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Employment

Office of Disability Employment
Advancement and Policy

The Office of Disability Employment Advancement works across partner agencies on a wide variety of efforts to support employment for Marylanders with disabilities. Below are key activities currently underway in Maryland to advance empployment policy:

Education/Transition Policy and Activities

Maryland’s Blueprint for Education aims to ensure all students graduate college and career ready. MDOD participated in the Special Education Commission, which developed key recommendations. ODEA leadership is now working with MSDE to implement them. This effort aligns with Employment First by supporting readiness for work and higher education.

For more information, take a look at the Blueprint for Maryland - Special Education Workgroup webpage.

Key activities underway include:

Implementation of Endorsements for students exiting school with certificates. MDOD staff led two of the three workgroups responsible for developing standards and competencies in the areas of career, college, and community. These standards are designed to help students and families—beginning at age 14 as part of the transition planning process—identify post-school goals and focus on building skills in one or more of these areas. For more information, visit the MSDE Special Education webpage.

Maryland State Agency Transition Collaborative (SATC)
The SATC was established in 2016 to improve outcomes for transitioning youth in Maryland. The collaborative brings together multiple state agency partners, including MSDE’s Divisions of Early Intervention and Special Education (EIS/SE), the Division of Rehabilitation Services (DORS), Career and College Readiness (CCR), the Department of Juvenile Services (DJS), the Department of Labor’s Workforce Development and Correctional Education, the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC), and the Maryland Department of Health’s Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) and Behavioral Health Administration (BHA). Parent perspectives are represented by the federally funded Parents’ Place of Maryland, and youth voices are included through Independence Now’s Youth Leadership Forum.

SATC’s vision is that through strong interagency collaboration, all Maryland students will leave school prepared and connected to competitive, integrated employment, higher education, and/or community life.

Co-led by the Maryland Department of Disabilities (MDOD)/Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEA), MSDE DES/SE, and DORS, SATC is currently focused on updating transition resources, which will be available at mdtransitions.org. The collaborative also oversees two subcommittees focused on:

Developing a career pathway to high school diplomas for students with the most significant disabilities.

Aligning six-year career plans with IEP transition plans.

The federally funded Parent Training and Information Center and staff from the Youth Leadership Forum continue to ensure that both parent and youth perspectives are meaningfully included in this work.