Seven narrative and systematic reviews published since 2000 and focusing on self-determination for individuals with disabilities are reviewed in this narrative metasynthesis. The authors distinguish their work from other metasynthesis work by calling it a narrative metasynthesis because they include both narrative reviews and meta-analyses in this metasynthesis. These seven reviews focused on different disability groups, different intervention curricular and instructional techniques, and different outcomes. Findings were relatively consistent with multicomponent self-determination interventions demonstrating greater positive effects than single-component interventions and self-determination and academic productivity outcomes showing greater positive effects than academic quality outcomes. Theoretical, empirical, and methodological findings and implications are discussed.

The relationship between functional or life skills curricula (the intervention) and transition-related outcomes for secondary-aged youth with disabilities is explored in this systematic review. A total of 50 studies intervening with 482 youth with (largely) disability labels of moderate to severe mental retardation were reviewed. The findings of this review provide tentative support for the efficacy of the use of functional or life skills curricular interventions across educational environments, disability types, ages, and gender in promoting positive transition-related outcomes. These findings are discussed in terms of characteristic features of the literature set and competing trends in secondary education. Selected studies in a number of specific curricular areas are recommended.

The relationship between social and communicative interventions and transition-related outcomes for secondary-aged youth with disabilities is explored in this systematic review. In all, 30 studies intervening with 316 youth with a broad range of disability labels (both high- and low-incidence disabilities) were reviewed. Subgroup analyses were conducted on original research in these areas: augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), conversation skills, decreasing aberrant behavior, and social skills training (SST). Little support was found for AAC and modest support for interventions designed to increase conversation skill acquisition and for SST, and the research in decreasing aberrant behavior was unable to be synthesized because of effect size calculation formula problems. Results are discussed in terms of alignment with extant literature reviews, methodological issues in meta-analysis, recommendations for further research, and practical implications.

The relationship between cognitive—behavioral interventions and therapies on the one hand and school dropout outcomes and violent verbal or physical aggression on the other hand for secondary-age youth with disabilities was explored in a systematic review. A total of 16 studies intervening with 791 youth with behavioral disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and learning disabilities were reviewed. The findings of this review strongly support the efficacy of the use of cognitive—behavioral interventions across educational environments, disability types, age groups, and gender in the reduction of dropout and correlates of dropout. A series of more detailed implications for practice are suggested, as well as directions to the reader to locate more detailed descriptions of how these interventions might be implemented in their secondary education environments.

Teachers from charter and traditional schools in Colorado were queried about their perceptions of their level of empowerment, school climate, and working conditions. Using a cluster sampling design, approximately 100 teachers from 16 charter schools and 100 teachers from seven traditional schools were surveyed by combining several well-established instruments to measure empowerment, school climate, and working conditions. Factor analyses yielded three composite variables each for the three constructs. One-way analyses of variance were used to explore these teachers' differences in perceptions. Results yielded consistent and practically significant differences in these charter and traditional school perceptions of empowerment, school climate, and working conditions. Not all of these differences, however, were consistent with expectations given the educational and legislative contexts driving Colorado's charter school movement. Implications and recommendations for future research are given. of 22to traditional public school teachers? The Colorado Charter Schools ActWhen Colorado legislators passed one of the nation's earliest and strongest charter school laws in 1993, they explicitly adopted the perspective that local control of schools and "teacher professionalism" must increase if public education is to improve. The Colorado charter school law is considered "strong" because it includes a mechanism for appealing disputed charter school applications to the Colorado State Board of Education. That is, local boards of education and/or school districts do not alone have final say over whether a charter school will or will not be approved for their district.According to the state's Charter Schools Act, a charter school in Colorado is a public school operated by a group of parents, teachers, and/or community members as a semi-autonomous school of choice within a school district, operating under a contract between the members of the charter school community and the local board of education. Such schools were purposefully created to provide an avenue for educators and others "to take responsible risks and create new, innovative, more flexible ways of educating all children within the public school system." Essential characteristics of charter schools were to be school-centered governance, autonomy, and a clear design for how and what students learn. Another clearly stated objective was "to create new professional opportunities for teachers, including the opportunity to be responsible for the learning program at the school site." During the 1998 legislative session, the Colorado General Assembly re-authorized the Charter Schools Act without a future sunset, signaling the evolution of charter schools from a reform experiment to a permanent part of the public education infrastructure in Colorado. Another bill, passed in 1999, increased the required amount of state per-pupil allotment going to charter schools from 80% to 95% of the public school average, as well as the base upon which that percentage was calculated. Although c...