INNOVATIVE WORK-BASED LEARNING AND EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS TRAINING FOR LEARNERS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Employment has been identified as a critical need for individuals with disabilities (IWDs), given that it is an essential component of quality of adult life (Rogan, Grossi, & Gajewski, 2002). Nevertheless, despite the extensive support by federal legislation, public policy, federal initiatives and programs, the employment outcomes for IWDs are still disappointing and they continue to encounter employment problems such as lower employment rates and lower annual earnings. For example, people with disabilities have experienced significantly lower employment rates than those without a disability. According to findings from the NLTS2 (Newman, Wagner, Knokey, Marder, Nagle, Shaver, & Wei, 2011), the approximate rate of employment, at the time of the study, for individuals with disabilities ages 18-24 was 63% and was impacted heavily by the identified disability label and level of training/education. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (2022) reports 19.1% of people with disabilities were employed compared to 63.7% of their peers without a disability. Research has shown that long-term career outcomes for individuals with disabilities can drop to a rate as long as 17.2% (Baker, Lowrey, & Wennerlind, 2018). Research on evidence-based practices indicated that early employment experiences, supported internships, and collaboration are effective in preparing and supporting IWDs for their transition to employment (Bellman, Burgstahler, & Ladner, 2014; Lee & Carter, 2012). Longitudinal data demonstrates that schools can improve employment outcomes for youth with disabilities through job readiness instruction (Park, Bouck, & Duenas, 2020).