To determine the effectiveness of special education and transition planning for students with disabilities in Texas, a 6-year study was conducted between 1990 and 1996. Data for the first 5 years were collected, analyzed, and reported by the Texas Education Agency, but the Region XI Education Service Center was designated to complete the sixth year of the study. This document reports the procedures for the collection and analysis of the final year of data collected in 1996 through surveys and document reviews. Components of the study were designed to assess the experiences of students with disabilities in employment; independent living; recreational, social, and leisure skill acquisition; and secondary education. The focus was on individual transition planning. The information gathered in this year will be used with information from other years of the study to design a new series of effectiveness studies. Findings show that most students found jobs through referral by friends or family or on their own and that service agencies played a relatively minor role in placing students in jobs. The majority of graduates surveyed thought that their high school experiences had prepared them adequately for their jobs. More than half the students in the longitudinal sample of approximately 953 students and 85% in the transition sample of about 425 students made less than $12,000 a year. Most graduates lived at home with their parents or other family members. The vast majority did not continue their education after leaving high school. Recommendations made for program improvement center on better delivery of transition services and improved communication about program services. Five appendixes contain references, some data collection instruments, a summary of data collected in the 1995-96 school year, a list of districts responding during that year, and a description of nine study focus groups. (Contains 4 figures, 14 tables, and 5 references.) (SLD)