Education Commons^™

Learning To Lead With An Equity Lens: A Case Study Of A Principal Residency Program, Maurice L. Davis

Dissertations of Practice

School districts throughout the United States are challenged with the plague of educator turnover. In particular, building principals are exiting school buildings causing gaps in system consistencies leading to negative perceptions of school culture and decreases in student achievement. Universities are working to assess and redevelop principal preparation programs (PPPs) to support principals and the skill sets needed to be successful within schools today. By increasing the skill of a building principal to lead using an equity lens and developing theories of action to address the frustration initiated by urban school working conditions, principals may develop a greater sense of …

Organizational Citizenship Behaviors, Self Efficacy, Job Satisfaction, And Organizational Commitment Of Science And Math Teachers In Alabama, Andrew N. Wood

Dissertations

This study investigated the correlations between occupational citizenship behaviors, self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment of math and science teachers. The purpose was to discern how these variables interacted to determine how best to support these teachers so they may be more likely to stay teaching in their organizations until retirement. The researcher surveyed math and science teachers within the State of Alabama. There were 314 math and science teachers who completed the survey instrument. Six hypotheses were evaluated to determine if all the variables had positive relationships with each other. From the correlation analysis, used for hypothesis testing, total …

Investigating The Effect Of Perceived Social Support And Professional Support On The Ability To Persist As A Building Administrator In Arkansas, Jill Annette Larosa

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Across the United States, our K-12 public schools have very low levels of principals persisting in their jobs. The national average for principal tenure is four years, and one out of every five principals in poverty districts leaves after one year (Levin et al., 2019). The tenure average of four years is a devastating statistic because, according to an investigation commissioned by the Wallace Foundation (Leithwood et al., 2011), it takes an average of five years with a new administrator for a school’s performance to rebound to the level of achievement that existed before the administration change. At the current …

Administrator Knowledge Of The First Amendment Rights In A School And How To Improve Legal Literacy Through Self-Efficacy, Stuart E. Wrzesinski

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the legal literacy of school administrators and the lack of mandated training regarding school law, specific to the First Amendment. With continual changes in education school administrators can function as the change agent for schools through the lens of self-efficacy. This dissertation is organized into three bodies of work. Paper 1 is a review of literature specific to legal literacy and First Amendment rights in schools. Additional research on self-efficacy theory is presented as a potential catalyst for increasing legal literacy in schools. Paper 2 documents data based on survey questions specific to legal literacy within the …

Training And Experience As Predictors Of Principals’ Efficacy For Inclusive Education Implementation, Courtney Lynch

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Federal inclusion law requires that school administrators provide an equitable and legally compliant inclusive education for all students. Previous research has shown that successful program delivery is not possible without efficacious school leadership. Prior studies have also revealed that principals’ self-efficacy judgments are directly influenced by contextual and personal factors. Limited research-based inquiries have explored which factors contribute to administrator confidence as it relates to successfully implementing inclusive educational programs in particular. Grounded in social cognitive theory, the purpose of this nonexperimental, survey-based, quantitative study was to assess the extent to which facets of elementary school principals’ educational background, experience, …

International School Heads’ Self-Efficacy And Governance: An Intervention, Joshua Ashley Garrett

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Leadership Studies

As international school heads (ISHs) advance through the school leadership pipeline, many find the transition to their new roles and responsibilities as an executive leader difficult, and as a result they struggle to fulfill the expectations of their governing board. In conversations with ISHs in the International Schools Organization (ISO), a pseudonym, several attributed this problem to the lack of preservice, executive leadership training. Most ISO school heads were trained as teacher-leaders and school principals. They excelled in these roles and were consequently promoted to executive leadership. However, very few received formal training in executive leadership, as required of most …

Leaders And At-Risk Students' Perceptions Of Online Credit Recovery Opportunities And The Role Of Efficacy, Angelo Mitsuo Barcinas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although online credit recovery opportunities are available to high school students enrolled in a United States of America territory credit recovery school, the inability of students to access these courses outside of the school is difficult because students do not have online access. This study examines the role self-efficacy plays on students successfully completing high school through taking advantage of online credit recovery opportunities. The purpose of this general qualitative interview study was to examine at-risk students’ perceptions of online credit recovery opportunities and the role of efficacy for students enrolled in online credit recovery school. Using the social cognitive …

Self-Efficacy And Stem Career Interest In Black And Latino Middle School Students: A Study On The Next Generation Science Standards, Whitney Mccormick

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

With only 11% of the current Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) workforce being Black and Latino men and women, there is a crisis of underrepresented individuals in STEM fields. The construction of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and the mantra “all standards, all students,” represents an attempt to increase access to science for more students, and increase their self-efficacy about STEM subjects, as low self-efficacy is cited as one of the main causes of disinterest in STEM subjects. This study examined the relationship between students’ self-efficacy in STEM fields and their career interests, specifically in a population of …

