ODEP and our grantees, contractors, and other partners undertake a variety of research, analysis, and evaluation efforts to help us achieve our mission. This page contains information and links to work completed or published a year or more ago. To view our current work, please visit our Current & Recently Completed Work page. For tools and other resources related to research highlighted in this section, please visit project-specific pages.
2011 — 2020
SSI Youth Recipient and Employment Transition Formative Research Project
This project contributed to the evidence base of promising initiatives that can improve employment and other adult outcomes for young SSI recipients.
Synthesis of Strategies, Models, and Definitions Related to the Employment of Young SSI Recipients
(2018) This report documents promising strategies to promote sustained, gainful employment for youth SSI recipients.
The Transition to Employment: Better Data Needed to Identify Best Practices for Youth SSI Recipients
(2018) This brief highlights two transition frameworks for youth with disabilities designed to guide intervention development and assessment, evidence on potential interventions, and federal and state programs that youth might access.
Target Population Profiles
(2018) This report identifies potential target populations for interventions and the characteristics of youth SSI recipients who are most likely to benefit from these strategies. We consider three potential target populations: youth involved with SSI, youth involved with programs other than SSI, and other youth with disabilities. The sizes of these populations vary substantially, and the characteristics of each differ and reflect youth’s program involvement. An important next step is to match the target population options with promising interventions.
Youth Populations that Could Benefit from Employment Interventions
(2018) This brief highlights three groups of potential target populations among youth with disabilities for employment interventions and possible sources of data that could be used to identify these groups. It also reviews three methodological considerations for matching a target population to an intervention.
Considerations for Identifying Promising and Testable Interventions
(2018) The purpose of this report, the final of three research reports for the project, is to identify promising interventions that could assist youth with disabilities. The report includes a summary of the findings from the two previous reports, which we use to create a menu of intervention and target population options. We then identify criteria to guide policymakers more broadly, and federal policymakers specifically, on their options for selecting interventions that could inform future policy decisions to promote sustained, gainful employment. We offer four examples to illustrate how policymakers could use these criteria to select options to meet their policy objectives.This report includes a summary of information about the study, the process, and findings from each report.
A Framework for Selecting Employment Interventions to Benefit Youth
(2018) This issue brief describes a three-step process that policymakers can use when selecting from various employment interventions and target populations among youth with disabilities.
A Worksheet to Select Employment Interventions that Benefit Youth
(2018) This issue brief includes a worksheet of questions that federal policymakers can ask themselves to help identify and develop interventions to improve employment-related outcomes for youth with disabilities.
Community of Practice: Organizational Features and Lessons Learned
(2018) This report documents the role of, involvement in, and contributions of the Community of Practice (CoP) to the Supplemental Security Income Youth Recipient and Employment Transition Formative Research project. The CoP included 70 of the nation’s leading experts in youth transition, employment, and the Social Security Administration’s disability programs. The report describes the guiding approach for organizing and drawing on the expertise of the CoP and then turns to lessons learned about the CoP’s organization.
Many Hands Make Employment Work: Collaborations between VR Agencies and Workforce Development Boards to Provide Work-Based Learning Experiences
(2018) This report presents two examples of collaborations between state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies and local workforce development boards to deliver programs that provide work-based learning experiences (WBLEs) to students with disabilities.
S@W/R2W Policy Collaborative
From 2013 through 2017, ODEP funded the S@W/R2W Policy Collaborative to explore effective practices under the SAW/RTW umbrella with a goal of informing policy recommendations targeting federal and state agencies, as well as the private sector. The Collaborative included a Community of Practice and policy work groups led by subject matter experts to guide our SAW/RTW research.
Improving Access to Data for Disability-Related Research
(2019) The purpose of this research was to improve access to data to facilitate research on Stay-at-Work/Return-to-Work (SAW/RTW) topics from four key social insurance disability programs: Workers' Compensation, Temporary Disability Insurance, Paid Family Leave, and Social Security Disability Insurance. This report provides aggregate program data and information on the feasibility and process for obtaining individual level data from state agencies to facilitate SAW/RTW research. This report also evaluates three options for developing data sharing agreements and discusses the feasibility of developing a web-based resource that will house the aforementioned data in a format accessible to researchers.
