Closing the Employment Gap: Presentations from the 2014 State of the Science Conference
This State-of-the-Science conference, held April 8-9 in Bethesda, MD, showcased research from three National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)-funded employment Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers (RRTCs). A common theme underlying these RRTCs is a commitment to conducting research that enhances the scientific evidence to reduce the employment gap between people with and without disabilities. These RRTCs contribute to addressing this theme in three different ways:
- The Rehabilitation Research & Training Center on Evidence-Based Practice in Vocational Rehabilitation (RRTC-EBP-VR) provides practitioners with knowledge and tools for evidence-based vocational rehabilitation practices to improve employment rates and quality of employment outcomes within the state/federal vocational rehabilitation system.
- The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Employment Policy and Measurement (EPM-RRTC) investigates the impact of government policies and programs on employment outcomes and facilitates translation of this knowledge for policy and program administration practices that reduce work disincentives, increase participation in employment service programs and improve coordination between employment services and safety net programs.
- The Individual-Level Characteristics Related To Employment Among Individuals With Disabilities Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (IC-RRTC) is utilizing the enormous variation in employment outcomes among people with disabilities to understand which individuals fare relatively well with respect to employment and why to build an evidence base needed to improve strategies and interventions for attaining better employment outcomes for the various subpopulations of people with disabilities.
Six by '15 Campaign 