Interagency Collaboration: Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies and School Districts

Abstract

Vocational rehabilitation (VR) is one of the services offered to students with disabilities transitioning from secondary education to adulthood. To process the VR system, interagency collaboration is a necessary practice that state vocational rehabilitation agencies and local school districts must establish. While interagency collaboration is an ongoing process, effective collaboration may vary depending on the structure and makeup of the state vocational rehabilitation agency. In this paper, I will examine staff’s perception of interagency collaboration with the local school district from the view of the VR staff. I will address the stated problem and provide a narrative inquiry into what staff believe effective collaboration looks like. Key findings of this study are that one office perceives that collaboration is poor and needs revision, whereas another office reported an opposite view of the situation.