Your Guide to IEP Vocational Assessments: Helping Disabled Students Find Their Path

“She likes to braid hair.” Several years ago, I was an Educational Surrogate for a teen in a neighboring county. That sentence was her entire IEP transition plan. Seriously, that was it. And, she had been transition age for 2 years.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2020 only 18% of disabled people had meaningful employment in this country. That’s abysmal! In my early days as a working advocate, most of my clients were teens in the transition phase.

I can’t even tell you how many IEPs I saw with terrible transition plans. Or, in some cases, non-existent (like my example above).

I find that when it comes to schools and transition planning, it’s all or nothing. Either a school district does a fantastic job and hits it out of the park. Or, they fail miserably and put “[Student] will research 3 post-secondary schools/opportunities.” Nothing in between. They either get it and completely embrace it, or they don’t.

Vocational Planning

Thankfully, this is one area of IEPs where I have seen improvement in the 15 years that I’ve been an advocate. Many service providers are offering more and different opportunities for students, and that is trickling down into the IEP process in the schools.

Another positive change I have seen over the past decade is the concepts of self-determination and person-centered planning becoming more popular and consistent.

For too long, disabled people have not been able to make choices about their existence that many allistics take for granted.

How to Request a Vocational Assessment

If your child needs a vocational assessment, the process is similar to any other IEP evaluation request. Put your evaluation request in writing, or wait for your child’s re-evaluation period and request it then. As an Advocate, I recommend getting two.

The first one when the child enters transition at age 14/16, and the second one when they are getting ready to exit high school. In many states, that can be age 14-21, and a child’s skills and abilities can change tremendously in 7 years’ time.

I have a whole separate post on how to request IEP evaluations.

You want to ask your team who will be conducting the evaluation, and what their qualifications are. This may require that a separate agency is brought in to do this, and be a part of the IEP team. IDEA mentions this in transition.

Why does a student need a vocational assessment?

A vocational assessment is crucial for students, especially those with disabilities, as it helps guide them toward meaningful and realistic career paths. Here’s why a vocational assessment is so important:

1. Identifying Strengths and Interests

• Understanding Abilities: Vocational assessments help students discover their strengths, talents, and skills, which are key factors in finding a job they will enjoy and excel at.
• Exploring Interests: These assessments reveal what the student is passionate about, allowing them to pursue careers that align with their interests, leading to greater job satisfaction and motivation.

2. Setting Realistic Career Goals

• Matching Skills to Jobs: The assessment identifies jobs that match the student’s abilities, helping them set achievable career goals. This ensures they pursue a path that is both realistic and fulfilling.
• Planning for the Future: With a clear understanding of their vocational potential, students can set short- and long-term career goals and develop a roadmap to reach them.

3. Personalized Education and Training Plans

• Tailoring IEP Goals: The results from vocational assessments are used to create or adjust the student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) to include career-related goals and activities that prepare them for the workforce.
• Identifying Training Needs: If a student requires specific skills or training to reach their career goals, the assessment can pinpoint these areas, allowing for targeted educational and vocational training.

4. Facilitating Smooth Transitions

• From School to Work: For students nearing the end of their school years, vocational assessments play a critical role in planning the transition from school to employment or further education.
• Independence and Self-Sufficiency: The assessment helps students gain the skills and confidence needed to enter the workforce, fostering greater independence and self-sufficiency as they move into adulthood.

5. Improving Employment Outcomes

• Increasing Job Success: By aligning a student’s career path with their strengths and interests, vocational assessments increase the likelihood of finding and keeping a job that they are capable of performing well.
• Reducing Job Mismatches: The assessment helps avoid placing students in jobs that are a poor fit for their abilities or interests, reducing the chances of job dissatisfaction or failure.

6. Providing Insight for Support Services

• Customized Support: The results of a vocational assessment can highlight areas where a student might need additional support, whether that’s through accommodations, assistive technology, or job coaching.
• Advocacy and Resources: Vocational assessments provide concrete data that can be used to advocate for necessary resources and services that help the student succeed in their chosen career.

