Abstract:
Title: A Study of the Relationship of Teachers’ Self-
Efficacy and the Impact of Leadership and
Professional Development
Author: Karen “Heidi” L. Lewandowski
Dissertation Chairman: Dr. George R. Bieger
Dissertation Committee Members: Dr. Frank Corbett, Jr.
Dr. Sue A. Rieg
Studies have shown that teachers are a direct link to
student achievement. Teachers with a strong sense of selfefficacy
nurture students toward academic accomplishments.
Teachers with a weak sense of self-efficacy tend to surrender
in the presence of difficulty. How then, do schools promote
teachers’ self-efficacy through leadership and professional
development experiences provided to teachers?
This mixed-method study examined teachers’ perception of
their self-efficacy and the impact of leadership and
professional development on that efficacy. One-hundred
ninety-two teachers from 17 rural elementary schools
throughout western Pennsylvania completed the Teacher Efficacy
Scale (Woolfolk & Hoy, 1993). Teachers’ personal teaching
efficacy (PTE) mean scores were used to identify schools with
extreme measures. Teachers of three schools identified as
possessing overall high PTE, and teachers of two schools
identified as possessing overall low PTE completed the Nature of School Leadership (Leithwood, 1997) questionnaire.
Following the leadership measure, two teachers from each
school were chosen and participated in individual interviews
to reveal detailed qualitative information regarding the
school principal(s) and professional development experiences.
Quantitative results of the study revealed that degrees exist
among teachers’ PTE. Additionally, a statistically
significant difference was found between the mean scores of
teachers identified from high efficacy schools and low
efficacy schools for the six categories of leadership traits.
Surprisingly, faculty from schools identified as low efficacy
actually rated their principal higher for exhibiting
leadership characteristics thought to be effective.
Qualitative data regarding teachers’ perceptions of selfefficacy,
leadership traits and professional development
experiences revealed no strong categories within either group.
Additionally, the responses between groups were highly
reflective of each other, providing inconclusive results
