Part of a series, this preliminary report is on a meta-analysis study of successful and unsuccessful transition of handicapped youth from secondary education to postsecondary settings. The study had four major objectives: (1) to review annual progress reports of federally funded (Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation) transition projects, (2) to review pertinent literature, (3) to perform meta-analysis by project groups, and (4) to analyze case studies of successful and unsuccessful job placements. The literature review noted a lack of control groups in studies on vocational placement of handicapped youth. The funded projects were analyzed and grouped based on the Proposal Classification Form which considered such features as agency type, project objectives, and student age and type as well as the Project Characteristics Questionnaire which provided information on agency type, student classification, and training and placement practices. The initial review of 56 annual progress reports from the projects found that only 42% of the projects listed objectives of the original proposal in their progress reports and few had met many of their objectives. Finally, no clear trends were observable in the comparison of five pairs of successful and unsuccessful student placements. (DB)