Combining Evidence-Based Practices to Enhance Outcomes for Autistic Students: Considerations and Challenges

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 coaching conversations between coaches and general and special education high school teachers implementing the SDLMI with autistic students to explore alignment with the guiding principles of the SDLMI coaching model. Findings highlighted the usefulness of the coaching principles in building trust between coaches and teachers, supporting teachers to set meaningful goals and build skills and competencies related to SDLMI implementation, promoting innovation and fidelity, and facilitating reflective dialogue. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Promoting self-determination has been shown to enhance outcomes for students with and without disabilities. The Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI) is an evidence-based instructional model designed to promote self-determination in diverse contexts, including inclusive general education classrooms. SDLMI delivery requires training and ongoing support to enhance fidelity, teacher implementation skills, and positive student outcomes. Coaching supports the implementation and fidelity of an evidence-based instructional model, like the SDLMI. However, coaching supports must be tailored to implementers' needs. This article describes a three-tiered coaching model for the SDLMI that can inform teacher supports for effective SDLMI implementation. This three-tiered model expands the research-based SDLMI Coaching Model, providing a framework to individualize SDLMI supports to enhance teacher implementation and student outcomes.

Researchers have linked the promotion of self-determination with positive school and post-school outcomes for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities and evidence-based practices, such as the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI), has been developed for use by teachers to enable students to develop self-determination. However, there is an ongoing need to promote the wider adoption of the SDLMI in practice and in teacher education. The purpose of this literature review was to identify how the SDLMI has been implemented to promote academic and non-academic outcomes in order to provide future directions for the increased use of the SDLMI in practice. Twenty-one research studies of the SDLMI and its impact on student outcomes were identified. The evidence suggests that SDLMI offers a successful approach to teaching student self-determination which can lead to success in school and post-secondary life, and in attaining self-selected goals; however, additional research is needed. Implication for practice, teacher education, and culturally and linguistically diverse population of students with disabilities are discussed.

Autistic students may need individualized supports to meet their academic, social, and self-determination needs in inclusive classrooms. However, few evidence-based interventions have been developed to provide these supports for autistic adolescents, and little is known about the perceptions of autistic youth about these interventions in use in high schools. This study aimed to explore the perspectives of autistic students and their teachers on self-determination and peer support, as well as their thoughts about two evidence-based interventions used in their classroom settings: the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction and Peer Supports. An overall theme of empowerment was identified from student and teacher data collected across the interventions, which highlighted the importance of enabling students to access these interventions in inclusive environments. Autistic students experienced growth in understanding their identity and role as students, peers, and learners, and many felt empowered to set and achieve goals important to their future success. Teachers noted increased self-confidence and assertiveness in students pursuing their goals, highlighting the need for inclusive interventions that address positive in-school and post-school outcomes for secondary autistic students.

Implementation science examines the process of how programs are put into action to produce outcomes and represents an emerging approach for analyzing the utilization of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in school settings. When EBPs are implemented effectively, they result in positive student outcomes. The Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI) is an EBP shown to promote positive educational and postschool outcomes for students with disabilities; however, the process of implementing the SDLMI on a large scale poses significant challenges. We describe efforts to implement the SDLMI state-wide with transition-age students with intellectual and developmental disabilities through the lens of implementation science. Key factors and issues that need to be addressed in ongoing research and practice to further advance student outcomes are highlighted.

