This study investigated the elementary school teachers¡¦instructional efficacy in Taiwan. Research variable consist of teachers¡¦background variable such as gender ,marriage status ,educational background,years of teaching ,and administratived duty and school environment variables such as school size and school location. A questionnaire was constructed to collect the information concerning the language teachers¡¦instructional efficacy. A total of 350 elementary school language teachers in Pin-Tung County,Taiwan were selected as subjects by means of a stratified random sampling approach. Survey data were statisfically analyzed,and the research hypotheses were tested.The results indicate that the level of overall instructional efficacy of elementary school language teachers was above average and that some domain¡¦s of teachers¡¦instructional efficacy were affected by the factors of teachers¡¦gender and schools¡¦locales.

This study presents a qualitative analysis of principals' perceptions of the relationship among principal preparation programs, professional development and instructional leadership confidence in one urban school division in Virginia. Levine (2005) argued that the principal has a salient effect on the instructional programs within schools, and the preparation and professional development of the principal affects the degree to which they maintain and improve instruction. To examine principal perceptions on feelings of confidence toward instructional leadership, four research questions were investigated: What are principals' perceptions concerning the instructional confidence needed to lead schools in one school division? What are principals' perceptions regarding the coursework undertaken in their preparation program and the associated confidence developed for instructional leadership in one school division? What are principal perceptions concerning post-graduate professional development and the associated confidence developed for instructional leadership in one school division? What type of additional training do principals believe would enhance their confidence toward instructional leadership in one school division? The researcher sought to ascertain principal perceptions concerning the construct, instructional leadership efficacy, based on their academic training and professional development. The findings were as follows: a) interviewed principals in one urban school division described instructional leadership efficacy in terms of one's capacity to provide instructional leadership and one's know how to foster home-school relations; b) interviewed principals in one urban school division believe that the principal must act as an instructional leader to facilitate learning in the building; c) interviewed principals from one urban school division reported that the course of greatest significance to instructional leadership was school law; d) interviewed principals from one urban school division were unable to identify the most beneficial professional development in terms of that which is needed to be the instructional leader; e) there was no recommendation for specific coursework in the principal preparation program that was supported by the majority of the interviewed principals. / Ed. D.

The goal of this study was to investigate if participation in collaborative professional development workshops - on learned helplessness, self-efficacy, and metacognition - would impact teachers' beliefs in their capacity to address students' helplessness. The underlying assumption was that, with deeper understanding of the theoretical background upon which instructional practices should be constructed, teachers would develop a stronger belief that, through their pedagogical practices, they could impact students' individual learning outcomes as well as the classroom environment. In order to achieve this endeavor, an eight-week intervention was conducted in a low-achieving and low SES public school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The study's design, development, implementation, and evaluation were oriented by guidelines derived from the formative and design experiment methodology. The study benefited from quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis methods. Triangulation of data showed strong consistency between quantitative and qualitative findings. After the intervention, participating teachers acknowledged implementing the theories in their classrooms. Reported impacts included (a) strengthened teachers' beliefs about their capacity for effective teaching in this school environment; (b) increases in teachers' instructional efficacy and metacognitive abilities; (c) increased capacity to exercise reflective practice through evidence- based self-evaluations; (d) increased capacity to create comprehensive lesson plans including the Nine Events of Instruction (Gagne, 1985), the MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation (Jones, 2009), and metacognitive strategies (Schraw, 1998). As teachers implemented the strategies in their classes, they reported positive impacts on the students' interests, attitudes towards classroom activities, and efforts to achieve. / Ph. D.