Capitol Correspondence - 04.08.19

Resource on Employment: Administration’s Yearly WIOA Reports Now Available

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ANCOR is sharing this announcement by the Department of Education (DOE) because the employment of people with disabilities has been at the center of a many national policy discussions this year. While the letter below is addressed to states, providers might find the reports discussed informative as well.

As written by DOE:

“Section 116(d)(6)(D) of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) provides that the U.S. Department of Education make available to the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions of the Senate, the performance reports for the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program authorized under Title I of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by Title IV of WIOA, and a summary of those reports. [Emphasis added by ANCOR.]

Section 116(d)(2) of WIOA requires States to submit a performance report annually on several data elements required by statute, including information on the levels of performance achieved with respect to the primary indicators of performance identified in WIOA, including the levels achieved by individuals with barriers to employment. As you know, Program Year (PY) 2017 was the first year of WIOA performance reporting for State VR agencies which reported outcomes for the Measurable Skill Gains indicator, the only indicator for which data were available for State VR agencies to collect and report on under the provisions of section 116(b)(2) of WIOA. For PY 2017, State VR agencies also provided information on participants served by the VR program. 

The Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) is notifying State VR agencies and stakeholders that the PY 2017 reports and the summary are now available on RSA’s website. In addition to the State performance reports, the website provides a national summary of the VR program for PY 2017. The website also provides links to data element definitions for the performance reports.”