School Principal's Leadership Style And Teacher's Self-Efficacy In High And Low Achieving Schools In Chikankata, Zambia, Pardon Mwansa

Dissertations

Problem and Purpose

Much research has been done in past years on the topic of student achievement, with most of those studies focusing on factors that contribute to student achievement. Little, or no research has been done, especially in the country of Zambia, that has focused on the relationship between leadership style, teacher self-efficacy, and the extent to which these constructs impact student achievement. This study explored the school principals' leadership style, teacher self-efficacy, and the extent to which these factors contribute to student achievement in Chikankata District, Zambia. The Ministry of Education in Zambia and other educators, especially those …

Factors Influencing Special Education Teachers' Mathematics Teaching Efficacy, Owen Martin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This research examined the relationship between secondary special education teachers’ mathematics teaching efficacy and the number of years of teaching experience, years of co-teaching experience, and number of math content coursework taken at the undergraduate level. Students with special needs continue to score significantly lower than their general education peers on Virginia’s standards of learning mathematics tests. A quantitative, non-experimental correlational research design was used in this study. The targeted sample consisted of approximately 120 collaborating special education teachers in two school districts in southeastern Virginia. The Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (MTEBI) was measure mathematics teaching efficacy and teacher …

The Impact Of Student Engagement, Instructional Strategies, And Classroom Management On Self-Efficacy Of Christian Private School Teachers, Monica Cason

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative correlational research study was to investigate variables that best predict Christian private school teachers’ efficacy. Specifically, the study addresses the question of how the predictor variables of gender, age, ethnicity, professional qualification, and school status relate to efficacy in student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management. The present study contributes to the limited resources for research concerning efficacy of a teacher. Approximately 138 teachers from northeast Florida Christian private schools completed the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale–Short Form. The instrument developed for assessing efficacy also targeted instructional strategies, classroom management, and student engagement. A target sample was …

Elementary Teachers' Affective Relationship With Mathematics And Its Influence On Mathematics Instruction, Kelly Kreitzer Sutton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In a South Carolina school district, approximately 45% of 3rd-5th grade students performed poorly on the state mathematics test. K-5 teachers attended district training to improve mathematics instruction and content mastery, but the training omitted teachers' affective domain in teaching. Teachers' affective relationships with mathematics (ARM) affects content delivery, instructional decisions, and teachers' confidence levels and motivation. The purpose of this sequential mixed methods study was to investigate whether teachers' years of experience, grade levels taught, or past mathematics experiences influenced K-5 teachers' ARM, as measured by the ARM survey, and to explore teachers' perceptions of their ARM in instruction. …

Teacher Morale In A Turnaround School, Louis Lane

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teacher turnover has a significant effect on the overall success of schools. The use of comprehensive turnaround strategies such as the conservatorship process created a problem for a small Southeastern high school by affecting teacher retention rate. A qualitative approach was used to investigate how aspects of turnaround strategies influenced teacher morale, which may have contributed to the small Southeastern high school's lower than average teacher retention rate. Bandura's self-efficacy theory provided the conceptual framework for this qualitative case study. The research question addressed teachers' perspectives of morale as well as their views and experiences with the conservatorship process. Semistructured …

The Relationship Between Teachers' Perception Of Data-Driven Instructional Leadership And Their Sense Of Efficacy And Anxiety For Data-Driven Decision-Making, Jarvis J. Price

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the relationship between teachers’ perception of data-driven instructional leadership and their sense of self-efficacy and anxiety towards data-driven decision-making. Additionally, the research study examined if teachers’ school level (elementary or secondary) influenced their perception of data-driven instructional leadership and their sense of self-efficacy and anxiety towards data-driven decision-making. The researcher utilized a correlational research design and correlational/regression analysis to conduct this study based on the theoretical framework of Bandura’s social learning theory. The researcher surveyed 300 full-time certified educators in a rural school district located in the southeastern United States using the …

The Relationship Between Teacher Self-Efficacy And Student Discipline Referrals Written By Secondary Teachers From A Rural School District In A Southern State, Edwin Laughter

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to determine the strength of the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and discipline referrals. Participants completed the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale, which was used as an operational definition of teacher self-efficacy. A Spearman’s correlation coefficient measured the relationship between the predictor variables: classroom management, student engagement, and instructional strategies, and the criterion variable of discipline referrals. Criterion variable data consisted of collected discipline referral records of participants from the participating school district. Data on predictor variables were measured by participant responses on the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale, which include the three …

Getting It Right: African American Male College/University Presidents And Their Early Cultivation Of Self-Efficacy, James Randall

