The role of research in transition education has been prominent and influential. Yet too many young people with disabilities are still not experiencing outcomes aligned with their personal aspirations and priorities. Moreover, individuals with disabilities continue to experience barriers to employment, educational, economic, and other challenges well into adulthood. Moving forward as a field will require continued investment in strong scholarship and careful consideration of new areas of inquiry. In this article, we present a framework for transition research designed to identify key issues and intersections in which future inquiry should be directed. We present research needs in six different areas to illustrate these possibilities. We also highlight some of the complexities and considerations associated with conducting this research.

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Transition from adolescence to adulthood is especially challenging for youth and young adults with emotional/behavioral disturbances (EBD). The Transition to Independence Process (TIP) model serves to prepare and facilitate youth and young adults with EBD in their transition into adulthood roles through a person-centered and developmentally appropriate process. Using existing state and program data, this study compared the postsecondary outcomes (e.g., employment, postsecondary education, incarceration) of exiters from the Steps-to-Success Program, a TIP-based system serving secondary school students, to those of matched comparison groups of (a) other young adults with EBD who had services as usual and (b) young adults with no previous classification. Our results demonstrated the efficacy of the Steps-to-Success Program in improving postsecondary outcomes for youth with EBD.

Prior research has indicated that young people with serious mental health conditions show poorer progress and greater challenges in the transition to adulthood, as reflected by lower rates of employment and postsecondary education, higher rates of criminal justice involvement, and greater interference in daily activities from mental health and substance use disorders. Little knowledge exists, however, regarding improvement on these indicators among young people enrolled in community-based transition support programs and individual characteristics that might moderate this improvement. This study describes rates of improvement on indicators of transition progress and challenges among young people enrolled in a multisite demonstration of transition support programs. Young people in the study showed increased rates of progress and decreased rates of challenges over four quarters of enrollment. Moderation of these changes by individual characteristics including demographic, historical, and diagnostic variables suggested ways of improving transition support programs and avenues for future research.