This study was designed for the purpose of quantitatively examining the significant elements of reform-based professional development and their relationship to teachers’ self-efficacies for inclusion. The theoretical frameworks for this study were drawn from Bandura’s (1997) self-efficacy and social cognitive theory in addition to pre-existing research pertaining to professional development and teacher efficacy for inclusion.
A web based survey was developed and made available for voluntary participation to a total population of 385 elementary school teachers in one East Tennessee school district. Data were collected from 79 elementary school teachers in 14 of the district’s elementary schools.
Findings included no significant statistical correlation between teacher self-efficacy for inclusion scores and the amount of professional development completed during the current school year. Respondents did report a perception that inclusion was not significantly emphasized during professional development activities. Self-efficacy for inclusion scores of teachers with 11+ years of overall teaching experience were found to be significantly higher than teachers with 1-10 years of overall teaching experience. Additionally, there was no significant difference between self-efficacy scores of teachers who were required to take 1 or 2 special education courses for initial certification and 3 teachers who were required to take more than 2 special education courses for initial certification.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-2295 |
| Date | 01 May 2013 |
| Creators | Lee, Susan E |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Electronic Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Copyright by the authors. |
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