Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Education (Ph.D)

Department

Administrative and Instructional Leadership

First Advisor

Stephen Kotok

Second Advisor

Joan Birringer-Haig

Third Advisor

Anthony Annunziato

Abstract

Preparing novice staff through induction programs is essential for teacher retention and student achievement. The purpose of the current research was to determine the impact of teacher participation in a multi-year mentoring program, teachers’ years of experience, and school-level taught as they relate to the self-efficacy scores of teachers. A non-experimental design was conducted with data collected through online surveys, voluntarily completed by 110 teachers across grades K-12, from a suburban school district nearby a large metropolitan city in the northeastern United States. The Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001) was used to measure teacher self-efficacy in the following areas; (1) classroom management, (2) instructional strategies, (3) student engagement, and (4) self-efficacy overall. Independent variables included (1) teachers’ years of experience (less than five years, five to fifteen years, more than fifteen years), (2) participation in a multi-year mentoring program (present participant, past participant, non-participant), and (3) school level (elementary school, grades K-6, middle school, grades 7-8, high school, grades 9-12). A three-way ANOVA and multiple regression analyses were utilized to examine the variables. Results showed a significant interaction between years of experience and participation in a multi-year mentoring program. Post hoc main effects showed a significant mean difference between non-participants who taught for five to fifteen years and non-participants who taught for more than fifteen years. Furthermore, a significant mean difference was found between teachers who were non-participants and past participants who have taught for more than fifteen years. Four multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between teachers’ perceived self-efficacy across various areas and potential predictor variables including total years of experience, participation in a multi-year mentoring program, and school-level taught. The first multiple regression analysis found that the potential predictor variables were not predictors of self-efficacy overall scores. The second multiple regression found that years of experience were a predictor of self-efficacy in classroom management. Self-efficacy in student engagement was not predicted by any variables. School-level was found to be a predictor of self-efficacy in instructional strategies with the model being statistically significant. Findings indicated that teachers who have more years of experience demonstrated scores that showed a higher level of perceived self-efficacy. School districts need to be patient and understand that novice staff requires time in an effort to build on their self-efficacy.

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