Project SEARCH Program: The School-to-Work Model That Actually Leads to Jobs

Most work experience placements for students with disabilities in high school look the same: a few hours a week in a sheltered setting, minimal real-world interaction, and skills that don't translate directly to an employer's actual job opening. Project SEARCH is a different model entirely, and the employment outcomes back it up.

What Is Project SEARCH?

Project SEARCH is an employer-driven, school-to-work internship program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities in their final year of high school eligibility. Students spend the entire school day at a host business — typically a hospital, corporate campus, hotel, or large employer — rotating through three different internship placements across the year.

The model originated at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in 1996 and has expanded to over 600 sites in the United States and internationally. The core premise is that real workplace immersion — not simulated classroom instruction — produces employment-ready young adults.

How the Program Is Structured

A Project SEARCH program operates as a collaboration between three parties: the host employer, the school district, and a vocational rehabilitation agency.

The host employer provides the physical space, internship placements, and regular on-site supervision. Businesses are selected for their size (enough departments to offer rotating placements), their commitment to inclusive hiring, and their willingness to collaborate with the program team.

The school district provides the special education teacher or transition coordinator who teaches job readiness skills on-site each morning before students rotate into their internship assignments. Academic content is embedded in the work context: math skills are practiced through inventory counting, reading through following work orders.

Vocational rehabilitation provides job coaching, supported employment specialists, and typically funds program components that the school district cannot. In many sites, VR also supports post-program placement and follow-along services after a student is hired.

Who Can Participate?

Project SEARCH targets students who:

• Have an intellectual disability, significant developmental disability, or autism with significant support needs
• Are in their final year of high school eligibility — most participants are 19–21 years old and using their extended eligibility under IDEA
• Have the foundational skills to participate in a real work environment with support (appropriate social behavior, basic communication, physical ability to perform work tasks with accommodations)
• Are actively seeking competitive integrated employment as a post-school goal

Students with mild to moderate disabilities who are on a traditional graduation track typically are not the target population. The program is designed for students who need intensive, supported work experience and for whom college is not the primary post-school pathway.

What Students Do During the Program

Each Project SEARCH student rotates through three internship placements over the school year — typically three months in each placement. Internship assignments are real jobs within the host business: environmental services, materials management, food service, patient transport, clerical support, laboratory specimen processing, retail operations.

The placements are designed to build progressively more independent performance. In the first rotation, job coaches may provide significant on-the-job support. By the third rotation, the expectation is that the student can perform core tasks with minimal prompting.

Throughout the year, on-site instruction covers workplace readiness: attendance and punctuality, professional communication, problem-solving when things go wrong, and self-advocacy with supervisors. These are precisely the areas that are hardest to teach in a classroom and easiest to teach when a real job is on the line.

Employment Outcomes

Studies of Project SEARCH outcomes consistently show employment rates significantly above national averages for comparable populations. Published data indicates that 70–75% of Project SEARCH graduates obtain competitive integrated employment (CIE) — jobs in the general labor market, at or above minimum wage, working alongside non-disabled peers.

This compares to national employment rates for people with intellectual disabilities that hover between 18–22%. The structured immersion model, the employer relationship built over the school year, and the direct pipeline from internship to hiring account for much of the difference.

How to Get Your Student Placed

Project SEARCH programs are not universally available — the program depends on a willing host employer partnering with a local school district and VR agency. To find sites near you:

1. Visit the Project SEARCH website (projectsearch.us) and use the site locator
2. Contact your state's Vocational Rehabilitation agency and ask specifically about Project SEARCH partnerships
3. Ask the student's IEP transition coordinator whether local sites exist and whether the student qualifies
4. If no local program exists, ask VR about alternative supported employment models

Placement typically requires an IEP transition goal explicitly targeting competitive integrated employment, a current vocational assessment, and VR eligibility or a pending VR application. The IEP team should initiate contact with a Project SEARCH site coordinator at least one year before the intended participation year.

Project SEARCH and Vocational Rehabilitation

VR plays a critical role in Project SEARCH. Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS), which WIOA requires VR agencies to fund at 15% of their federal allocation, often support the program directly. Students should apply for VR services no later than age 16 — earlier in states where Pre-ETS begin at 14 — so eligibility is established before the Project SEARCH year begins.

After the Project SEARCH year, VR can fund continued supported employment services, job coaching, and the natural supports that help a new employee stabilize in a competitive job. The Individualized Plan for Employment (IPE) developed with the VR counselor should specifically reference the Project SEARCH placement and the post-program employment plan.

The United States Post-Secondary Transition Roadmap covers Project SEARCH in the context of the full employment planning sequence — from Pre-ETS at age 14 through VR services, supported employment, and the Ticket to Work program for those who receive SSI or SSDI.

See more United States guides →