Skip Navigation

Improving Post-High School Outcomes for Transition-Age Students with Disabilities: An Evidence Review

What are promising programs to help students with disabilities make successful transitions beyond high school? A new review from NCEE suggests that few strategies have strong evidence that they make a difference in students' postsecondary employment, education and training, or independent living.

The review of transition research studies from the last two decades finds that relatively few studies meet the What Works Clearinghouse standards for evidence of effectiveness. Sixteen of the 43 studies that were found to be eligible met WWC standards and provide support for two program approaches. Community-based work programs were found to have mixed effects on students' employment outcomes and potentially positive effects on postsecondary education outcomes. Functional life skills development programs were found to have potentially positive effects on independent living outcomes although the extent of evidence was small.

PDF File View, download, and print the report as a PDF file (1.1 MB)
PDF File View, download, and print the executive summary as a PDF file (368 KB)