As SuRGE members conceptualize the resource/tool/recommendation that they wish to develop as a promising practice for Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) performance improvement, we will post its development here. You are welcome to explore and question us on our projects; we want to provide information to our website users!
Our goal is to show whether the tool, if implemented, can assist VR agency leaders and staff in improving performance and organizational effectiveness. Another goal is to develop and submit a proposal for a professional presentation at future Summit Conferences around the nation.
SuRGE-6: The group began on January 15th with a focus on applying evaluation and social accountability theories to quality improvement in the VR Program. We are reading Marvin Alkin’s (2013) Evaluation roots: A wider perspective of theorists’ views and influences. This group will discuss creating a resource for managing several challenges to practicing and evaluating within the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) environment. Stay tuned!
SuRGE-5: The5th reading group read Internet, Mail, and Mixed-Mode Surveys: The Tailored Design Method by Dillman, Smyth, and Christian (2009). As a learning community, the Fundamental Group created the Vocational Rehabilitation Performance Management: User’s Guide to Survey Design. In meeting with the Principal Group from February-August 2014, all members of SuRGE-5 discussed the creation of this resource to assist in more reliable and valuable surveying of VR consumers and stakeholders.
We presented the Guide at the 7th Summit Conference in Louisville, KY on September 8, 2014. Thank you to Daniel Frye (New Jersey-Blind), Elisabeth Furber (Delaware SRC), Shelley Hendren (Nevada), Russ Thelin (Utah), and Ed Tos (Delaware) who served as Principal Group members. Kudos to Michael Shoemaker (Utah), Kellie Scott (Kentucky), Elaine DeSmedt (Colorado), HarrietAnn Litwin (Delaware), Andrew Clemons (Washington), Matthew Markve (Colorado), Karen Caroll (New Jersey), Jan McFall (Nevada), and Su Pi (Michigan) who worked as Fundamental Group members.
Click on this link to the right to access the Guide: SuRGE-5 User’s Guide_Interactive Element Under Construction as of 09-16-14
Please note that SuRGE-5 members are committed to completing an Interactive Element of the Guide, which is presently under construction, as the Appendix in the Guide. As of 01-13-15, click on the link below to access one element of the interactive section; this video highlights a few internet-based survey examples and how to improve upon them (based on what the group learned together from reading the book):
Click here to download directly
The Purpose and Benefit of this User’s Guide
The purpose of the Vocational Rehabilitation Performance Management: A User’s Guide to Survey Design is to provide VR agency leaders and staff with a resource for improving performance through enhanced surveying methods among program evaluators and quality improvement specialists. Specifically, this Guide reviews survey design issues and explains different modes utilized to increase response rate and satisfy accessibility issues for persons with disabilities. The authors provide a focus toward responder’s needs so that VR professionals receive data from surveying efforts that are complete, valuable, and reliable.
Much of the information in the Guide is based on the book, Internet, Mail, and Mixed-Mode Surveys: The Tailored Design Method by Dillman, Symth, and Christian (2009). These authors practically discuss various survey modalities that have developed over time, and how both their uses and effectiveness have shifted depending on the given cultural norms and available technology at the time.
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SRG-4 Indicators of Quality for Customer Satisfaction_Toward a Framework for Evaluating the Nature, Quality, and Value in Customer Relationships
Our purpose is to respond to the Principal Group that charged the Fundamental Group with the development of a Framework for Quality: PE Indicators That Speak to Counselors and Customers. After much discussion, we agreed to focus solely on customers, although we appreciate systems-thinking and recognize that counselors will also factor into our work. We envision that as we develop the indicators and frame the context for customer engagement in VR services, we can then implement a change in the process, evaluate it, modify it, and improve it; this will provide senior leaders with a tool for managing VR customer focus. We assert that this is a work in progress.
SuRGE-4-Indicators-of-Quality Development_080913
? Working Relationship with Counselor and Client (to target the working alliance): QUALITY INDICATOR-ONE_FINAL_082213
? Need for and Usefulness of Services (to target alignment with the mission of VR): QUALITY INDICATOR-TWO_FINAL_082213
? Vocational Rehabilitation System and Partnerships (to highlight commitment to performance excellence): QUALITY INDICATOR-THREE_FINAL_082213
Our PowerPoint for the Summit Conference: Quality Indicators_5-Why_Summit 2013_082313