Doctoral Dissertations

GETTING IT RIGHT: AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS AND THEIR EARLY CULTIVATION OF SELF-EFFICACY MAY 2017 JAMES ANTHONY RANDALL, B.A., MOREHOUSE COLLEGE M.S.W., UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, COLLEGE OF SOCIAL POLICY AND PRACTICE Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by Joseph B. Berger Education remains the single most important means by which individuals in the United States can empower themselves economically, socially, and personally. In spite of this, a significant percentage of young African American males do not even appear to be competing or reaching for the educational opportunities before them as they rank the poorest amongst their peers in a …

A Grounded Theory Study On Middle School Students' Perceptions Of Teacher Approachability And The Influence Of Those Perceptions On Student-Teacher Interactions, Kathryn Teston

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to investigate how middle school student perceptions of teacher approachability influenced their interactions with teachers. The fourteen participants were sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade general education middle school students from three school models (public, private, and Christian) in the metro area of a city in the southeastern United States. The Approach-Avoidance Theory, first proposed by Kurt Lewin, (1935) provided the theoretical framework for this study. The central research question that shaped this grounded theory study was: How do general education middle school students’ perceptions of teacher approachability influence the students’ interactions with their …

College Students’ Persistence And Degree Completion In Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics (Stem): The Role Of Non-Cognitive Attributes Of Self-Efficacy, Outcome Expectations, And Interest, Michael Aryee

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The lack of students’ persistence (or student’s effort to continue their academic studies until degree completion) in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and the attrition of STEM students as well as the shortage of STEM workers have gathered much attention from policy makers, governmental agencies, higher education researchers and administrators in recent years. As a result, much research efforts have been directed towards identifying factors causing the leaks in the STEM pipeline and finding effectively antidotes to patch the leakage points along the pipe. In the past, most studies in the STEM disciplines have focused on individual cognitive capacities …

Examining The Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-Efficacy Of Teacher Candidates In Hawaii, Kathleen Evans

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As achievement gaps for indigenous, low SES, and ethnically diverse students widen, teacher education programs in Hawaii continue to be charged with preparing teachers to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student population. Despite efforts to expand accreditation diversity requirements for teacher education programs, it is unknown whether these programs provide the preparation needed for teachers to develop culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy. Guided by self-efficacy theory, this mixed methods study examined teacher candidates' culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy (CRTSE) beliefs, their relationships with demographic and other variables, and candidates' perceptions of factors that might affect these beliefs. Teacher candidates (N …

A World Both Big And Small: Understanding Urban Middle School Teachers’ Sense Of Self-Efficacy In An Era Of Accountability, Richard Gallucci

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This explanatory case study seeks to understand the nature of middle school educators’ self-efficacy in an urban public school district during an era of accountability. The study was conducted in a progressive school district, known as OakRidge Pubic Schools. A sequential mixed methods design with a participant-selection model variation was employed. The study identified teachers’ level of self-efficacy via the Teacher’s Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001), a quantitative survey used to determine high and low self-efficacy focus groups. During these subsequent focus group interviews, the competing objectives of fulfilling responsibilities levied from accountability mandates and initiatives, …

Impact Of Professional Development In Response To Intervention On Secondary Teachers' Efficacy, Crystal Joy Spence

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In 2012, a southeastern state mandated that all school districts employ the response to intervention (RtI) tiered approach model to meet the needs of struggling students. RtI was implemented at the study site; however, secondary teachers were not confident in their abilities to implement RtI. Researchers have found that a teacher's sense of efficacy can impact student academic outcomes. Professional development on implementing RtI was provided for teachers in the study school. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of explicit RtI professional development on the perceived self-efficacy of secondary teachers and their ability to impact student …

The Impact Of Self-Efficacy On Retention In Technical Colleges, Percy W. Reed

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Vocational and career training institutes focus their energy and resources on student support services, increasing student retention as it relates to minority populations. Despite these efforts, a specific vocational and career institute in the southeast United States reports a 50% retention rate of students who are enrolled. This case study explored students' descriptions of how self-efficacy supported their perseverance while attending the vocational and career training institute. The conceptual framework included Bandura's notions of self-efficacy and Tinto's integration model. Purposeful sampling strategies were used to interview 10 successfully-retained students enrolled in their 4th term or beyond at the vocational and …

Raising The Bar: The Stories Of Ged Graduates Transitioning To Community College, David Weatherspoon

Theses and Dissertations

RAISING THE BAR: THE STORIES OF GED GRADUATES

TRANSITIONING TO COMMUNITY COLLEGE

David Weatherspoon

216 Pages January 2015

The purpose of this study is to examine the educational stories of GED graduates' pursuit of a college degree. The analysis captures the shared experiences of a select number of students' challenges and barriers during their transition to college. This research explores the links between the concepts of social and cultural capital and locus of control (behavior) by examining how these concepts are logically interrelated. The students were purposefully selected to participate based on their involvement in the community college GED transition …

