This study examines post-school outcomes of youth with disabilities that were served by the Illinois vocational rehabilitation (VR) agency while in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) through a mixed methodology research design. In order to understand how outcomes differ among the study population, a large-scale dataset of the employment outcomes of…

Youth with disabilities face significant barriers in achieving positive post-high school outcomes, particularly when transitioning out of high school and entering the workforce, a problem that has been documented and studied by many researchers. The impact of previous work experience has long been viewed as related to positive outcomes when youth…

Youth with disabilities are disproportionately represented in the child welfare system (Crosse, Kaye, & Ratnofsky, 1992; Sullivan & Knutson, 2000). Although research on this topic is limited, youth with disabilities who are emancipating from foster care are at risk for particularly poor outcomes, experiencing even lower rates of employment,…