Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Committee Chair

Doug Eury

Abstract

This dissertation was designed to provide access to current information for teachers and staff in middle and high schools. The current research on standards implementation and teacher efficacy were outdated, scarce, or inadequate. Electronic databases were available for online searching and information retrieval; however, teachers and district leaders did not know how professional development affected personal teaching efficacy. District leaders also did not know how to use professional development to enrich a teacher’s sense of efficacy in the classroom.

The writer administered a survey and conducted interviews with current Math 1 teachers in the district as an instructional prep. The survey was administered through an established in-house survey instrument. Data collection used a multistage design. Stage one was to administer the TSES (teacher sense of efficacy) short form. The survey was voluntary and randomly distributed through the district. Stage two consisted of interviews from responding teachers on the Common Core professional development and its effect on teacher efficacy and the EOC/EVASS Math1 test of student achievement. Teacher consent was gathered by sending a formal letter stating that participation in the research was voluntary. The letter indicated that teachers could withdraw at any time and that all information would be confidential and anonymous. Participants for the research interview came from teachers who agreed with the research. Interview sessions were audio recorded and transcribed.

An analysis of the research data revealed that teachers received varying levels of professional development and were more likely to ignore professional development if (a) such development did not contribute to student achievement and (b) the professional development received increased their anxiety levels when implementing the standards. The data reveled that teachers demonstrated the lowest efficacy when it came to instructional strategies with difficult students from difficult backgrounds. Interview data from teachers communicated that resources, consistency in expectations and assessment, and follow-up professional development are the most pressing needs to increase their sense of teacher efficacy.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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