What's New In Program Development & Research

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June 16, 2009
Pathways for Transition Site Visits

On June 4, 2009, Richard Balkus, Associate Commissioner for the Office of Program Development and Research, and staff accompanied a representative from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on site visits for the Pathways to Transition for People with Disabilities project. They visited Montgomery College’s Disability Support Services, St Luke’s Career Transition Program, a site in SSA’s Youth Transition Demonstration Project, and the MontgomeryWorks One-Stop Career Center. They met with students and staff to discuss transition experiences and practices. The goals of the Pathways project include identifying and sharing good policies and practices that achieve successful work and education transition outcomes for young people with disabilities. Nine countries are participating in the project.

June 17, 2009
Occupational Information Development Project
On June 10-11, the Occupational Information Development Advisory Panel (Panel) held its third Quarterly Meeting at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago.  Representatives of the National Association of Disability Examiners and the National Council of Disability Determination Directors gave presentations. Dr. David Shretlen, Panel member and Chair of the Panel's Mental-Cognitive Subcommittee, gave a presentation on inferences. The Panel discussed and deliberated issues that will form its first set of recommendations due to SSA at the end of September. The Panel is now developing recommendations regarding the type of information that SSA should consider collecting; i.e., the Content Model, as well as recommendations regarding methods to group or classify occupations for disability evalution. While in Chicago, OPDR and the Panel's Mental-Cognitive Subcommittee hosted a Mental-Cognitive Roundtable.  Practioners, a Disability Determination Services psychological consultant, and academic researchers with expertise in the mental and cognitive elements of human functioning participated in the discussion.  The purpose of the Roundtable was to advise us about the domains of mental and cognitive function that are critical to the ability to work and should be captured in a new occupational information system (OIS).  Also, members of OPDR's Occupational Information Development Team and the OIS Development Workgroup conducted User Needs Analysis (UNA) interviews and focus groups at SSA's Chicago Regional Office.  The purpose of the UNA was to survey SSA's users of occupational information to find out what they like about the occupational data that we currently use (the Dictionary of Occupational Titles), what they would like excluded, and what new data elements they would like included in the new OIS.  Staff from Chicago's Center for Disability, the Office of Quality Performance, and the Illinois Disability Determination Services participated in the interviews and focus groups.  The Occupational Information Development team will compile the results of the interviews/focus groups and present them to the Panel for consideration in its recommendations for the Content Model.

For additional information, please visit the Panel's website at www.ssa.gov/oidap.

April 1, 2009
Occupational Information Development Project
On April 27-29, 2009, the Occupational Information Development Advisory Panel will hold its upcoming Quarterly Meeting in Atlanta, GA. The tentative agenda for this meeting includes: presentations on a variety of issues including SSA's policies, procedures and business practices as they relate to the use of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles in the disability programs; a summary of agency concerns about its occupational information needs; a walk-thru demonstration of two disability cases and analysis of those cases from several user perspectives; presentations from stakeholders (including, but not limited to, vocational experts and claimant representatives); deliberation and discussion; and subcommittee and administrative meetings.

For additional information, please visit the Panel's website at www.ssa.gov/oidap

February 2, 2009
“The Youth Transition Demonstration (YTD) Projects: Profiles of the Random Assignment Projects” Report Released

The Office of Program Development and Research has released “The Youth Transition Demonstration Projects: Profiles of the Random Assignment Projects” report. This report was recently completed by the project evaluation contractor, Mathematica Policy Research. It is an in-depth review of each YTD random assignment site, including detailed information on the services being provided to enrolled youth and the administrative operations necessary for implementing the services. The report covers in detail the conceptual framework of the YTD initiative; the selection process of the projects for the national impact study; and the recruitment process of youth for the national study. The report presents both the core components of this research model and insight into how each individual project is operating and implementing the intervention components. This research project is the only one of its kind and will provide guidance on policy that deals with the SSI population.

Profiles of the Random Assignment Projects Report (December 11, 2008)

For more information about the YTD projects please visit http://www.socialsecurity.gov/disabilityresearch/youth.htm

January 15, 2009
Occupational Information Development Advisory Panel Established

The Office of Program Development and Research (OPDR) is in the final stages of assembling a federal advisory panel, the Occupational Information Development Advisory Panel (OIDAP), to provide expert guidance to the Occupational Information Development Project (OIDP). SSA initiated the OIDP to work on replacing the Dictionary of Occupational Titles with an occupational information system designed for SSA's disability programs. Notification of the formation of the panel was published in the Federal Register on December 23, 2008. The OIDAP will hold its inaugural meeting February 23-25, 2009. The panel is comprised of 11 external members and one SSA representative. Areas of expertise include occupational analysis, vocational rehabilitation, forensic vocational assessment, disability insurance programs, psychiatry, occupational rehabilitation, disability advocacy, and SSA disability programs and policy. Prospective panel members were contacted and have accepted their posts.

For general and meeting information, please visit the Panel’s website at www.ssa.gov/oidap.

For earlier headlines, visit the Disability Research News Archive.