Efficacy is created early in a career and not easily influenced over time yet states and school districts loose tremendous amounts of money annually educating and training teachers who elect to leave the profession as a result of low self-efficacy. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceived levels of self-efficacy of middle school Language Arts and reading teachers at various stages in their teaching careers in an attempt to inform the practices of teacher preparation. The Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale along with a Teacher Demographic Survey was used to identify how preparation method, content area, and years of experience might relate to self-reported teacher self-efficacy scores. Findings suggest preparation method does play a significant role in self-efficacy of teachers specifically regarding classroom management. Content area of instruction did not reveal a significant difference among participants scores while years of experience did. Participants‘ self-efficacy increased as the total number of overall years teaching experience increased. Nevertheless, when focusing on the number of years at one location, this finding did not hold true. Teacher self-efficacy scores increased only until the 10 year and beyond mark then decreased. Demographic factors such as participant age, sex, ethnicity, and school location were not identified as predictive variables of a teachers‘ self-efficacy. Findings suggest school factors at the 6-8 grade levels may impact teacher efficacy scores. Implications and recommendations to schools districts and teacher preparation programs are offered.

Research over the last three decades has documented that teacher efficacy has an effect on student achievement (Armor et al., 1976; Bandura, 1997). The literature on culturally responsive teaching (CRT) recognizes teacher efficacy as one of the attributes of successful teachers of students from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds (Gay, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 1994). Researchers (e.g., Goddard & Goddard, 2001) have also found that collective teacher efficacy (CTE) beliefs can affect teachers’ goal setting, motivation, and persistence with challenging tasks or situations; specifically, the CTE construct not only explains school-level effects on achievement, but also explains effects on individual teachers’ self-efficacy. When CLD students require special education services, their instruction must be equally responsive to their cultural and linguistic characteristics in addition to their educational needs based on the disability (García & Ortiz, 2004; McCray & García, 2002). Consequently, CRT practices are central to improve these students’ learning outcomes (Gay, 2000). The purpose of this descriptive, correlational survey research study was to investigate (a) the relationship between special education teachers’ collective teacher efficacy beliefs and CRT efficacy for teaching CLD students in special education; and (b) the influences of personal and professional background variables on participating teachers’ CRT efficacy beliefs. The survey was sent to 855 special education teachers of CLD students with disabilities in three urban school districts in Texas; 344 complete responses were received, yielding a 44% response rate. The survey consisted of four sections: Background Information, Collective Teacher Efficacy (CTE), Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-Efficacy Scale (CRTSE), and Culturally Responsive Teaching Outcome-Expectancy Scale (CRTOE). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, analysis of variance, and multiple regression. The results revealed statistically significant relationships (a) between CRTSE and CRTOE beliefs, with a positive and moderate association; and (b) between CTE and CRT efficacy beliefs (CRTSE as well as CRTOE), but the associations were positive and weak. Teachers’ language characteristics, instructional setting, certification in bilingual education/English as a second language, and their perceptions of the quality of their professional preparation emerged as significant influences on their CRTSE and CRTOE beliefs. Implications for teacher education and future research are presented. / text

The purpose of this study was to analyze the direct effects of distributed leadership on teacher professionalism and the mediating effects of collective teacher efficacy, professional learning community, and teacher job satisfaction by using teacher data from the Korea Educational Longitudinal Study (KELS) of 2007, conducted by the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI). After scrutinizing theoretical foundations and reported evidence on the relationships between research factors, the research constructed a structural equation model. The research questions that guided this analysis are as follows: 1) Does the model of this research fit the observed data?; 2) Does distributed leadership practice directly influence teacher professionalism?; and 3) Does distributed leadership practice indirectly influence teacher professionalism mediated by collective teacher efficacy, professional learning community, and teacher job satisfaction? As a result, the initial hypothesized research model shows an inadequate fit to the data. The researcher revised the initial research model by using the results of modification indices provided by the output result of the AMOS program. The results of the study revealed that 1) the research model successfully accounted for the KELS data, 2) distributed leadership negatively influenced teacher professionalism, and 3) distributed leadership indirectly and significantly influenced teacher professionalism, mediated by collective teacher efficacy, professional learning community, and teacher job satisfaction. Additionally, the effects of these mediators also indicated significant relationships between study variables. Public schools cannot achieve their goals and sustain fundamental reform without considering the day-to-day lives of educators, leadership practice, and educators’ workload, and sometimes even re-culturing of schools. School organization should be a place where school members all collaborate with each other to achieve organizational goals and where teachers and students are learning through reciprocal cooperation. When we consider that teacher professionalism can be directly associated with student and parent satisfaction and student achievement, this study contributes to the creation of a model that improves teacher professionalism, and by implication student achievement and satisfaction. / text

