Expanding Work-Based Learning and Transition Opportunities in Vermont: Outcomes Up to Six Years After Enrollment

Linking Learning to Careers (LLC), a Rehabilitation Services Administration-funded demonstration project in Vermont, connected youth with disabilities to a set of services with a focus on work-based learning experiences in integrated environments. LLC’s design supported high school students in their transitions to employment or postsecondary education. This present study extends the timeframe of the initial evaluation (which observed participants up to the end of the demonstration) to up to five years after demonstration enrollment. LLC youth remained connected with HireAbility Vermont after the demonstration concluded and attained a higher employment rate at case closure. Among employed youth, LLC led to an increase in hourly wages while not impacting total weekly hours worked. LLC maintained positive impacts on two of the three postsecondary education outcomes examined. Additionally, LLC had no detectable impact on annual earnings. Program administrators and staff offering transition services to youth with disabilities could consider the continued success of the program—along with the evaluation considerations raised in this paper—to support offering a stronger set of services to youth and develop better evaluation strategies to understand the effects of their programs.