Level Up Connecticut: Pre-Employment Transition Services for Students with Disabilities

What Level Up Provides

Level Up is Connecticut's delivery system for Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) — a set of vocational preparation activities mandated by the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). The program is administered through the Bureau of Rehabilitation Services (BRS) and provides five core service categories to students with disabilities aged 16 to 22:

1. Job exploration counseling: Career interest assessments, labor market information, tours of businesses and workplaces, informational interviews with employers
2. Work-based learning experiences: Internships, apprenticeships, job shadowing, and short-term employment placements in community settings
3. Counseling on post-secondary education: Information about trade programs, community colleges, and four-year institutions with disability support services — including how accommodations translate from the K-12 IEP system to college disability offices
4. Workplace readiness training: Soft skills instruction — workplace social norms, communication with supervisors and coworkers, time management, professional appearance, and conflict resolution
5. Self-advocacy instruction: Teaching students to understand their own disability, communicate their support needs, request reasonable accommodations, and participate meaningfully in their own transition planning meetings

Why Level Up Matters for the BRS Waitlist Problem

Here's the structural issue Level Up solves: BRS operates under an Order of Selection because demand for vocational rehabilitation services exceeds funding. Priority Group 1 (individuals with the most significant disabilities) is currently open and served immediately. Priority Groups 2 and 3 are closed, meaning eligible individuals are placed on a waitlist.

Level Up provides Pre-ETS without waiting for full VR services. Pre-ETS are available to any student with a disability aged 16-22 who is eligible for or receiving special education services, regardless of their BRS priority group status. A student who would otherwise wait years for full VR services can access job exploration, work-based learning, and workplace readiness training immediately through Level Up.

This is a federal mandate, not a state courtesy — WIOA requires that at least 15% of each state's VR funding be reserved for Pre-ETS. This reservation helps keep Pre-ETS available when the main VR program is constrained by the Order of Selection.

Who Qualifies

The eligibility bar is intentionally low:

• Age: 16 to 22 (aligned with Connecticut's extended FAPE eligibility through the school year in which the student turns 22)
• Disability: Must have a documented disability — an IEP or 504 plan satisfies this requirement. A formal BRS eligibility determination is not required.
• Enrollment: Must be enrolled in an educational program (public school, private school, homeschool, or post-secondary institution)
• No BRS case required: Students can receive Pre-ETS without being an active BRS client. If the student later applies for full VR services, their Pre-ETS participation history transfers seamlessly.

Students receiving SSI or SSDI automatically qualify for at least BRS Priority Group 2, and BRS must individually assess whether their functional limitations place them in Priority Group 1. Even if the assessment lands them in PG2 (currently closed), Level Up services continue without interruption.

How to Access Level Up Services

Through the school: Many Connecticut school districts partner directly with BRS to deliver Pre-ETS within the school setting. Transition coordinators arrange group activities, bring in Level Up program providers, and coordinate work-based learning placements. Ask the PPT (Planning and Placement Team) whether the district has an active Level Up partnership.

Through BRS directly: Contact the local BRS office or use the online intake form at portal.ct.gov/ads/knowledge-base/articles/employment-services/for-job-seekers/how-to-start-your-journey-with-the-bureau-of-rehabilitation-services. Request Pre-ETS specifically and ask how to enroll in Level Up without waiting for full VR services. The student can receive these services while full VR eligibility or priority status is being handled.

Through community providers: BRS contracts with community rehabilitation providers throughout Connecticut to deliver Level Up programming. These providers operate in local communities and offer small-group and individual Pre-ETS activities outside the school setting.

Connecting Level Up to the Broader Transition

Level Up is most valuable when it's integrated into the larger transition plan rather than treated as a standalone program. The PPT should be writing IEP transition goals that align with the Pre-ETS activities the student is receiving through Level Up. When the student participates in a work-based learning placement, the IEP should document the skills practiced, the accommodations used, and the outcomes observed.

This documentation serves multiple purposes downstream:

• BRS intake: When the student eventually applies for full VR services, a history of Pre-ETS participation and documented outcomes helps BRS understand their support needs and guides the Individualized Plan for Employment (IPE).
• DDS day programming: If the student is DDS-eligible and will receive Employment and Day Supports (EDS) waiver services after school, the Level Up record helps DDS identify appropriate employment programming.
• SSI redetermination: Documented employment challenges — even in supported settings — provide evidence for the age-18 disability redetermination. If the student tried work-based learning and required extensive job coaching, one-to-one supervision, or task modification, that's functional evidence of limitations relevant to the SGA determination.

The Transition Timeline Connection

Level Up fills a specific window in the disability transition timeline: the years between age 16 (when transition planning formally begins) and the end of school eligibility (up to age 22 under A.R. v. Connecticut). During this period, the student is simultaneously:

• Receiving school-based transition services under the IEP
• Potentially applying for adult SSI at age 18
• Engaging with DDS for eligibility and waiver applications
• Applying for HUSKY C Medicaid through DSS
• Building employment skills through Level Up

The Connecticut SSI at 18 & Adult Disability Benefits Guide coordinates all of these timelines into a single action tracker, showing when to initiate BRS contact, how Level Up services integrate with DDS waiver applications, and how to sequence the school exit so that BRS full VR services or DDS day programming activate without a gap.

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