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Jean Winsor

Jean E. Winsor is a Senior Research Associate and Project Manager at the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI). Her research focuses on state systems and integrated employment, with an emphasis on bridging research to practice through technical assistance to employment system stakeholders. She is the coordinator for the StateData.info project, is a policy specialist for the State Employment Leadership Network (SELN),, and is Project Director for the Florida EmployMe1st Project.

During her tenure at ICI she has investigated the policies and practices of states with high rates of integrated employment, states that have engaged in multi-agency systems change to support youth and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to obtain community employment, and states that are using Employment First agendas as a catalyst for systems change. Dr. Winsor has also engaged in research to better understand the methods states use to collect data on employment outcomes, the strategies states use to fund employment services, and the factors that impact the choices individuals with intellectual and development disabilities make about employment.

Prior to joining ICI in 2002, Jean provided school and community-based supports to adolescents and adults with IDD for ten years.  Dr. Winsor received her B.A. in Psychology from Binghamton University-SUNY and her M.S. in Educational Psychology and Methodology from the University at Albany-SUNY. She is a graduate of the Ph.D. in Public Policy Program with a Concentration in Special Education and Disability Policy at the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Click here to follow Dr. Winsor's work on SelectedWorks.

Community of Practice on Demonstration Projects: Collaboration and Systems Change

Beginning in FY 2012 and 2013, the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) funded eight Partnerships in Employment (PIE) systems change projects under the Projects of National Significance program. PIE is a national transition systems change project whose purpose is to identify, develop, and promote policies and practices to improve transition, post-secondary, and competitive employment outcomes for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

Partnerships in Employment: Guidance on How to Obtain Data on the Use of Subminimum Wages

PIE project work is framed by the High-Performing States Transition Model, which contains 8 key elements: collaboration, leadership, state goals and policy, funding and contracting, staff training, service innovation, performance management and quality assurance, and youth leadership development and family engagement. This document is one in a series of PIE Project Fact Sheets that chronicle how PIE grantee states are making change under the elements of the High-Performing States Transition Model.

Emerging Practices, Transition: Funding Mechanisms

In October 2011, the Administration on Developmental Disabilities awarded grants to lead agencies in six states: California, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, and Wisconsin. Two additional states, Alaska and Tennessee, received grants in October 2012. These states proposed activities to spur improved employment and post-secondary outcomes for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

Emerging Practices, Transition: Interagency Collaboration

In October 2011, the Administration on Developmental Disabilities awarded grants to lead agencies in six states: California, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, and Wisconsin. Two additional states, Alaska and Tennessee, received grants in October 2012. These states proposed activities to spur improved employment and post-secondary outcomes for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

StateData: The National Report on Employment Services and Outcomes

The 2015 National Report on Employment Services and Outcomes provides national and state-level statistics spanning a 20-year period. Its sources include several data sets that address employment outcomes and economic self-sufficiency for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

Download the full 2015 report here or click on the thumbnail image. 

Data Systems and Decision-Making: State ID/DD Agencies and Their Employment Data Collection Systems

The growing emphasis on government accountability at the state and federal levels has increased interest in the collection and use of outcome data. Moreover, research has found that high performing states in integrated employment generally have a clear and visible data collection system that includes individual outcome data (Hall, Butterworth, Winsor, Gilmore, & Metzel, 2007). But what are the most important elements in designing and using a system?

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