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Article Excerpt
Public rehabilitation programs and university rehabilitation counselor education programs have been historically linked since the passage of the Amendments to the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1954 (P.L. 83-565). These amendments provided federal support to university programs to facilitate the development and sustainability of rehabilitation counselor education programs in order to provide the public rehabilitation program, and related practice settings, with a continuous flow of master's level educated rehabilitation counselors. Although the occupational status of rehabilitation counseling was established in the 1920's, it was not until the mid 1950's with the passage of this landmark legislation (Amendments to the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1954) that the discipline embarked on a series of significant and ongoing professionalization initiatives, which included at the forefront, the development of pre-service educational programs (Wright, 1980; Leahy & Szymanski, 1995; Rubin & Roessler, 2001; Leahy, 2004; Fabian & MacDonald-Wilson, 2005).
In the years that followed, rehabilitation counseling programs developed at a rapid pace, based in part through the ongoing support provided by competitive grant funds available through the Rehabilitation Act Amendments (Title III), and the partnership arrangements established with the public rehabilitation programs in each of the states where these academic programs were initiated (Wright, 1980). The nature and value of these partnerships however has been varied over the years in both effectiveness and satisfaction, as both the public rehabilitation programs and educational programs have evolved (IRI, 1999). In the late 1980's and early 1990's there was a national initiative launched to strengthen these partnership relationships through the design and implementation of an annual training conference that would bring educators and state agency personnel together on a national platform to collectively address training issues in the public rehabilitation program. This partnership, formed at the national level by the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), the National Council on Rehabilitation Education (NCRE) and the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR) continues today. With the inclusion of the Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD) in the 1992 and 1998 Amendments to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that mandates specific educational requirements for qualified personnel, the partnership between the educational community and the public rehabilitation programs became an even more critical issue (IRI, 1999).
Today, the typical relationship between a state agency and educational program includes agency membership on advisory councils, and input into the graduate training program, serving as adjunct instructors, making practicum and internship sites available to students, and employment options for program graduates. It also includes course offerings for CSPD in order to upgrade agency staff educational qualifications, and in some cases, continuing educational offerings for the professional development of agency staff.
One substantive area that is not typically an integral aspect of the partnership is research and program evaluation. While both partners may individually participate and benefit at some level from research sponsored by National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), unique studies funded through RSA (e.g., Longitudinal Study of the Vocational Rehabilitation Services Program), and other funding sources, the partnerships that have evolved over the years usually do not include this component. Given the level of accountability for outcomes, the complexity of the process, and limited resources of most state agencies to effectively devote time, energy and expertise to program evaluation, this appears to be an ideal place for university programs to further contribute to the developing partnership.
The purpose of this article is to describe a program evaluation partnership that has been developed and sustained in Michigan for the past four years by the Department of Labor and Economic Growth - Rehabilitation Services (herein referred to as MRS) and the Office of Rehabilitation and Disability Studies at Michigan State University. We will describe the evolution of the general relationship that led to the design and implementation of the program evaluation partnership, and describe the status of the project, including scope of work and how the partnership functions. Finally we will conclude with the impact of the partnership on the state agency and university program, and describe the lessons learned from the design, implementation, and maintenance of this unique partnership model.
Evolving Partnership between MRS and MSU
The Office of Rehabilitation and Disability Studies (ORDS) at Michigan State University (MSU) and Michigan Rehabilitation Services (MRS) have had a long-standing, productive, and mutually beneficial relationship that extends back some 45 years...
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