Research has indicated that by acquiring the skills realted to self-determination postschoool outcomes and quality of life are likely to improve for young adults with disabilities. Therefore, instructional efforts focused on fostering the self-determination skills is considered an essential component of the educational program and services for students with disabilities. Further, when families are actively involved in instructional efforts meant to foster self-determination, students are provided with multiple opportunities to practice and apply the skills throughout the environments where they grow and learn. However, there continues to be a paucity of research that includes teachers and parents working cooperatively on a self-determination intervention. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to extend the self-determination research to include an instructional model that brings together special educators and families to promote the self-determination of secondary students with disabilities. The study involved the development and evaluation of the instructional model through a small-scale trial implementation. After completion of the trial, participants provided feedback on the promising features of the model, and their perspectives on the social validity, the barriers to implementation, and suggestions for improvements. The results indicated promising features of the instructional model including, meaningful instruction in self-determination, addressing transition planning areas essential to student IEP's, promotion of student critical thinking skills, and providing parents with valuable information and resources. Findings from the social validity surveys found the instructional model to have a moderate level of social validity indicating the participants were, overall, adequately satisfied with the perceived benefits, likelihood of achievable outcomes, and the feasibility for the classroom and home settings. Barriers to implementation included, concerns with evaluating student skills and abilities, lacking in accessibility for all student support needs, teacher apprehension for working with parents, and difficulty with parents following a curriculum and deadlines. The results not only offer valuable feedback on how to improve an instructional model that involves parents, but also an understanding of the aspects related to transition planning and self-determination that parents and teachers see as important for their students. Continued work is needed to promote families as equal partners alongside teachers in providing effective transition services and self-determination instruction to students with disabilities. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]