Chauncey Goff

Chauncey Goff, a third year doctoral student in Special Education at The University of Oklahoma, is assembling a systematic line of research devoted to the self-determination and transition of Black students with disabilities. Mr. Goff entered The University of Oklahomas Special Education doctoral program after working three years as a counselor in Oklahoma City Public Schools' Alternative Education program. This experience enabled him to witness, first-hand, the disproportional rates at which Black students are placed in special education. At The University of Oklahoma, Mr. Goff is researching methods for using self-determination to empower Black students and families, as well as all students with disabilities from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, to address and end their disproportional representation in special education. He focuses on the transition outcomes that eliminate opportunities for these students to be self-determined and ultimately result in the increased likelihood that their children will be placed in special education. His research involves the creation of more self-determined special educators from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. This work has resulted in the Sooner Scholars program, which is a U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services federally funded project that prepares doctoral students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds for higher education leadership positions and emphasizes self-determination, transition, and applied research.