2. Employment & Training
3. Partners
4. WIOA Title I-A & I-B
5. Policy & Procedure Manual
6. Previous Policy - 8.4.3

8.4.3 Individualized Career Services (Comprehensive and Specialized Assessment and Individual Employment Plan only)

Effective Date: 9/1/2024 - 2/28/2025

Comprehensive and Specialized Assessment

After the initial assessment, a comprehensive and specialized assessment is provided to assess additional skill levels and determine the service needs of Adult Program and Dislocated Worker Program participants.¹

DWD-DET Order of Services requires career planners to complete the comprehensive and specialized assessment after eligibility is determined and an initial assessment has been completed. Comprehensive and specialized assessment information may be collected before eligibility determination, so long as it is without a direct cost to the Adult or Dislocated Worker Program. This information includes collecting results from recent formalized assessment instruments or diagnostic testing.

DWD-DET defines comprehensive and specialized assessments as a collaborative review by a participant and their career planner to help identify the participant's employment goals and barriers, including supportive service needs. Assessments may include information collected via:

• in-depth interviewing to identify employment barriers and appropriate employment goals, which, when achieved, will lead to economic self-sufficiency;²
• a formalized assessment instrument;
• diagnostic testing, including evaluations conducted by licensed professionals (e.g., for learning disabilities or other work-related disabilities)
  and/or
• basic skills assessments which capture additional basic skill levels.
  • These must be used when a participant is identified as deficient in basic skills through the Basic Skill Screening Tool.

DWD-DET requires local areas to use comprehensive and specialized assessments that are valid, reliable, and appropriate for the individual being assessed, and when necessary, to provide reasonable accommodation in testing to individuals with disabilities.³

DWD-DET requires staff administering standardized assessments to meet all training, education, and other minimum requirements established by the test publisher before administering the assessments. An explanation must be provided to the participant of each assessment's purpose and expectations during the assessment process.⁴ At a minimum, this explanation must include the following information:

• why the test is being administered;
• confidentiality of test results;
  AND
• how the test results will be used in the assessment process.⁵

DWD-DET requires career planners to document assessment results in ASSET Assessments and applicable services in ASSET Services. Planned and Actual services must be added based on the individual's identified needs.

Career planners may review the results of a recent assessment administered by another (non WIOA Title I) program as part of the comprehensive and specialized assessment. In this context, DWD-DET defines "recent" as completed within the previous six months.⁶ Local WDBs may establish policies for using recent assessments.⁷ However, assessments older than six months are not allowed.

Note: DWD-DET allows use of personality inventories if the WDB has an established policy based on the guidance in Testing and Assessment: A Guide to Good Practices for Workforce Investment Professionals for additional guidance.

Note: DWD-DET prohibits the use of clinical instruments. Such instruments are not appropriate for career counseling or development because they have been devised to detect psychopathology, not to assess job-relevant characteristics.⁸

Note: DWD-DET prohibits the use of any assessment tool, which can identify a mental disorder or impairment, which is considered a medical exam under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).⁹

Note: See the WIOA Title I Adult Program and Dislocated Worker Program Assessment Resources document for more details and examples.

Individual Employment Plan

An individual employment plan (IEP) identifies a participant's employment goals, establishes appropriate achievement objectives, and identifies an appropriate combination of services to help the participant achieve their employment goals, including providing information on eligible training providers and career pathways.¹⁰ Career planners must develop and update IEPs jointly with the participant when determined appropriate by the one-stop center, one-stop partner,¹¹ or Adult Program or Dislocated Worker Program staff.¹² DWD-DET defines developed and updated jointly as both the participant and the career planner signing or otherwise acknowledging¹³ the agreed upon IEP.

DWD-DET requires Adult Program and Dislocated Worker Program career planners to work with their participants to complete an IEP after the initial assessment and the comprehensive assessment and before they receive any other Title I funded participation-causing service, as outlined in 8.3.1 Order of Services.

DWD-DET recommends career planners to develop the IEP using the Employment Plan located in Comprehensive Employment Planning Toolkit (CEPT). The IEP must capture appropriate long and short-term employment/career goals, achievement objectives, interim objectives, and planned outcomes.

