Federal and state guidelines on when students with disabilities should become more active in their own special education are notoriously vague, often leaving many school districts across the United States to their own interpretations on the appropriateness of when and how to do so. This is especially pertinent for younger students with disabilities, as federal law offers more guidance for those transitioning into high school. As a middle school special education teacher, I have repeatedly found that many of my students with disabilities who qualify for special education do not actively participate in their own Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meetings and are often wholly unaware that such a plan even exists. These observations, in the foreground of a host of relevant literature on the topic, have subsequently led to my growing concern that students who are not attending their own IEP meetings are in turn, limiting their opportunity to have an important stake in their own education through self-advocacy and self-determination, both of which are desired organizational goals at my school. The purpose of this dissertation in practice is to explore the effectiveness of participation in IEP meetings amongst students with disabilities at the middle school level. Utilizing the methodological framework of improvement science, this study included the direct instruction of a modified curriculum designed to increase IEP meeting engagement and data collection from multiple observation points across two mock and one actual IEP meeting sessions. This theory of improvement is grounded in the notion that if given the information needed to attend and participate, middle school students with disabilities will become active participants in their own IEP meetings and take increased ownership over their own special education. [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.]