Section 107 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (Act), requires the commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) to conduct annual reviews and periodic on-site monitoring of programs authorized under Title I of the Act to determine whether a state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agency is complying substantially with the provisions of its state plan under Section 101 of the Act and with the Evaluation Standards and Performance Indicators established under Section 106. In addition, this monitoring process assists the commissioner in assessing the degree to which programs offered under Title VI of the Act are substantially complying with their respective state plan assurances and program requirements. In order to achieve this purpose, RSA will collect and analyze information related to performance and compliance. The monitoring process will also encompass the State Independent Living Services (SILS) program and the Independent Living Services for Older Individuals who are Blind (OIB) programs authorized under chapters 1 and 2 of Title VII of the Act. RSA will also monitor the performance of the designated state units and the Statewide Independent Living Councils (SILC) to determine compliance with and performance on the assurances contained within the state plan for independent living.

RSA will focus its monitoring review on those aspects of the programs identified in Section 107 of the Rehabilitation Act. The established protocol for reviewing state agencies under Section 107 identifies what areas the commissioner shall consider in the monitoring process. This protocol provides state agencies and stakeholders with the steps in the process that RSA will take to: 1) identify any issues of compliance and areas of low or high performance; and 2) identify any appropriate action steps state agencies should take to achieve compliance or improve performance. The goal of RSA's monitoring process and technical assistance strategy is to improve the performance of state vocational rehabilitation agencies and independent living programs in assisting eligible individuals to achieve quality employment and independent living outcomes.

RSA began conducting periodic reviews under its new protocol of all Title I, VI and VII Part B programs in fiscal year (FY) 2007, and continuing through FY 2010. Approximately one-fourth of all states and territories will be monitored in each of the four fiscal years. RSA will provide the state VR agencies and stakeholders with a four-year monitoring plan containing each state and the year the periodic review will be conducted.

RSA has developed a protocol that provides state agencies and stakeholders with the steps in the process that RSA will take to: 1) identify any issues of compliance and areas of low or high performance; and 2) identify any appropriate action steps state agencies should take to achieve compliance or improve performance.

Download the Protocol

MS Word (108 KB) | PDF (114 KB)
Updated as of Nov. 10, 2008

The State Vocational Rehabilitation and Independent Living Programs Monitoring Information Guide (the Info Guide) is one of a number of sources that RSA uses to assist it to fully understand how the VR and IL programs operate within a state. RSA is sharing the Info Guide with state agencies and other interested parties in order to enhance the transparency of the review process and promote collaboration. The Info Guide addresses key program areas and its content is presented in the form of questions. The Info Guide is used by RSA:

• as prompts to RSA monitoring teams to explore program areas and obtain certain key program information in the course of the review; and

• in a variety of ways, for example RSA staff may pose some of the Info Guide questions during the review or they may use the questions to direct their information gathering from various sources such as the state’s: annual VR state plan; the state plan for IL; website; strategic plan; or various performance reports.

In addition:

• RSA shares the Info Guide with review participants as a courtesy and does not expect the state agency or other parties to submit answers to the questions in the guide unless both parties agree that it would be advantageous to do so; and

• RSA’s information gathering is not limited to the areas included in the Info Guide, and there may be some parts of the Info Guide (e.g. order of selection) that are not applicable in a particular state.

Download the Monitoring Information Guide

MS Word (209 KB) | PDF (202 KB)
Updated as of Nov. 10, 2008

For fiscal year 2008, nineteen agencies in fourteen states were reviewed.

• Read the FY 2008 Section 107 Monitoring reports.

Please take a moment to participate in a survey about RSA's performance on the FY 2008 monitoring of Vocational Rehabilitation agencies.

For fiscal year 2007, twenty-three agencies in fifteen states and two territories were reviewed.

• Read the FY 2007 Section 107 Monitoring reports.