Utah agencies outline Pre‑Employment Transition Services for middle school students

Maria Baldwin, Pre‑ETS program specialist at the Utah State Office of Rehabilitation, told a virtual Utah State Board of Education community-of-practice session that Pre‑Employment Transition Services (Pre‑ETS) are intended to give students with disabilities early exposure to careers and help them develop work skills. “Pre ETS are services designed to provide students with disabilities with information, support, experiences, that really help them explore their vocational interests, their preferences, and really help them to understand what their abilities are,” Baldwin said.

The session on Pre‑ETS, aimed at middle school educators and held as the first in a series of six virtual community-of-practice meetings, presented how vocational rehabilitation (VR) and school-based Pre‑ETS instructors and contractors can support students aged roughly 14–22. Deanna Taylor, a postsecondary transition specialist at the Utah State Board of Education, opened the session and described the community-of-practice’s origins: a survey of 53 middle‑school special‑education educators and a focus group formed from survey respondents to identify needs and barriers.

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