Abstract
Welcome to the fourth and final issue of 2022. As 2022 comes to an end, we reflect on our first year together as co-editors of the journal. As co-editors of Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals (CDTEI), we are fortunate to review so many groundbreaking research studies in our field. Secondary transition research and practice continues to improve thanks to the diligent and meaningful work by our authors and peer reviewers. Recently, we learned our journal impact factor increased to 2.764. This is an amazing feat considering our journal did not have an impact factor until just a few years ago. We could not continue to improve without the careful work of our authors, consulting editors, and ad hoc peer reviewers. Thank you for your continued efforts to push secondary transition research into the forefront of special education and social sciences research broadly. Also, we would like to welcome our new editorial assistant, Jessica Rousey, from the University of North Caroline at Charlotte. She will replace Michele Schutz in this role. We are so grateful for Michele’s service for the past 3 years. Without a doubt, she is a major reason we have maintained and improved the level of rigor of the journal. Thank you for your service, Michele! We wish you all the best in your transition from graduate student to faculty member at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
In November, we will come together for a second in person conference of 2022 at the Division on Career Development and Transition (DCDT) international conference in Little Rock, Arkansas. While we look forward to interacting in person with our editorial board and ad hoc peer reviewers; please know there will not be an organized CDTEI editorial board meeting at this conference. We will plan to hold the next editorial board meeting at the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) convention in Louisville, Kentucky, in March 2023. Please stay tuned for more information about the meeting date, time, and location.
We are excited to share issue 45:4 with you. This issue highlights work that focuses on meaningful supports that could be prioritized in high school settings to improve transition services. Clavenna-Deane and Coates focused on qualitative data from one state’s post-school outcomes survey to identify positive experiences for students while receiving transition services in high school. Among the most meaningful supports identified were supportive staff members, career development coursework, and self-advocacy skill development. McNaught and Pope studied the impact of the youth with learning disabilities who participated in I’m Determined, a state initiative that fosters leadership skills among youth with disabilities. Both studies describe meaningful experiences within high school programming that could be integrated into transition services to better prepare youth for adult life. Also included in this issue, Kraemer and colleagues focused on the Individualized Education Programs (IEP) of youth with autism specifically. Their findings provide useful insights to practitioners who write IEP goals. Finally, Smith and colleagues studied the impact of a virtual job interview training intervention for youth with autism. While both of these studies focus on autism, the structures and supports that are under examination are important to consider for all youth with disabilities.
We continue to appreciate your readership and membership in DCDT, and we hope that you find the work highlighted in this issue beneficial to your daily practice. Enjoy!