Vocational rehab

States annually receive over $2.5 billion from the Dept. of Education (Education) for vocational rehabilitation (VR) to help disabled individuals become employed. In a report released today, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that one-third of the more than 650,000 persons exiting state VR programs in FY2003 obtained a new job or kept their existing job for at least 90 days. The remaining two-thirds left without employment because they refused services or failed to cooperate with the VR counselor, or could not be located. To improve employment rates, GAO recommends that Education reevaluate its performance measures, provide timelier feedback to state VR agencies, censure poor performance and/or reward strong performance, and disseminate best practices among state VR agencies.

VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION: Better Measures and Monitoring Could Improve the Performance of the VR Program
      Full report (PDF, 4.6MB, 79p.)
      Highlights (PDF, 44KB, 1p.)
      Both from GAO