Promoting Transition Goals and Self-Determination Through Student Self-Directed Learning: The Self-Determined Learning (original) (raw)

This article describes the field-test results of the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction, a model of teaching designed to enable teachers to teach students to set goals, take action on those goals, and adjust their goals and plans as needed. Nineteen students, most of whom had intellectual disabilities, participated in the field test. Seventeen of the 19 students made dramatic changes from baseline to intervention conditions, at levels that exceeded teachers' expectations. Additionally, social validation data obtained from both the students and the participating teachers supported the utility of the model. The implications of the field test are discussed. Available data suggest that people with mental retardation or other significant disabilities believe that they have little control over their lives or how to better their situations (