Research shows that there is a close relationship between the promotion of self-determination and positive school outcomes, including academic goal attainment outcomes in general education classes. However, research is needed to investigate how students perceive the impacts of evidence-based self-determination interventions, like the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI), when delivered by their general education teachers. Interviews were conducted with 10 students with and without disabilities who received SDLMI instruction from teachers in secondary general education classrooms. Qualitative content analysis was used to understand students’ experiences with the SDLMI and its impacts on their self-determination and academic learning. Participants shared ways that the SDLMI positively impacted their self-determination and academic learning outcomes. Students identified the impacts of providing opportunities and supports for self-determined learning in their classrooms. They also identified other factors that influence their self-determination and the use of the SDLMI for goal setting and attainment. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

There is a need for a measure that examines teacher roles in implementing the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI) to advance equity in opportunities and experiences to build self-determination for all students, including students with disabilities and students of color with disabilities. In this study, the authors introduce a measure, the SDLMI teacher roles self-report measure, developed using the theoretical framework of the causal agency theory and knowledge of SDLMI implementation. This measure focuses on three roles defined in SDLMI implementation: advocate, facilitator, and instructor. Teachers are trained to take on each of these roles when implementing the SDLMI to provide inclusive and culturally responsive opportunities to promote self-determination. Preliminary findings from this study indicate that the advocate, facilitator, and instructor roles are positively correlated, but they are different constructs and demonstrate different patterns of relations with each other. Given these preliminary findings, more work is warranted to examine the relationship between the SDLMI teacher roles self-report measure and teacher implementation and student outcomes.

As global issues continue to place increasing demands on soil resources, the need to provide soil science education to the next generation of soil scientists and the general public is becoming more imminent. In many countries around the world, including Canada, soil is either not included in the high school curriculum or it is not covered in depth. To address this need for better integration of soil science into high school programs in Canada, a national collaborative program entitled Soil 4 Youth (soilweb.landfood.ubc.ca/youth/), was established in 2009. The goals of the Soil 4 Youth program are to: (1) promote the discipline of soil science to high school students and teachers, (2) create open access soil education resources that can be directly implemented in high school curricula in Canada, and (3) raise awareness about the importance of soil. During the initial 4 years of the Soil 4 Youth program, we developed a variety of soil education resources, struck collaboration with several provincial high school teachers’ associations and not-for-profit organizations focused on promotion of science, and focused our efforts toward reaching a broader group of high school teachers and students. Our initial efforts of building the Soil 4 Youth program indicate that it is a viable platform through which collaboration among Canadian soil scientists and high school teachers can take place to ensure that high school students are better informed about the importance of soil. Impact Statement The Canadian collaborative program, Soil 4 Youth, was established to promote the discipline of soil science to high school students and teachers. The program provides a platform for collaboration among soil scientists and high school teachers to ensure that high school students are better informed about the importance of soil. This article describes the development of the Soil 4 Youth program, offering insights into the challenges and potential solutions to advance soil science education for youth.

In this study, we estimated the cost of implementing the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI), an evidence-based practice in secondary transition, at scale in 17 U.S. school districts to enhance self-determination and transition goal attainment outcomes among 340 transition-age adolescents with intellectual disability. An advantage of the SDLMI is that it can be overlaid upon any curriculum and, therefore, can minimize opportunity costs for self-determination instruction. Using the ingredients method, the current study: (a) identified and described the essential ingredients of SDLMI implementation in typical high school settings, (b) assigned and described the cost of needed ingredients, and (c) calculated a generalizable estimate of the average cost of using the SDLMI with 340 students for one school year across 17 school districts to be $40,221.26 (or $118.30 per student). We discuss how decision-makers considering using the SDLMI in their context can minimize costs while maximizing effects on transition goal attainment outcomes. Several implications of these findings for the field of transition are also described.

There is limited research examining professional development for general and special education teachers implementing self-determination interventions. This study presents outcomes of a 2-day professional development training for the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI) for general and special educators guided by key elements of professional development. Results suggested teachers had positive perceptions of the training and showed improvements in knowledge and skills related to self-determination, but reported no change in perceived usefulness for students. Findings suggested teachers already perceived self-determination to be important and relevant to their students and that this professional development training was successful in improving teachers' knowledge and skills. Further research is needed to examine how this training impacts teacher implementation of the SDLMI and student outcomes.