7. Empowering Students and Families

• Informed Decision-Making: With clear insights into potential career paths, students and their families can make informed decisions about education, training, and employment.
• Building Confidence: Knowing what they are good at and where they can succeed gives students the confidence to pursue their goals and advocate for themselves in the workplace.

The right student vocational assessment ensures that their education and career planning are aligned with their abilities, interests, and future aspirations.

IDEA and Vocational Assessments

From IDEA:

(a) Transition services means a coordinated set of activities for a child with a disability that—

(1) Is designed to be within a results-oriented process, that is focused on improving the academic and functional achievement of the child with a disability to facilitate the child’s movement from school to post-school activities, including postsecondary education, vocational education, integrated employment (including supported employment), continuing and adult education, adult services, independent living, or community participation;

(2) Is based on the individual child’s needs, taking into account the child’s strengths, preferences, and interests; and includes—(i) Instruction;(ii) Related services;(iii) Community experiences;(iv) The development of employment and other post-school adult living objectives; and (v) If appropriate, acquisition of daily living skills and provision of a functional vocational evaluation.

Examples of IEP Vocational Assessments

There are lots of functional vocational evaluation options available. Think about what your student needs, and make sure that their specific special education vocational assessment hits all those target areas.

Here are some examples of vocational assessments that are commonly used to help disabled students identify their strengths, interests, and potential career paths:

1. Interest Inventories

• Self-Directed Search (SDS): This assessment matches a student’s interests with potential careers. It helps students identify occupations that align with their preferences and personalities.
• Career Interest Inventory (CII): This tool asks students about their likes and dislikes in various activities and then suggests careers that fit their interests.

2. Aptitude Tests

• Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB): While originally designed for the military, the ASVAB is also used in schools to assess a student’s strengths in areas like math, science, and technical skills, helping them identify suitable careers.
• O*NET Ability Profiler: This assessment measures a student’s abilities in different areas, such as verbal skills, arithmetic reasoning, and spatial ability, which can inform their career choices.

3. Skills Assessments

• WorkKeys® Assessment: Developed by ACT, WorkKeys measures workplace skills in areas like applied mathematics, reading for information, and locating information. It’s often used to help students prepare for jobs that require specific skill sets.
• Valpar Component Work Sample Series (VCWS): This hands-on assessment evaluates a student’s vocational skills through work samples that simulate job tasks, helping to determine their readiness for different types of work.

4. Personality Assessments

• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): This popular personality assessment helps students understand their personality type and how it might relate to different careers.
• Keirsey Temperament Sorter: Similar to the MBTI, this tool categorizes students into one of four temperaments, helping them explore career options that match their personality.

5. Functional Assessments

• Transition Planning Inventory (TPI): This assessment evaluates a student’s readiness for adult life, including employment, education, and independent living, by looking at their functional abilities and needs.
• Enderle-Severson Transition Rating Scale (ESTR): The ESTR assesses a student’s skills in areas critical to employment, such as self-care, social skills, and community involvement, helping to identify support needs for transition planning.

6. Situational Assessments

• On-the-Job Evaluations: These assessments place students in real or simulated work environments to observe their performance, work habits, and interaction with coworkers. It provides direct insight into a student’s ability to perform specific job tasks.
• Job Shadowing: While not a formal assessment, job shadowing gives students the chance to observe professionals in different careers, helping them assess their own interest and aptitude for those roles.

7. Adaptive Behavior Assessments

• Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (Vineland-3): This tool assesses how well students adapt to everyday life activities, which is crucial for understanding what types of jobs they might be able to perform.
• Scales of Independent Behavior-Revised (SIB-R): This assessment looks at a student’s functional independence across various life areas, including work, to determine appropriate career paths and supports needed.

These vocational assessments can provide valuable insights for IEP teams, parents, and the students themselves as they plan for life after high school. Each tool serves a different purpose, and using a combination of assessments often gives the most comprehensive view of a student’s vocational potential.

Levels of Vocational Assessments

Many state and professional agencies have divided their vocational assessment process into 3 levels.

In the world of special education acronyms, to my knowledge, no one calls it a VA.

