Implementation of the SDLMI in Inclusive Settings and its Impact on Self-Determination and Academic Outcomes

Abstract

This dissertation has five chapters that focus on examining the impact of the implementation of self-determination interventions on academic outcomes in inclusive classrooms for all students, including students with disabilities. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the importance of promoting self-determination, the theoretical framework that guides this work, and briefly introduces an evidence-based intervention, the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI) as well as the dataset used in this dissertation. It also describes the role of goal setting and attainment in enhancing self-determination and academic learning for all students in inclusive settings and provides the research questions addressed in subsequent chapters of this dissertation. Chapter 2 presents a review and meta-analysis of the impact of self-determination interventions on academic outcomes for students with learning disabilities. The results of this study showed that self-determination interventions significantly enhanced academic outcomes for students with learning disabilities. It also highlights the critical need to advance the implementation of self-determination interventions designed to promote academic outcomes in inclusive classrooms. This includes the need for (a) more studies that implement self-determination interventions in inclusive settings, (b) expanding the populations of students who have access to these interventions, (c) infusion of self-directed goal setting skills in self-determination interventions, and (d) common measures that can be used to fully understand the impact of self-determination on academic outcomes. Chapter 3 presents a study that aimed to explore academic learning goals set by students with and without disabilities who used the SDLMI in mathematics general education classes. In addition to examining changes in student academic goal attainment outcomes across two academic semesters, Chapter 3 also explored factors that are associated with academic goal attainment, including the types of academic goals set by students, the quality of goal statements that students set using the SMART goal framework, and the quality of Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) rubrics established by students. Findings from Chapter 3 suggest that students who used the SDLMI across two semesters in mathematics classes set academic learning goals that focused both on academic strategies and outcomes. Their goal statements had high overall quality as did GAS rubrics. Chapter 3 also highlights the usability of GAS as a common measure for academic goal attainment. Chapter 4 examined the growth trajectory of student self-determination over an academic year within the context of teachers’ implementation of the SDLMI in secondary general education classes. It also explored the relationship between self-determination and goal attainment outcomes over an academic semester. The results suggest substantial variability in the growth trajectory of student self-determination over an academic year. The results also showed that academic goal attainment was positively associated with end of semester student self-determination. Chapter 5 provides a final discussion of overall results and directions for ongoing research and practice to advance self-determination and academic learning outcomes.