Schoolwide action research: Teacher perceptions of a professional development initiative in a small, rural, middle school

The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions of fourteen middle school teachers during the implementation of a professional development initiative at a small, rural middle school. The intent of the initiative was to enable teachers to research, collaborate, experience and implement classroom strategies to increase student learning.; Time was devoted to professional development one afternoon each week for three weeks each month. Collaboratively, the teachers decided upon the major topics they wished to focus on and researched the assigned topic, presented the findings to the entire faculty, and demonstrated ways to implement it in the classroom.; Teachers were given the Woolfolk and Hoy Efficacy Scale and Bandura's Efficacy Survey to measure personal teaching efficacy (PTE) and general teaching efficacy (GTE). The teachers kept journals and the principal/researcher/participant kept field notes as a means of reflecting on the weekly activities. Also, focus groups were conducted at the end of the year. The qualitative data was triangulated with the quantitative data from the efficacy surveys to analyze the teachers' perceptions of the professional development activities during the year.; There were significant increases in instructional self-efficacy, specifically in the ability to increase students' memory of what they had been taught in previous lessons and in enlisting community involvement, and creating a positive school climate. The increase in efficacy to enlist community involvement was in three areas: involving community groups in working with the schools, getting businesses involved in working with the schools, and involving local colleges and universities in working with the school. Other significant increases were in the categories of making the students enjoy coming to school and reducing school dropouts.; There were significant decreases in teacher efficacy in three areas: the ability to express views freely on important school matters, the ability to make the school a safe place, and the ability to prevent problem behavior on school grounds.; Teachers felt that the most beneficial professional development activities included the group learning/hands-on activities, vocabulary building and writing projects, motivational techniques, critical thinking activities, implementing technology as a teaching tool, and the use of rubrics for grading.