MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING TO IMPROVE MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: A REPLICATION STUDY

Motivational interviewing (MI) is brief therapy originally designed to motivate adults to change risky or dysfunctional behavior. There is a push to use MI with middle and high school students; however, current research focuses on MI with families or teachers or to support program fidelity. In one of the few randomized studies, Strait et al. (2012) found one MI session produced statistically significant changes in middle school students’ math grades and self-reported positive academic behavior. This study replicates Strait et al.'s study by using the exact MI protocol and similar data collection methods. In this study, 49 students were randomly assigned to either an MI (n = 25) or control (n = 24) group. As with the original MI study, there was a positive main effect on math grades. Effect sizes on academic behavioral outcomes were also similar. Independent replication, mechanisms of action research, and better understanding of why the effects are concentrated on math grades are needed.