DEI Grant Evaluation
ODEP and the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) have jointly funded the Disability Employment Initiative (DEI) to increase access to training and employment opportunities and improve outcomes for youth and adults with disabilities who are unemployed, underemployed, and/or receiving Social Security disability benefits (SSDI).
DEI Grant Evaluation Rounds 1-4
(2019) This report examines the implementation, outcomes, and impacts of Rounds 1-4 of the DEI.
DEI Grant Evaluation Rounds 5-6
(2020) The Rounds 5-6 DEI Evaluation includes an implementation, outcome, and impact study. It also includes the collection of qualitative information designed to identify systems change and measure program fidelity. The impact study includes two distinct quasi-experimental designs (QED). One QED examined the impact of DEI interventions (integrated resource teams, blending and braiding of funds, customized employment, self-employment, guidepost for success, and asset development) on participants' employment and education outcomes. The second QED evaluated the impact of the career pathways component on participant outcomes.
SEED Evaluation
(2019) The purpose of this effort is to better understand the efficiency and practicality of the Office of Disability Employment Policy's SEED, a collaborative model dedicated to ensuring that state policymakers have the tools and resources they need to develop and disseminate meaningful polices related to disability-inclusive workforce development.
The AJC Accessibility and Services for PWD including Ticket Holders of the Ticket to Work Program Study
The purpose of this study was to measure the accessibility of American Job Centers (AJC) for people with disabilities. The main objective of this study was to rigorously measure the accessibility of the nation's AJC system to people with disabilities and, based on this information, make recommendations for improvements, as appropriate. A second study conducted focused on how American Job Centers served ticket holders of the Ticket to Work program.
Evaluating the Accessibility of AJCs for PWD
The Role of the Public Workforce System in the Ticket to Work Program for Persons with Disabilities
2001 — 2010
Knowledge Development and Translation Initiative for Expanding the Availability and Use of Customized Employment
(2009) This project was intended to increase knowledge regarding expanded utilization of customized employment strategies developed by ODEP through prior work.
Funding Options for Personal Assistance Services (PAS)
(2009) This effort examined the possibility of creating a PAS Flexible Spending Account (FSA). Research on employer-based reimbursement accounts was undertaken to determine the feasibility of creating an account to reimburse PAS not covered by employers as a workplace accommodation. Particular attention was given to addressing the economic and social implications of such a policy for people with disabilities.
Health and Wellness Research Initiative
(2009) The purpose of ODEP's Health and Wellness Research Initiative was to examine: (1) corporate health and wellness programs that maintain and integrate health, disability management, cost effectiveness, and productivity within organizational cultures, and (2) access to health care for people with potentially disabling conditions who do not qualify for employer-based group coverage so that they can remain in the workforce.
Corporate Wellness Research Literature Review
Access to Health Care Research Literature Review
Community-Based Financing Issue Paper
Reinsurance Issue Paper
Financial Education for Youth with Disabilities
(2009) This work is based on a comprehensive analysis of existing financial literacy programs for all youth, including those with disabilities; the effectiveness of these programs; and the role of employers and employment as they relate to financial literacy.
Financial Education for Youth with Disabilities Literature Review
Financial Education for Youth With Disabilities Issue Paper
Conducting and Benchmarking Inclusive Employment Policies, Practices, and Culture
(2008) The purpose of this study was to examine "corporate culture" and its impact on employment opportunities, experiences and engagement at work for persons with disabilities. The goal of this research was to identify how organizational structures, values, policies and day-to-day practices affect the employment of people with disabilities (e.g., with respect to recruiting, hiring, retaining and promoting people with and without disabilities).
Appendix A: Inclusive Employment Benchmarks
Survey of Employer Perspectives on the Employment of People with Disabilities
(2008) The objective of this nationally representative survey was to inform the development and promotion of policy and practice by comparing employer perspectives across industries and within companies of varying sizes. This survey emphasized current attitudes and practices of employers in 12 industry sectors, including some high growth industries as projected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).