Impact Of Inclusion Teachers' Mathematics Anxiety And Mathematics Self-Efficacy On The Mathematics Achievement Of Learning Disabled Students, Vladimir Sylne

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Learning disabled (LD) students are put in inclusion classrooms in order to experience the mainstream environment and to receive the same level of education as their regular education counterparts. Unfortunately, LD students do not always get the mathematics education that they deserve because inclusion mathematics teachers are not required to be highly qualified in mathematics. The focus of this study was on the relationship between mathematics anxiety and self-efficacy of inclusion teachers and the academic achievement of the LD students they serve. The theoretical framework of this study involved the concepts of student achievement, teacher efficacy, mathematics anxiety, and best …

Learning Disability Status And Gender As Predictors Of Self-Efficacy., Irene Ekohamen Aikhomu

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the school district under study, students with learning disabilities were

underperforming when compared to students without disabilities. Research has indicated that improved self-efficacy can promote improved student outcomes and that self- efficacy can be taught. Despite this known association, the school district under study has not provided students with such support. The current study addressed ways in which that gap may be attenuated. Guided by the framework of Bandura's theory of self-efficacy and social cognitive theory, the purpose of this study was to explore (a) whether students' perceptions of self-efficacy differed depending on whether or not they had diagnosed …

High School Students' Participation In Fine Arts Programs And Perceived Leadership Self-Efficacy, Howard Benjamin Burge

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research suggests that participation in fine arts programs may enhance the development of leadership skills in student populations; however, few studies have examined the unique association between fine arts students and the development of their leadership self-efficacy skills. Lambert's theory of constructive leadership formed the theoretical framework for this quantitative study. The 3 research questions asked whether there is a significant relationship between (a) the number of programs and self-reported leadership self-efficacy, (b) the type of programs and the self-reported leadership self-efficacy, and (c) the quality of programs and the self-reported leadership self-efficacy. The sample included 103 high school students …

A Structural Model Of Leadership Self-Efficacy For Asian American Students: Examining Influences Of Collective Racial Esteem And Resilience, Corinne Maekawa Kodama

Dissertations

This study investigated the relationship between racial identity, using the constructs of collective racial esteem (CRE), and resilience on LSE for a diverse sample of 2,223 Asian American college students, using data from the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership, a national survey of college outcomes. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the relationship between CRE and Resilience, as well as Non-Discriminatory Climate and Identity-based Experiences, on LSE. The model was tested for invariance for gender as well as for five Asian American ethnic groups (Chinese, Indian/Pakistani, Korean, Filipino, and Vietnamese).

Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that the 4-item CRE subscales were …

Relationship Of Self-Efficacy In Community College Students From Critical Need Areas With First Semester Academic Achievement, Elmira Ratliff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if a relationship existed between the self-efficacy levels of freshman year community college students from critical need areas and their first semester academic achievement during their freshman year. Additionally, this research determined the strength of the relationship between self-efficacy levels and first semester grade point average of students from critical need areas. The study was conducted using three community colleges in the state of Mississippi during the 2013-2014 academic school year. The sample included one hundred and fifty males and one hundred and fifty females with a permanent address and school …

The Role Of Academic Factors, Self-Efficacy, Mentoring Relationships, And Learning Communities In Persistance And Academic Success Of Freshmen College Students, Stefanie Theresia Baier

Wayne State University Dissertations

Many U.S. universities are concerned with student retention. The current study surveyed 237 first time college students at a Midwestern university to determine the extent to which social-cognitive factors, such as high school GPA, ACT scores, first semester college GPA, college self-efficacy and perceptions of mentorship support influence freshmen's intent to persist and academic success.

Pearson Correlations, Standard Multiple Regression Analyses, PROCESS for Mediation and Moderation, and a MANOVA were performed. The study's findings show that college self-efficacy and perceptions of mentorship were the strongest predictors for intentions to persist past the first college semester. High school GPA was the …

Adult Learning In A K-12 Setting; Job-Embedded Professional Development: Teacher Identity And Self-Efficacy, Deidra Maclellan Gammill

Dissertations

This two-phase sequential mixed methods study examined the relationship between professional development, whether in the form of traditional professional development, a professional learning community and/or lesson study, and teacher self-efficacy and self-directed learning in order to gain a greater understanding of the role professional development plays in teacher identity and efficacy as they relate to adult learning theory.

The qualitative case study method was used to interview 22 teachers, half of whom participated in a professional learning community known as lesson study. The interview data indicated that collaboration was simply one of the variables that influenced teacher efficacy and identity. …