School principals can play an important role in promoting teacher leadership by delegating authority and empowering teachers in ways that allow them influence in key organizational decisions and processes. However, it is unclear whether instruction and student learning are enhanced by promoting teacher influence in all aspects of school…

The Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI) is an evidence-based practice designed to enable teachers to teach students to self-regulate problem solving to set and attain educationally-relevant goals. This study reports on findings and outcomes of the first year of a statewide implementation of the SDLMI by teachers working with…

Lidia and Josephina, although living vastly different lives, both represent Hispanic teen mothers. Pregnancies like theirs have been an issue of central concern in the U.S. for decades, with Hispanic teens considered most at risk. Despite vast recent declines in teen childbearing across all racial and ethnic groups, the U.S. continues to have the…

Parent empowerment involves the ability of caregivers to meet the needs of their family while maintaining feelings of control and is particularly important for families of children at-risk. It is necessary to establish reliable and valid tools to measure parent empowerment. The purpose of this study was to examine the internal factor structure,…

Data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2) were used to examine the impact of three personal factors--race/ethnicity, gender, and family income--on self-determination (i.e., autonomy, psychological empowerment, self-realization) and early adulthood outcome constructs. Findings suggest for those with high incidence disabilities,…

This study conducted secondary analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2) to examine the degree to which student, family, and school constructs predicted self-determination outcomes. Multi-group structural equation modeling was used to examine predictive relationships between 5 students, 4 family, and 7 school…

Students' self-determination plays a critical role in both in-school and post-school outcomes. This study examined the self-determination of English learners with disabilities in secondary school, based on a secondary analysis of the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2012 (NLTS 2012). The NLTS 2012 youth survey, conducted in English and…

Secondary data analysis using the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 dataset was conducted to examine the degree to which autonomy, psychological empowerment and self-realization (three of four essential characteristics of self-determination) play a mediating role in the relationship between school-based factors and postschool outcomes. The…

This study examined, using data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2, the impact of constructs associated with self-determination (i.e., autonomy, self-realization, and psychological empowerment, measured while youth were in secondary school) on postschool (a) employment and payment/benefits, (b) education, (c) independent living, and…

Empowering Families was focused on infusing the Providence Public School District (PPSD) elementary schools with an intervention centered on the Mind in the Making (MITM) training, designed to build the capacity of families, teachers, and schools to understand how children's executive function impacts social-emotional and cognitive growth. Data…

Data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2) were used to examine (a) the aspects of self-determination assessed in NLTS2 and (b) measurement equivalence and latent differences across the 12 disability categories recognized in IDEA. Three of the four essential characteristics of self-determination - autonomy, self-realization,…

Multilevel mediation analyses test whether students' mid-year reports of classroom experiences of autonomy, relatedness with peers, and competence mediate associations between early in the school year emotionally-supportive teacher-student interactions (independently observed) and student-reported academic year changes in mastery motivation and…