Indiana Work-Based Learning for IEP Students: Job Shadowing, CBI, and Vocational Training

Work-based learning is where Indiana's transition planning stops being a paper exercise and starts producing real outcomes. For students with IEPs, these aren't extracurriculars — they can be part of the transition plan and support VR planning, the Transition Portfolio, and postsecondary employment.

What Counts as Work-Based Learning Under an IEP

Indiana's transition framework recognizes several tiers of work-based experiences, each building on the last:

Job shadowing. Short-term observation of workers in real employment settings. Students watch and ask questions but don't perform job duties. It's the entry point — low commitment, high exposure. Job shadowing is appropriate as early as the first transition year (age 14 or ninth grade) and can be coordinated through Pre-ETS providers or directly by the school.

Community-based instruction (CBI). Students practice functional skills in real community settings — grocery stores, libraries, public transit, banks, restaurants. CBI isn't necessarily paid employment; it's structured instruction that happens outside the school building. The IEP should specify which community settings the student will access and what skills they're working on.

Community-based vocational training. The student performs actual job tasks in a community workplace, with support and supervision. This is more intensive than shadowing and more employment-oriented than general CBI. It builds the kind of documented work experience that VR counselors use when developing the Individualized Plan for Employment.

Competitive integrated employment. Paid work in a community setting alongside workers without disabilities, at minimum wage or above. This is the end goal of the transition continuum, and some students achieve it while still in school.

How It Connects to the Transition IEP

Work-based learning doesn't happen on its own — it needs to be written into the Transition IEP. Under 511 IAC 7-43-4, the CCC must document a course of study that includes the activities designed to help the student meet their postsecondary employment goals. If the goal is competitive employment, the course of study should include a progression from exploration (job shadowing) through preparation (vocational training) to placement.

The CCC should also be coordinating with Pre-ETS providers, who deliver work-based learning experiences as one of their five core service areas. If the school has not connected the student with a Pre-ETS provider by age 15 or 16, that's a gap worth raising at the next CCC meeting.

The Transition Portfolio Requirement

Students pursuing an alternate diploma or Certificate of Completion must compile a mandatory Transition Portfolio. Work-based learning experiences are a central piece of that portfolio — documented hours, supervisor feedback, skills demonstrated, and evidence of workplace readiness. Even students on the regular diploma track benefit from maintaining this documentation, since it becomes useful evidence for VR applications and postsecondary program admissions.

Making Sure It Actually Happens

The most common complaint from Indiana families is that work-based learning goals get written into the IEP but never get implemented. The student spends four years in a classroom-based "transition" program without setting foot in a real workplace.

If this is happening, document it. The school's obligation under Article 7 is to provide the services written into the IEP. If postsecondary employment goals and work-based learning are in the plan, the school needs to be making good-faith efforts to deliver them. If they're not, that's a compliance issue you can raise through Indiana's complaint or mediation process.

The Indiana IEP Transition to Adulthood Guide includes a CCC Meeting Preparation Checklist that covers the specific work-based learning questions to raise at each annual case conference, so these services don't stay theoretical.

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