CTCI is partnering with the Connecticut Bureau of Rehabilitation Services on the Connecticut Pathways to Integrated Employment (CT/PIE) project, funded by the US Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration, through September 2027. The project helps individuals with intellectual developmental disabilities transition from subminimum wage to competitive integrated employment. CTCI will support resource teams across the state in implementing employment pathways and develop training materials for future replication, while also leading the project’s evaluation to ensure sustainability and impact.

CTCI, along with Mathematica, is running the Youth Transition Exploration Demonstration (YTED) project, a study aimed at helping young people with disabilities move into jobs. This randomized controlled trial is taking place in the Philadelphia School District and is working with the Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. Participants will receive 12 months of extra support, including career planning, intensive job training, and connections to other services as needed.

CTCI is a partner of the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition: the Collaborative (NTACTC) which was funded for five years in 2019 by the U.S. Department of Education. NTACT:C provides technical assistance (TA) to all states, commonwealths, U.S. territories, the District of Columbia, and the Bureau of Indian Education to ensure transition-age youth with disabilities receive high-quality education and services. NTACT: C’s overarching goal is to implement effective practices and strategies to ensure all students and youth with disabilities graduate prepared for success in postsecondary education, training, employment, and community engagement.

The Center for Transition and Career Innovation (CTCI) is a critical partner in the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) in Advancing Employment Equity for Multiply Marginalized People with Disabilities. This initiative, funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) under the Administration for Community Living, is led by Langston University, a historically Black college/university (HBCU). The five-year project, funded in 2022, aims to explore and address employment and wealth disparities affecting multiple marginalized individuals with disabilities, considering factors such as race, ethnicity, LGBTQIA+ identity, poverty, and rural location. As part of this collaboration, CTCI is leading one of the five major studies within the RRTC. This study focuses on testing the effectiveness of a comprehensive career progression model in improving the long-term employment outcomes of multiple marginalized youth with disabilities after they transition from high school.

BRIDGE is a five-year model demonstration project awarded in 2023, led by the Connecticut Department of Aging and Disability Services' Bureau of Rehabilitation Services (BRS), and funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration through the Disability Innovation Fund (DIF) Program. This initiative aims to strengthen partnerships and align services across agencies to maximize support, resources, and access to career pathways for in-school children and youth with disabilities, including those from underserved populations. The Center on Transition and Career Innovation (CTCI) is providing technical assistance to ensure the intervention is implemented with fidelity and conducting the project evaluation. The program emphasizes professional development, collaboration, and early access to transition resources to ensure successful outcomes for participants.

Led by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE)- Division of Rehabilitation Services (DORS), MPPI is a five-year model demonstration project funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) through their Disability Innovation Fund (DIF) Program. MPPI aims to enhance transition services for children and youth with disabilities, with a focus on career development and competitive integrated employment. Additional activities include leveraging existing interagency infrastructure, improving service coordination, resource sharing, and data exchange while establishing new local interagency agreements.

The Center for Transition and Career Innovation (CTCI), in collaboration with the Maryland Department of Disabilities (MDOD), is supporting the implementation of the Assist Children to SSI (ACTS) project in Maryland through September 30, 2029. CTCI’s role includes leading key project tasks such as designing and implementing project strategies, developing training programs, and conducting outreach to families and youth for SSI enrollment. Additionally, CTCI will support transition services and oversee continuous quality improvement and service monitoring to ensure the project’s successful execution and sustainability.

The Center on Transition and Career Innovation (CTCI) is partnering with the Maryland Department of Disabilities, Maryland State Department of Education, Maryland Division of Rehabilitation Services, and Maryland Developmental Disabilities Administration to develop, pilot, and evaluate the Linkage Tool—a digital system designed to improve service coordination for students with disabilities. This innovative tool will enable schools and state agencies, including vocational rehabilitation, to seamlessly communicate and share student-level data on transition services. By capturing key indicator data and facilitating interagency collaboration, LINK enhances both accountability and coordination, ensuring more effective support for commonly served students. The project runs through September 30, 2029.

As a partner to the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW), the University of Maryland’s Center on Transition and Career Innovation (CTCI) will contribute to the coordination and delivery of the five-year project, An Integrated, Technology-Enhanced Approach to Building Capacity for Job Retention Among Persons with Disabilities in Competitive Integrated Employment. CTCI will play a key role in project evaluation, intervention, and facilitating the steering committee. Key activities include designing and implementing a comprehensive evaluation framework to assess the effectiveness and impact of the project’s interventions, along with providing ongoing training and technical assistance to local implementation sites and key stakeholders in the model demonstration.

The Pre-ETS Intake Partnership Program began as a two-year pilot program for the delivery of Pre-ETS qualification determination and assistance for eligible individuals gaining access to and training in the necessary skills to enter the workforce. Programming provides specialized service and enhanced capacity to Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE)- Division of Rehabilitation Services (DORS) in efforts to serve eligible students with disabilities. The goals of the two-year pilot program include studying the effectiveness of current Pre-ETS case management methods, implementing new and promising practices to enhance the initial referral process for Pre-ETS eligibility, and developing a fee-for-service model.

