Making Positive Impacts on Self-Determination via the National Center and State Collaborative Initiative

Self-determination is an important measure of learning for students with significant cognitive disabilities. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the mean scores of two components of self-determination (capacity and opportunity) differed for students with significant cognitive disabilities that had participated in the National Center and State Collaborative Curriculum Resource Schema intervention. Research participants included seven students with significant cognitive disabilities, their parents, and teacher. Self-determination was measured using the American Institutes for Research (AIR) Self-Determination Assessment, which focused on capacity and opportunity. A one-group pretestposttest design was used to collect information on the status of subjects prior to and following the intervention. The differences between the posttest and pretest means for the components capacity and opportunity were determined. The results of this study contribute to the research knowledge of the learning theory of self-determination. Implications of the results and suggestions for future research are discussed.