People with disabilities consistently advocate for their right to be self-determined. Decades of research highlight the positive impacts of self-determination intervention on in-school and post-school outcomes of secondary students with disabilities. Increasingly, self-determination interventions are being implemented in inclusive contexts for all students, including students with and without disabilities. To enable implementation with high fidelity, further examination of the supports needed by teachers is required. In this study, the authors examine the impacts of differing intensities of teacher implementation supports (online modules only vs. online modules + coaching) on the initiation of the self-determined learning model of instruction (SDLMI) by schools and teachers and outcomes for students that arise from more intensive implementation when schools and teachers do initiate. Results suggest that intensifying teacher implementation supports has a positive impact on a cascading series of outcomes for schools, teachers, and students. In this study, the authors discuss the implications of the results for future research and practice.

Almost every state includes content standards that are closely related to skills associated with self-determination (e.g., decision making, planning, problem solving, goal setting and attainment). Additionally, research in both general and special education has demonstrated a close relationship between the promotion of self-determination and positive school (e.g., academic goal attainment) and post-school (e.g., employment) outcomes. Therefore, this study examines implementation of an evidence-based intervention to promote self-determination in inclusive, general education classrooms. This study utilized multilevel linear modeling to examine changes in student self-determination in secondary mathematics classes after a year of exposure to The Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI). Participants included were 81 students ranging from 10th to 12th grade learning in secondary mathematics classes (Algebra II, Pre-Calculus, and Advanced Placement Calculus). The findings demonstrated a small, positive effect on student self-determination and that goal attainment during the first semester predicted second semester goal attainment. Specifically, the inclusion of goal attainment as a predictor explained 10% of the variability in self-determination observed, corresponding to a small effect. Overall, students who attained at higher level of goal attainment had higher self-determination at the conclusion of the study and were expected to grow in their self-determination at a higher rate than those with lower levels of goal attainment. The results from this study suggest that implementing the SDLMI to support all students in secondary mathematics classes positively impacts student attainment of skills that impact self-determination and has the potential to impact mathematical learning in future research.

Self-determination is linked to enhanced in-school and post-school outcomes for students with disabilities. Emerging research has shown the benefits of implementing self-determination interventions in general education classrooms to promote goal attainment and self-determination outcomes for all students. However, more research is needed to explore the long-term effects of self-determination interventions. In this study, we examined the growth trajectory of student self-determination in secondary general education classes over two academic semesters within the context of teacher implementation of the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI), a research-based self-determination intervention. We also explored the relationship between self-determination and goal attainment outcomes over one academic semester. Results showed no significant change in average student self-determination scores over two academic semesters. However, students showed different patterns of change in their self-determination. Academic goal attainment was positively associated with the end of semester self-determination when implementing the SDLMI. The limitations of this study and implications for addressing the complexities of implementing self-determination interventions in general education classrooms for all students, especially students with disabilities, are discussed.

Enhanced self-determination can positively impact in- and postschool outcomes for students with and without disabilities. One evidence-based practice aimed to support teachers in providing more opportunities for students to engage in self-determined actions leading to enhanced self-determination is the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI). Throughout the SDLMI process, students set and work toward self-selected goals. In this study, authors examined content of goals students set when engaged in the SDLMI over three years. Results highlighted students set academically relevant goals related to a variety of classes and target behaviors/skills which aligns with the purpose of the SDLMI when implemented in academic contexts. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

All students go through a variety of transitions throughout their life (i.e., middle school to high school, high school to the workforce). However, students with disabilities tend to experience disparities compared to their peers without disabilities in regard to in-school and postschool outcomes. One way to enhance outcomes for students with disabilities is providing opportunities for students to enhance their self-determination. One evidence-based practice to enhance self-determination is the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI). To support self-determination in transition planning, teachers can use the SDLMI to enable students to direct their own learning and work towards self-selected transition goals related to enhanced in-school and postschool outcomes, such as goal attainment, competitive integrated employment, and community participation. This article describes how teachers can support students in setting and working towards goals while also supporting progress in their IEP to enhance student voice and student-directed transition planning