The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to identify the primary factors that directly affect teacher efficacy within the classroom in the area of reading for teachers in grades kindergarten through 5. This study examined the role of the administrative team in shaping the teacher’s pedagogy and skill level, as well as identified the implications for leaders. Data gathered to inform the research were derived from teacher surveys, focus groups, and teacher observations. The research examined the relationship between the classroom teacher’s self-efficacy, professional development, instructional delivery, and instructional feedback within the school environment. The benefits of the research are to better understand the importance of instructional support, strategic professional development, and meaningful feedback in elementary education. Lastly, the benefit is to determine a correlation between the professional developer’s resources within the school/district professional training and its effect on the teacher’s instructional strategies. This study took place in an urban school system in Georgia. The surveys, observations, interviews, and focus group were administered at two public elementary school located in Georgia. These schools were located in an urban community and were both Title 1 schools, in which 99% of the student population qualified for free or reduced lunch. The researcher studied the impact that teacher’s efficacy has on the delivery of the Reading Common Core Standards. During the research, the researcher conducted a focus group and further explored the teacher’s perceptions towards their instructional support, professional development, and meaningful feedback. According to Bandura’s (1994) Self-Efficacy Theory, a teacher’s attitude, ability, and cognitive skills comprise what is known as the self-system. The independent variables affect the results are instructional support from administration, teacher feedback, resources, professional development, age, experience and the dependent factor is teacher efficacy in the delivery of Reading Common Core Georgia Performance Standards. In Bandura’s (1994) study, the self-system refers to the behaviors, reactions, and actions concerning the instructional practices and pedagogy of the teacher.

This dissertation adds to the teacher education literature by exploring the experiences education students have of mathematics anxiety and self-efficacy for teaching and learning mathematics. Further, the utility of a specific in-service teacher professional development project, focused on improving rational number instruction, in pre-service education is evaluated, and the potential impact of professional development experiences on the anxieties and efficacy beliefs of students before they enter the teaching profession is explored. This study provides evidence of the predictive capacities of teacher efficacy models that incorporate student experiences and feelings of anxiety to better understand task choice. For example, findings indicate that self-efficacy for teaching mediates the relationship between mathematics teaching anxiety, experience, and mathematics subject area preference for teacher education students. Further, there are indications of the potential for teacher education coursework and in-service teacher professional development to decrease students' experience of mathematics teaching anxiety. Finally, evidence is provided that teacher professional development is not only perceived as useful to teacher educations students, but has potential as an intervention for teacher efficacy and anxiety for teaching. Given these findings, it makes sense to further evaluate the ways in which the strengths of pre-service coursework and in-service professional development can be leveraged to best prepare future teachers for their professional roles. Further research is also needed to longitudinally track experiences of anxiety and self-efficacy as students leave teacher education and enter the classroom as professionals.

Recognizing African American students still perform academically at lower levels than their White counterparts, they maintain lower grades in school, and perform lower on standardized tests; educators and policy makers continue attempts at addressing these disparities. One remedy is implementing culturally specific material into curriculum to be reflective of the cultural diversity of students in the classroom. Although research indicates the use of material related to the student’s cultural origin can create a learning environment conducive to greater academic achievement particularly with minority children, few studies investigate the inclusion of culturally specific material in the classroom in relation to its effect on teachers. This study investigates the relationship between teacher’s view of culture’s role in the educational process and teacher efficacy and how this may be related to academic achievement. ANOVA’s and Correlation statistics were used to analyze the data. Results show statistically significant academic achievement differences but no significant differences in teacher attitudes towards multiculturalism and the teacher self efficacy variable.