DWD-DET requires IEPs be guided by the results of the initial and comprehensive and specialized assessments.¹⁴ They must include how the participant will address the following items identified during the assessment process:

• Employment barriers;
• Skills needed for the participant to accomplish their goals;
• Educational needs, including any applicable training plan and Individual Training Account (ITA) which align with the training eligibility criteria and purpose and type of training service;
• Job readiness steps;
  and
• Services needed (including supportive services both WIOA and non-WIOA funded ) to ensure successful completion of the program. Services identified on the IEP must be those recorded in ASSET.

IEP Review

The IEP is an ongoing activity to help participants reach their employment goals.¹⁵ The review of an IEP aims to identify changes to a participant's service needs and/or goals, including but not limited to the following :

• newly planned or provided services;
• newly planned or completed activities;
• newly planned or attained benchmarks;
  and/or
• accomplishments.

DWD-DET requires career planners to conduct an IEP review with each participant at least once every 180 days. Local WDBs may create their own IEP review policy requirements with a shorter duration.

See the Individual Employment Plan Resources for Sample questions to consider for the IEP review.

DWD-DET requires career planners to complete an IEP review before exit, unless the participant is non-responsive, to determine if the participant needs additional services and the employment aligns with the participant's occupational goals and current career and training services progress.

IEP review documentation requirements

Career planners must document the results of the IEP review in an ASSET IEP Review Service and Case Notes, regardless of the service outcome.

A Note on Co-Enrollment

For participants co-enrolled in multiple programs, the IEP review is an opportunity to review any changes made by partner staff and determine how services can best be integrated or coordinated. For co-enrolled participants, DWD-DET recommends working with partner staff to provide joint case management, including joint IEP development and review. This collaboration will enhance service integration and reduce the administrative burden placed on the participant by acknowledging multiple IEPs.

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• ¹ WIOA Sec. 134(c)(2)(A)(xii)(I); TEGL 16-16, p.15
• ² WIOA Sec. 134(c)(2)(A)(xii)(I)(bb); 20 CFR § 678.430(b)(1)(ii);
• ³ TEN 21-07, p.14 Accommodation in the assessment process may involve ensuring physical accessibility to the test site, modifying test equipment or tests, or providing qualified assistance. Giving extra time on certain kinds of tests to test takers with dyslexia or other learning disabilities and administering a larger print version of a test to a person who is visually impaired are examples of reasonable accommodation. See reference for complete details.
• ⁴ TEN 21-07, p.62
• ⁵ TEN 21-07, attachment, p.82
• ⁶ 81 FR 56120. This section of the Federal Register says, "The Department recommends that Governors and Local WDBs develop policies for the use of recent assessments that are appropriate for the individual and the one-stop center. The recent assessment must have sufficient information to determine eligibility for training services." While this section refers to assessments for training services eligibility purposes, DWD-DET has defined "recent" for all purposes. TEGL 21-16, p.8 for the youth program states local programs may use previous assessment results if conducted within six months. DWD-DET has adopted this for the Adult Program and Dislocated Worker Program. 81 FR 56116 states DOL has decided that the use of prior interviews, evaluations, and assessments of participants for eligibility is to be determined by state and local policies.
• ⁷ 81 FR 56120
• ⁸ TEN 21-07, attachment, p.45
• ⁹ TEN 21-07, attachment, p.45
• ¹⁰ WIOA Sec. 134(c)(2)(A)(xii)(II); 20 CFR § 678.430(b)(2); 20 CFR § 680.170
• ¹¹ 20 CFR § 680.170
• ¹² 81 FR 56113-4
• ¹³ DWD-DET defines otherwise acknowledging as a participant statement submitted through electronic means (e.g., emails, screenshots of text messages, etc.)
• ¹⁴ In ASSET, the applicable services are "Initial Assessment of Interests, Skill Level & Supportive Service Needs" and "Comprehensive Individualized or Specialized Assessment." This DWD-DET requirement for Adult Program and Dislocated Worker Program IEPs is consistent with WIOA's Youth Program requirement and the TAA Program requirement that individual service strategies and IEPs, respectively, be based on assessment results. This requirement also helps provide seamless transitions from Dislocated Worker to TAA services as required by TEGL 19-16, p. 35.
• ¹⁵ 20 CFR § 680.170