Self-regulatory training for helping students with special needs to learn mathematics

Previous research suggests that self-regulation interventions are effective in improving students' self-regulatory skill and school performance in a wide variety of educational domains. Inspired by social cognitive theory (Schunk & Zimmerman, 1997) and goal setting theory (Locke & Latham, 1990), I designed, implemented, and examined the beneficial impact of a two-part intervention to teacher effective self-regulation (i.e., goal setting and self-reflection) of 62 high school students with special needs (40 males, 22 females) during in-class math instruction. Results indicate that the two-part intervention led to high self-efficacy judgments and to better math performance compared to students with special needs who were randomly assigned into a delayed-treatment control group. Students in the intervention group also perceived the math instruction they received more positively. Results also show that, after participating in the intervention, all participants students with special needs increased their variety of self-regulatory strategies, and attributed their performance to more controllable (e.g., effort, strategy) causes. The gains in self-regulatory strategies and adaptive attributions, while significant in their own right, helped students experience a significant gain in their post-intervention math performance as well.