Psychological Test and Assessment Modeling, Volume 53, 2011 (1), 108-127 Enhancing self-reflection and mathematics achievement of at-risk urban technical college students Barry J. Zimmerman1, Adam Moylan2, John Hudesman3, Niesha White3, & Bert Flugman3 Abstract A classroom-based intervention study sought to help struggling learners respond to their academic grades in math as sources of self-regulated learning (SRL) rather than as indices of personal limita- tion. Technical college students (N = 496) in developmental (remedial) math or introductory col- lege-level math courses were randomly assigned to receive SRL instruction or conventional in- struction (control) in their respective courses. SRL instruction was hypothesized to improve stu- dents’ math achievement by showing them how to self-reflect (i.e., self-assess and adapt to aca- demic quiz outcomes) more effectively. The results indicated that students receiving self-reflection training outperformed students in the control group on instructor-developed examinations and were better calibrated in their task-specific self-efficacy beliefs before solving problems and in their self- evaluative judgments after solving problems. Self-reflection training also increased students’ pass- rate on a national gateway examination in mathematics by 25% in comparison to that of control students. Key words: self-regulation, self-reflection, math instruction 1 Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Barry Zimmerman, PhD, Graduate Center of the City University of New York and Center for Advanced Study in Education, 365 Fifth Ave- nue, New York, NY 10016, USA; email:
[email protected] 2 Now affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine 3 Graduate Center of the City University of New York and Center for Advanced Study in Education Enhancing self-reflection and math achievement 109 Across America, faculty and policy makers at two-year and technical colleges have been deeply troubled by the low academic achievement and high attrition rate of at-risk stu- dents.