Promoting Self-Determination for Students with Disabilities: A Goal-Setting Challenge App

The purpose of this study is to empirically develop and test an interactive, web application that will increase adolescents with high-incidence disabilities the knowledge and skills to effectively set and attain academic, behavior, and transition-related goals, leading to increased self-determination and goal attainment. The Goal-Setting Challenge (GSC) App will be developed and tested with high schools in North Carolina and Kansas. Building on the evidence-based Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI), the GSC App will be iteratively developed as an online web application for adolescents with high incidence disabilities. The GSC App will provide a technology driven means (versus teachers, who are the key implementers of the SDLMI) to engage students in setting and attaining goals to enable attainment of academic, behavior, and transition-related goals. The GSC App will include three instructional phases aligned with the SDLMI delivered via web-based lessons, including: (a) Phase 1: Set a Goal; focused on the process of setting short- and long-term goals; (b) Phase 2: Make a Plan; focused on the process of developing an action plan to achieve short- and long-term goals; and (c) Phase 3: Adjust Your Goal; focused on the process of evaluating and adjusting progress towards reaching short- and long-term goals to support goal attainment.