to ambiguity in the language of the AEFLA, some out-of-school youth with disabilities between the ages of 16 through 21 may not be receiving both adult education and the special education services under the IDEA.

    Solution: OVAE will seek to address this barrier to services for individuals with disabilities through administrative action or, if appropriate, in reauthorizing or amending AEFLA.

    Issue: While the number of students with disabilities attending postsecondary institutions is increasing, many of these students do not often understand the different standards that exist and the types of services available in postsecondary settings compared to secondary schools. Students are often confused about their rights and obligations; this can result in unreasonable expectations. Also, students may receive delayed or inappropriate services.

    Solution: OCR's Program Legal Group is planning to issue a resource document targeted to parents and students that clarifies the rights of students and the obligations of schools as students with disabilities transition from high school to postsecondary education. A number of resource materials exist already. OCR is collecting and reviewing existing materials and will identify and supplement these, as needed, in the resource document.

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