TerpsEXCEED is a 2-year certificate program at the University of Maryland College Park for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities who would not be able to apply and attend UMCP through a traditional pathway. This non-degree program culminates in a UMD certificate that is aligned with students’ career interests. TerpsEXCEED students will be fully immersed in the UMD college experience and will participate in career development activities, work experiences, internships and paid jobs. Future developments may be university fiscal support and inclusion in the state budget.

The Center for Transition and Career Innovation (CTCI) is partnering with the Region III Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Center on several research projects designed to study the impact of various titles of the ADA on the employment and community participation of individuals with disabilities.   The studies included surveying communities in the Mid-Atlantic Region on their knowledge and compliance with Title II of the ADA, as well as conducting focus groups with youth and other groups regarding how the ADA had impacted their employment and community access. 

The Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education offers a Graduate Certificate in Applied Counseling and Human Services with an emphasis on Career Planning and Placement for Youth in Transition. This one-year academic program consists of four dynamic courses (12 graduate credit hours) filled with the latest in best practices, nationally recognized instructors and award-winning content, specifically designed for working professionals. Courses may be transferred to relevant degree programs in rehabilitation and special education. Applicants must be employed in an eligible special education, rehabilitation, or related program.

Maryland PROMISE (Promoting Readiness for Minors in Supplemental Security Income) was a major grant funded by the US Department of Education awarded to the Maryland Department of Disabilities in 2013.  PROMISE was a large-scale randomized control study to test a collaborative, career-focused intervention designed to increase the likelihood that students receiving Supplemental Security Income in Maryland and their families experienced better post-school employment outcomes, increased earnings, and decreased public income support. In partnership with the Maryland Department of Disabilities, CTCI faculty and staff were disseminating best practices and recommendations for future policy and programs.

In an effort to help facilitate the most seamless and effective connections for transitioning students with disabilities, the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), Division of Early Intervention/Special Education Services (DEI/SES), partnered with the CTCI, UMD's Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS), and the Maryland Department of Disabilities (MDOD) to create an interagency data sharing tool that is in the process of being implemented across the state. The Maryland Transition Linkage Tool (MTLT) is a secure online data-sharing tool developed to make sure IEP students are connected to available resources and agencies, as appropriate. The MTLT will help to track the student’s referrals and eligibility to adult serving State agencies, available services, and post-secondary goals. Click here for more information.

CTCI is partnering with faculty in the College of Education, and the founders and staff of an innovative, affordable, inclusive apartment community to implement a mixed methods research study examining the impact of its new housing and community center  on individuals, families, and the Rockville, Maryland  community.  The Main Street Connect project was founded by Jillian Copeland, in order to provide a supportive residential environment that will enable adults with disabilities to contribute to their communities, connect with their peers and live fulfilled lives.  The evaluation study, launched in April, 2020, will use a variety of research methods to assess the “Main Street” effect on its residents with and without disabilities, as well as family members.  For more information on Main Street, see www.mainstreetconnect.org

The Moving Maryland Forward: Transition Learning Hub project, is funded by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE).  The project aims to serve as a “thought partner” with MSDE to build the infrastructure and capacity of local secondary transition teams to efficiently and effectively deliver transition services, and narrow the achievement gap for the nearly 34,000 transition-age students in Maryland. This project seeks to better identify the professional development needs of secondary special education professionals across the 24 local school systems (LSS) and their community partners in order to improve the access, equity, and progress of high-quality transition practices and programs for students with disabilities. Our primary target are students, who experience the most significant disparities in outcomes, such as minority, high incidence, and disconnected youth.  

With funding through Maryland PROMISE and the Maryland Department of Disabilities (MDOD), the faculty of CTCI established the Prince George’s County Capacity Building Project in January, 2019 in partnership with the Division of Rehabilitation Services (DORS) and Prince George’s County Public Schools. The project aims to increase the employment services capacity of three community rehabilitation providers (CRP) in Prince George's County, Maryland. With the support of the CTCI faculty, the quality and quantity of work-based learning experiences for students with disabilities in Prince George’s County will be expanded.

Funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research, the RRTC is a partnership between CTCI faculty, TransCen, Inc., and Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., to undertake ongoing academic analysis, policy development, and in-the-field practice as it relates to students and youth with disabilities making the transition from school-to-careers. CTCI faculty are leading specific national research studies that examine the provision of vocational rehabilitation services to students with disabilities as adjuncts to their educational services. This 5-year project culminated with a collaborative State of the Science Summit for leading researchers and practitioners in the field.

Funded by the US Department of Education, CTCI staff and the Maryland State Division of Rehabilitation Services are partnering in the implementation and evaluation of a five-year randomized, controlled study called Way2Work Maryland initiated in 2016.  A model intervention is being tested in eight Maryland local school districts. The project features work-based learning components and interagency collaboration to improve career and academic outcomes for students with disabilities exiting secondary school. The project will analyze both student and system outcomes as part of a summative evaluation.

The Way to Work is an interactive online professional development tool (PDT) which enables transition professionals to gain skills and knowledge to help youth access and succeed in work experiences and jobs. The eight module tool features skill building activities so that the user will be prepared to plan for student-centered work experiences, collaborate with families and other professionals, negotiate with employers, and support students and youth in the workplace. The PDT will be available at the convenience of the user and will feature live coaching and feedback.