Helping low-achieving students with learning disabilities and/or emotional-behavioural difficulties to develop the component skills for Self-Regulated Learning (SRL), such as setting and monitoring learning goals, is important for their success, both in and beyond school. This study examined the effects of a goal setting intervention on self-efficacy, motivational beliefs, and academic engagement in alternative Grade 10 mathematics classes for learners with special needs. The teacher modeled and scaffolded students' writing of daily learning goals throughout a one-semester mathematics course, with the goal of increasing student engagement and self-efficacy in mathematics. Research questions focused on changes in students' engagement, learning behaviours, and math-related motivational beliefs during the course, as their goal statements became more focused and descriptive. Although individual variability in responses to motivation and self-efficacy measures typified the data from this small sample of learners, the goal-setting intervention appeared to help most students to stay engaged in achievement-oriented classroom behaviour.