Examining Individual and Ecological Predictors of the Self-Determination of Students with Disabilities‪.‬

SELF-DETERMINATION RESEARCH Despite 15 years of attention directed toward the importance of self-determination in the education of students with disabilities, there still is a paucity of knowledge about individual and ecological factors that contribute to or predict self-determination. Progress has been made in developing empirically validated theoretical models of self-determination that can serve as foundations for educational practices (Wehmeyer, Abery, Mithaug, & Stancliffe, 2003) and in synthesizing the existing body of research on theoretically based interventions to promote self-determination (Algozzine, Browder, Karvonen, Test, & Wood, 2001). Additional research is needed, however, to examine the impact of personal characteristics (e.g., disability group, gender, race/ethnicity) and environmental conditions (e.g., opportunities for self-determination, inclusion) on students' relative level of self-determination. Such research has the potential to inform future efforts to design, validate, and implement interventions with students from diverse disability groups and to provide guidance in creating environmental conditions and supports that promote self-determination (Wood & Test, 2001).