Background: Achievement goal theory is a popular motivational theory within education and psychology, with several review papers summarizing the extensive work done in these fields. Although reviews exist in these specific fields, none exists within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This is a considerable gap in…

The Goal-Setting Challenge App (GSC App) translates the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI) to a web-based format, shifting responsibility from teachers to technology to address challenges in scaling-up implementation. The present descriptive study examines transition-age U.S. students' responses to GSC App lessons to explore the…

Burnout is the leading cause of the special education teacher shortage. A burnout intervention adapted for teachers was tested in two studies. Study 1 used a randomized design; Study 2 was a pre-post design. In Study 1, 44 teachers were randomized into the intervention or an active control. To enhance impact, for Study 2, personal goal-setting was…

The impact of attention-deficit/hyperactivity (ADHD) disorder results in significant challenges in academic, behavioral, and social domains, necessitating targeted interventions. Although a substantial number of students with ADHD receive individualized education programs (IEPs), little is known about the most common accommodations and…

The goal of the Maximize Program is to collaborate with educators to develop resources and procedures to facilitate teachers' use of equity-focused behavioral supports. In this study, we describe teachers' responses to the first iteration of the interactive Maximize Technology Platform. Ninety elementary school teachers from three schools were…

Adolescents' school engagement is associated with high school completion; yet, few studies have examined interventions to improve school engagement for English Learners (ELs). In this mixed-methods study, we conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to examine the effects of two years of the "Check & Connect" intervention on…

Probabilistic machine learning increasingly informs critical decisions in medicine, economics, politics, and beyond. To aid the development of trust in these decisions, we develop a taxonomy delineating where trust in an analysis can break down: (1) in the translation of real-world goals to goals on a particular set of training data, (2) in the…

Promoting student self-determination is recognized as the best practice in secondary transition planning. Few self-determination interventions have utilized technology to provide individualized learning opportunities. The Goal Setting Challenge (GSC) App was developed to provide a technology-based instructional approach to support developing…

This study used standards setting to establish cutscores for the fidelity of implementation of an evidence-based intervention, the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction, designed to enhance goal-directed actions in secondary students with and without disabilities. Cutscores were then applied to a fidelity data from a large, randomized…

Language offers a vast amount of information about an individual's social and personality processes. Prior studies have found links between personality traits, attitudes, and language use. To further extend prior work on links between personality traits, attitudes, and language use, this study examined the link between career goal affordance…

Prior studies identified effective, but mainly non-digital, homework aids. This research involved 18 middle school students in a lo-fi prototyping study to integrate traditional homework support tools with intelligent tutoring systems (ITS), leveraging rich log data for personalized learning. Feature investigations in standardized diaries, goal…

Purpose: We examined the extent to which achievement goals predict reading comprehension, measured by two response formats (free recall and constructed response), and how these relations differ for students with and without reading difficulties (RD). We further explored how executive functions (working memory and semantic verbal fluency) mediate…

Students often experience psychological barriers that negatively impact their academic performance. For example, students may experience motivated disengagement and limited access to manageable and actionable strategies when needed. Past research has shown that scientifically informed interventions can mitigate such barriers and improve success…

Coaching is an essential component of supporting teachers to implement evidence-based practices (EBPs) in classrooms. The Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI), an EBP designed to promote student self-determination, uses a research-based coaching model with six guiding principles. This qualitative study analyzed the content of…

Implementation supports for teachers can significantly impact the degree to which evidence-based practices are used as intended with secondary students across settings and content areas. The present analysis focused on examining the impact of teacher implementation supports on the goals set by students with and without disabilities engaging in an…