Author: Valmadge TeErino Towner

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13:

Throughout the nation, school districts are beset with the challenge of meeting final goals established by the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) and its mandates for student achievement. No Child Left Behind (2001) requires by 2013 that all students be proficient or advanced in certain academic content areas as measured by various state assessments those students will take. In effect, the era of high stakes testing in all states has led educators to seek ways to predict and determine results of student achievement among students. However, little research has been conducted on the influence of one construct of teaching efficacy, teacher self-efficacy and precisely its relationship with respect to the performance and achievement of students on state-mandated standardized achievement tests. Given that external factors mediate and affect individual student performance (Ross, 1994; Tucker, 2005), the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and student outcomes and subsequent implications for enhancing school effectiveness are examined in this study. Hence, schools and school districts must seek out all possible means to help increase student achievement. With that said, the study determines the nature and degree of the correlation between teacher self-efficacy and mean student achievement in six school districts in the Mississippi Delta. The independent variable for the study is teacher self-efficacy which is determined by the Ohio state teacher efficacy scale (OSTES). The dependent variable for the study is student achievement data which is based upon data from spring 2008 and spring 2009 Mississippi curriculum test 2 scores. Individual levels of the teacher self-efficacy are correlated with aggregated mean scores of student achievement on two content areas for grades 3 through 8 on the MCT2. Such demand to increase student achievement has highlighted the importance of understanding the role of teacher efficacy.