The number of special education students continues to rise, creating the need for additional special education teachers. Alternative certification programs have dealt with the special education teacher shortage, but not the question of teacher quality. Most teachers entering classrooms from alternative certification programs have little or no formal education in methodology or behavior management, but have commensurate responsibilities as their more experienced colleagues. The intent of this quantitative study was to examine 222 special education teachers’ sense of self-efficacy and job satisfaction in 21 central Kentucky school districts. The focus was the relation among special education teacher’s degree of efficacy in the early years of their careers (zero to five), degree of job satisfaction, and their certification type in special education (alternative vs. traditional). The secondary purpose was to examine the interrelation among teacher efficacy, number of years in the profession, degree of job satisfaction, gender, type of classroom, and area of certification in special education. The degree of teacher self-efficacy is linked to increased student outcomes and achievement, extent of planning, implementation of new ideas, enthusiasm, commitment, and increased patience with struggling students. The Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale was utilized to measure teacher efficacy. The Brayfield Rothe Job Satisfaction Index (1951) as modified by Warner (1973) was employed to measure the affective factors of job satisfaction. A demographic questionnaire developed by the researcher gathered information from the respondents. The study hypothesis assumed that teacher efficacy, specifically teacher self-efficacy, was lower in early career special education teachers who were pursuing or had recently completed certification through alternative programs. Analysis of the data indicates there is no significant difference between special education teachers who have completed alternative certification programs and their traditionally certified counterparts in terms of their degree of self-efficacy. Responses from the Job Satisfaction Survey indicated both groups of special education teachers are satisfied with their jobs.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Psychology, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 42-51).

abstract: Families and schools share the monumental responsibility of educating children. Children and parent-teacher conferences remain the primary means by which parents and teachers share academic information. Given the limited effectiveness of these conferences, a more compelling alternative for home-school collaboration on academic matters is warranted. The purpose of this action research study was to examine an alternative approach to parent-teacher conferences, Academic Parent Teacher Teams (APTT). APTT is a classroom-based parent involvement model composed of three 75-minute parent-teacher team meetings and an individual 30-minute parent-teacher session. Team meetings are highly structured and include six components: personally inviting parents by the teacher; sharing whole-class and individual student data; setting 60-day academic goals; coaching parents in `teaching' skills; distributing take-home practice materials; and networking. Quantitative data included pre- and post-intervention parent surveys, and pre- and post-intervention student scores on high frequency words and oral reading fluency. Qualitative data included field notes from APTT meetings, pre- and post-intervention teacher reflections, and teacher, parent, and student interviews. Findings from this study supported previous research that suggested most parents have high aspirations for their children's academic success. Findings also indicated parents understood their involvement was important to support academic growth. Increased quality and quantity of parent-teacher communication and interaction improved parents' ability to support student learning at home. Parents increased involvement in children's academics was related to teachers' provision of detailed information and training of parents. Qualitative results showed parents' teaching efforts contributed to students' improvement in reading. To understand this outcome, effectual congruence (EC) was offered as an explanation. EC occurred when parents and teachers agreed on an action plan for student achievement, when there was a mutual commitment to taking specific actions and when each person's role was clearly defined and implemented. EC became the process that supported achievement growth. These results demonstrated that relationships between parents and teachers are complex. Further, when teachers and parents were fully invested in collaboration it produced powerful results for students. This study provided critical information for parents, teachers, administrators and policy makers attempting to implement more effective parent involvement initiatives. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2011

abstract: .ABSTRACT The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) empowered a task force to design a new instructional model for English Language Development (ELD) students. The task force created a four-hour, language intensive instructional model which required ELD-indentified students to be immersed in grammar, reading, pre-writing, vocabulary and oral English conversation. This model also mandated a specific number of instructional minutes were to be assigned to each of the model's five components. Moreover, these instructional minutes were to be accounted for by ELD teachers as they developed lesson plans to teach these students. To address the substantial professional development requirements entailed by these mandates, Wenger's Community of Practice (CoP) framework was employed. A CoP was formed to assist nine ELD teachers to (a) meet mandates of the instructional model, (b) participate in professional development opportunities to gain language-based instructional strategies, (c) plan lessons together and eventually, (d) allow them to become more efficacious in their abilities to meet and implement the mandated ADE Sheltered English Instruction (SEI) instructional model developed by the ADE task force. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered throughout the study by means of a pre- and post-questionnaire, audio taping and transcribing CoP sessions and field notes. Findings suggest the CoP served as an effective forum for increasing ELD teachers' sense of efficacy towards becoming an effective ELD teacher. Moreover, the CoP helped increase understanding of the requirements of the instructional model, participate in professional development specific to their needs and collaborate, which was largely responsible for increasing teacher efficacy. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2011