Teacher efficacy: capturing an elusive construct

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Abstract

Teacher efficacy has proved to be powerfully related to many meaningful educational outcomes such as teachers’ persistence, enthusiasm, commitment and instructional behavior, as well as student outcomes such as achievement, motivation, and self-efficacy beliefs. However, persistent measurement problems have plagued those who have sought to study teacher efficacy. We review many of the major measures that have been used to capture the construct, noting problems that have arisen with each. We then propose a promising new measure of teacher efficacy along with validity and reliability data from three separate studies. Finally, new directions for research made possible by this instrument are explored.

Section snippets

A first attempt at measurement: Rotter's locus of control

The search for ways to measure teacher efficacy has not suffered from a lack of effort. In the attempt to capture the meaning of this apparently powerful construct, researchers have tried both long, detailed measures and short, general ones. The first measures were grounded in Rotter's social learning theory.

A second conceptual strand: Bandura's social cognitive theory

While one strand of research grounded in Rotter's social learning theory developed, a second strand emerged, growing out of Bandura's social cognitive theory and his construct of self-efficacy, as initially described in his 1977 article, “Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change”. Bandura (1997) defined perceived self-efficacy as “beliefs in one's capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments” (p. 3). Self-efficacy is a

Challenges in the measure of teacher efficacy

Studies of teacher efficacy have frequently found two separate dimensions or factors, although considerable confusion and debate have arisen over their meaning. While there is general agreement that the first factor, commonly called personal teaching efficacy, has to do with one's own feelings of competence as a teacher, the meaning of the second factor has been in question. Although it is often called general teaching efficacy, some have argued for other labels. Emmer and Hickman (1990) called

The development of a new measure of teacher efficacy

Deciding how to measure teacher efficacy presents thorny issues. Bandura (1997), Bandura (1997 (2001) recommended including various levels of task demands, allowing respondents to indicate the strength of their efficacy beliefs in light of a variety of impediments or obstacles and providing a broad range of response options. But perhaps the greatest challenge has to do with finding the optimal level of specificity for measurement. Although Bandura would applaud efforts to expand measures of

Testing the instrument

The new measure, named the Ohio State teacher efficacy scale (OSTES), was examined in three separate studies. In the first study, the original 52 items were reduced to 32 and in the second, the scale was further reduced to 18 items made up of three subscales. In the third study, 18 additional items were developed and tested. The resulting instrument had two forms, a long form with 24 items and a short form with 12 items. Finally, the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the new

Implications and directions for future research

The development of the OSTES is a step forward in capturing what has been an elusive construct. It is superior to previous measures of teacher efficacy in that it has a unified and stable factor structure and assesses a broad range of capabilities that teachers consider important to good teaching, without being so specific as to render it useless for comparisons of teachers across contexts, levels, and subjects. Clearly this new scale needs further testing and validation. Clarification of the

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