Education Commons^™

Self-Efficacy Of Novice And Experienced Special Education Teachers Of English Learners, Deborah Escalante Montoya

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Special education teachers in California acquire advanced degrees, credentials, and authorizations to serve students with disabilities who are English language learners (SWD-ELLs), yet continue to be challenged to meet the complex instructional needs of these students. Performance on statewide tests of achievement show continued disparities between the academic achievement of SWD, ELLs, and their non-disabled English-only speaking peers. Bandura's theory of self-efficacy was the theoretical foundation for this research study given that teachers' perceptions of their abilities across the span of their careers can directly affect the achievement of their students. To compare and examine the self-reported sense of self-efficacy …