But, I have often heard it referred to as a “voc assessment” or just “voc.” (rhymes with woke) Just FYI in case you hear it.

Level 1 Vocational Assessment: The initial process designed to arrive at a decision for vocational planning. This approach may consist of interviews, functional assessment, limited standardized testing, collecting and analyzing background information. It is used to assess one or two specific skills related to a specific vocational option.

A Level 1 screening may include: a re-evaluation of existing data, an informal interview with the student to determine his or her interest in vocational education and functional skill sets, an informal conference with the teacher to gather information about a student’s interests, abilities, and adaptive behaviors (functional skills), an informal conference with parents to determine the post-secondary expectations for their son or daughter and their perceptions of the student’s skill set, and observations of student behavior and academic performance.

Level 2 Vocational Assessment: A process to further investigate vocationally relevant information. It may include additional interviewing, additional vocational counseling, additional standardized testing, transferable skills analysis, and/or job matching. Adaptive transferable skills are usually not an issue. Vocational options are not yet known.

A Level 2 assessment may include: aptitude, achievement, and interest inventories, work readiness assessment of job-seeking and job-keeping skills, work-related behavior inventories, learning style inventories, and a functional living skills assessment that indicates a student’s preparedness to live and work independently.

Level 3 Vocational Assessment: Level 3 is a comprehensive vocational process when more in-depth information is needed beyond Levels 1 and 2 that systematically uses actual work placements to assist an individual’s vocational development and career decision making. The process can use work samples, standardized tests, situational assessments, behavioral observation, community-based assessment, transferable skill analysis, job matching, and background analysis.

A Level 3 assessment may include formal assessment instruments that provide detailed instructions for administration and scoring, Situational assessment to observe and evaluate a student’s work-related behaviors in a controlled or semi-controlled work environment, Work samples/simulated job stations to simulate specific jobs.

What is important to note is that these 3 levels are typically considered to build on each other and are not mutually exclusive. It’s also worth noting that while many agencies and schools have defined levels and processes for determining post-secondary needs, none of these is “law” or statute.

Some IEP teams get into a rut with “this is how we do post-secondary transition with IEP students” and that procedure may not be what your child needs. Your child may need components of all 3 levels. These are only provided as a guideline.

Some students may not need any level of formal assessment service beyond collecting relevant information portfolio style. Others may need one, two, or all three services to further their self-awareness and enhance the career development process. Transition assessment data provide secondary educators with valid information to update IEPs and compile an SOP for each student as the student exits school.

Vocational assessment is the process of gathering information about a student’s interests, abilities, and aptitudes as they relate to his or her vocational potential.

Self Determination Boosters Success

Solid vocation and transition planning is essential. I can’t say this enough. I worked as a vocational instructor and too often I saw students unsuccessful in vocational programs that they had not chosen. Their choices were directed at them, not self-determination.

For example, it’s a common ‘thing’ to direct students who struggle with social skills to work with animals, ergo, in the veterinary field. Well, guess what? None of the animals goes to the vet by themselves. They all come with an owner attached to the leash. As a result, these students were unsuccessful over and over, because a veterinary practice actually requires a high level of people skills.

It’s essentially a customer service position! As a result, the students wasted time taking a program that was going to be of no value to them in the future because they could not keep a job. And, the student’s confidence and psyche take a hit because everyone told them that this is what they “should” do, and they didn’t want to make waves and speak up and disappoint the adults around them.

Proper exposure to all aspects of a career and a solid vocational assessment would have prevented these mistakes.

Many IEP students have not had the same opportunities as their non-disabled peers in terms of exposure to career preparation options. In the past, the career planning process for youth with disabilities often did not reflect the values of choice and self-determination.

Many youths with disabilities were relegated to passive roles in their own career planning process. As a result, many disabled adults have not had the opportunity to pursue career options that they found motivating and satisfying.

Still, too many IEP students leave high school uncertain of their interests and abilities and unprepared to choose or pursue a career.

Effective career planning and assessment for transition-age youth allows them to consider multiple options, act with self-advocacy, bridge academic and career plans, and equip themselves with critical information.

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