Context Variables that Affect Measures of Teacher Efficacy

AbstractThis article presents a model describing three context variables hypothesized to affect measures of teacher efficacy. These variables include the nature of the student performance outcome (positive or negative), the ability of the students involved (high or low), and the scope of influence (single student or group of students). The results from studies investigating the influence of performance outcome and student ability variables are summarized. The present study focuses on the scope of influence variable. Data were gathered from 114 experienced elementary and secondary teachers through attitudinal and perceptual self-reports. Correlational analysis generally supported the model, but factor-analytic procedures failed to yield clearly distinct factor dimensions. Possible explanations and implications are discussed.

[1]  Jere Brophy,et al.  Teacher-student relationships: causes and consequences , 1974 .

[2]  V C CRANDALL,et al.  CHILDREN'S BELIEFS IN THEIR OWN CONTROL OF REINFORCEMENTS IN INTELLECTUAL-ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT SITUATIONS. , 1965, Child development.

[3]  R. Feigenbaum,et al.  Some determinants and consequences of the teacher's perception of causation. , 1964 .

[4]  Myron H. Dembo,et al.  Teacher efficacy: A construct validation. , 1984 .

[5]  L. Mcdonnell,et al.  Analysis of the School Preferred Reading Program in Selected Los Angeles Minority Schools. , 1976 .

[6]  M. Mclaughlin,et al.  Staff Development and School Change , 1978, Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education.

[7]  T. Guskey.  Measurement of the Responsibility Teachers Assume For Academic Successes and Failures in the Classroom , 1981 .

[8]  H. B. Murray,et al.  Teacher's locus of control and student achievement gains , 1974 .

[9]  R. W. White.  Motivation reconsidered: the concept of competence. , 1959, Psychological review.

[10]  Paul Berman,et al.  Federal Programs Supporting Educational Change, Vol. VII: Factors Affecting Implementation and Continuation. , 1977 .

[11]  H. Cooper,et al.  Task information and attributions for academic performance by professional teachers and roleplayers , 1977 .

[12]  F. Medway,et al.  Measurement of Teachers' Beliefs in Their Control over Student Outcome. , 1981 .

[13]  K. Jöreskog.  A general approach to confirmatory maximum likelihood factor analysis , 1969 .

[14]  Gerald C. Sumner,et al.  Federal Programs Supporting Educational Change, Vol. III , 1975 .

[15]  A. Bandura.  Reflections on self-efficacy , 1978 .

[16]  H. Cooper,et al.  Classroom Context and Student Ability as Influences on Teacher Perceptions of Classroom Control , 1979 .

[17]  J. Brophy,et al.  Teachers' attitudes and ascription of causation. , 1975 .

[18]  A. Bandura.  Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. , 1977, Psychology Review.

[19]  P. Ashton,et al.  Teacher Efficacy: A Motivational Paradigm for Effective Teacher Education , 1984 .

[20]  R. Ames.  Teachers' attributions of responsibility: Some unexpected nondefensive effects. , 1975 .

[21]  P. Tetlock.  Explaining Teacher Explanations of Pupil Performance; A Self-Presentation Interpretation. , 1980 .

[22]  L. Ross,et al.  Attribution of education outcome by professional and nonprofessional instructors. , 1974, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[23]  R. Baron,et al.  Academic Expectations and Attributed Responsibility as Predictors of Professional Teachers' Reinforcement Behavior. , 1977 .

[24]  T. Guskey.  The Influence of Change in Instructional Effectiveness Upon the Affective Characteristics of Teachers , 1984 .

[25]  L. Beckman.  Effects of students' performance on teachers' and observers' attributions of causality. , 1970 .

[26]  D. Lortie,et al.  Schoolteacher: A Sociological Study , 1976 .

[27]  L. Beckman.  Teachers' and Observers' Perceptions of Causality for a Child's Performance. , 1973 .

[28]  F. Heider.  The psychology of interpersonal relations , 1958 .

[29]  Differences in Teachers' Perceptions of Personal Control of Positive versus Negative Student Learning Outcomes. , 1982 .

[30]  M. Rothbart,et al.  Effects of teacher's expectancy on student-teacher interaction. , 1971 .

[31]  F. Medway.  Causal attributions for school-related problems: teacher perceptions and teacher feedback. , 1979, Journal of educational psychology.

[32]  M. Wiley,et al.  Why Did You Learn in School Today? Teachers' Perceptions of Causality. , 1978 .