Employment Outcomes for Students with Intellectual Disabilities in Postsecondary Education Programs: A Scoping Review

The purpose of this scoping review was to examine research evidence supporting the use of postsecondary education programs as a facilitator of competitive integrated employment for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Despite previous calls for change, most individuals with intellectual disability remain unemployed or segregated in vocational workshops, and do not participate in postsecondary education after exiting high school. This scoping review builds upon the work of previous reviews on postsecondary education programs for students with intellectual disabilities by focusing specifically on employment. This review included a systematic search of peer-reviewed articles and grey literature sources published between 2000 and 2020. A total of eleven studies in the empirical literature and one study in the grey literature met inclusion criteria. The final sample of research articles generally suggests positive results for the effect of postsecondary education programs on employment outcomes that need to be verified through future research and with the help of better reporting. Wide variation in implementation and reporting of employment coursework, applied vocational experiences, and transition processes to employment following program exit were observed across studies. Limitations, implications and recommendations for practice, policy, and future research are discussed.