Piloting an Assessment of Foundational Workplace Competencies for Students With Disabilities and Competitive Employment Aspirations

Oct 15, 2026

The study addresses the need for a research-based, structurally sound way to assess foundational workplace competencies for students with disabilities, enabling teachers to evaluate skills and write appropriate transition goals. A pilot design tested whether modifications to the Employer Identified Trait Assessment (EITA) could be made for school settings without changing its underlying structure. Data from 402 transition-age students, professionals, and family members were analyzed across three EITA versions, with results indicating modifications preserved the assessment structure; practice implications are discussed.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Keywords and Background

Employment outcomes and competency needs

Employer-identified workplace skills

Foundational competencies framework

Rationale and study purpose

Piloting an Assessment of Foundational Workplace Competencies for Students With Disabilities and Competitive Employment Aspirations Maeghan N. Hennessey, PhD 1, Kendra L. Williams-Diehm, PhD 1, and James E. Martin, PhD 1 Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals 2023, Vol. 46(4) 184–196 © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2023 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[DOI: 10.1177/21651434221141405](DOI: 10.1177/21651434221141405)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/21651434221141405)[cdtei.sagepub.com](cdtei.sagepub.com) Abstract It is critical students with disabilities be adequately prepared with the foundational competencies necessary for entry-level employment. However, the field needs a research-based, structurally sound assessment to assist teachers in assessing such competencies and then writing appropriate transition goals. The purpose of this pilot study is to determine whether modifications can be made to the Employer Identified Trait Assessment (EITA) for use in school settings without altering its underlying structure. Data were collected from 402 transition-age students, professionals, and family members. Three versions of the EITA were modified for use in this pilot study. Results show modifications did not influence the underlying assessment structure. Implications for practice are discussed. Keywords transition assessment or planning, transition area Preparing students for work after high school has been a dominant theme in transition education for the last 40 years (Halpern, 1994; Lee & Carter, 2012; Wagner et al., 2017) . Students with disabilities have historically shown lower rates of stable, competitive employment upon leaving their educational experiences (Newman et al., 2011; Test et al., 2009) compared with students without disabilities. In 2018, only 37.8% of individuals with disabilities living in community settings ages 21 to 64 were employed, compared with 80.0% of individuals the same age without a disability (Erickson et al., 2020) . Although not a new difference, the severity of this discrepancy remains alarming even after decades of efforts to help students with disabilities transition into employment after high school (Madaus et al., 2013). To resolve this discrepancy, students with disabilities should be adequately prepared with the skills employers report as necessary to successfully perform the jobs for which they are hired. Although navigating, requesting, and advocating for workplace accommodations to confront environmental and contextual barriers (e.g., Sundar et al., 2017) is a necessary skill for individuals with disabilities (e.g., Eckstein et al., 2017) to be employed at a rate comparable to their nondisabled peers (Lindsay et al., 2019), students must also be prepared to successfully navigate necessary workplace skills (e.g., Eckstein et al., 2017; Rogers et al., 2008) . In other words, individuals with disabilities must be equipped with the specific skills employers report as being necessary for success in a work setting (Nochajski & Schweitzer, 2014), regardless of whether or not they have a disability (Ju et al., 2014) . It is these competencies, or learned skillsets, about which transition goals are often written in individualized education program (IEP) documents for students with disabilities who wish to be competitively employed. The importance of developing a workforce population, including those with disabilities, with the competencies necessary for the demands of 21st-century employment is evident in reports from The Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS; United States Department of Labor, 1992), the American Institutes for Research (Welch et al., 2017), and various economic agencies (e.g., World Economic Forum, 2016) . In particular, the SCANS report discussed two types of learned skill sets for which students need to be prepared for futu

FAQs

What was the purpose of the pilot study?

Determine whether the Employer Identified Trait Assessment (EITA) can be modified for school settings without changing its underlying structure.

How was the data collected and from whom?

Data were collected from 402 transition-age students, professionals, and family members.

What did the study find about the EITA modifications?

Modifications did not influence the underlying assessment structure, indicating structural stability across three modified versions.

Oct 15, 2026

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