ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores current federal and state career development policies and activities that include access to postsecondary programs and degrees as an important outcome of receiving career development services. It examines the career intervention research that historically focused on career choice but is beginning to identify a range of positive development outcomes. The book reviews the disability literature on what programs and services are most strongly associated with improving transition into postsecondary education and employment literature for the career development evidence base. It describes the phases of translation that need to occur if career and workforce development research is to support the needs and be deemed useful to practitioners and policy makers. Based on evidence gathered throughout the handbook contributions, the book offers a theory change whereby "positive development outcomes" refer to the development of a healthy, adaptive, and self-regulating career identity.
