An investigation of school anxiety, self-concept, self-efficacy, and community building in multiyear and traditional graded classrooms

This purpose of this study was to explore the reported advantages of multiyear instruction as an educational model of instructional delivery where a teacher and students remain together in an educational setting for a minimum of two years. Specifically, this study sought to determine if spending two years with the same teacher and students would have a positive effect on student school related anxiety, self-concept, self-efficacy, and a stronger sense of community among students, teachers, and parents when compared to similar students in a traditional, single grade program.;The research project focused on students, teachers, and parents from one elementary school located in the Northeastern School District, located in northern York County, Pennsylvania. The research sample for this study was comprised of 242 students. Five classes of students were from traditional graded classrooms grades two through four. Five classes of students were from multiyear classrooms that spent two years each with the same teacher in grade configurations of one and two and three and four.;The Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale was the data gathering measure used to identify several self-concept levels of children in the multiyear and graded classes. Subscales for the test included behavior, intellectual and school status, physical appearance and attributes, anxiety, popularity, and happiness and satisfaction. Mann-Whitney rank-sum U tests were conducted in order to determine whether the groups being studied differed from one another based on rank scores. Likert scale surveys were developed and distributed to all teachers and parents participating in the study including five looping class teachers and five traditional class teachers, and all looping and traditional class parents who had children participating in the study. The surveys asked both teachers and parents to express their level of agreement regarding the their child's success in school in either the looping or traditional graded programs. Mann-Whitney rank-sum U tests were conducted in order to determine whether the groups being studied differed from one another. The results of the inferential statistics were analyzed in order to answer the research questions.;The results of the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale instrument indicated there were no significant differences between students enrolled in looping or traditional classes when comparing student behavior, intellectual and school status, physical appearance and attributes, anxiety, popularity, and happiness and satisfaction. Based on the perceptions of teachers, there were significant differences regarding looping students in terms of reduced school related anxiety at the beginning of the second year of the looping experience. These same teachers believed a two-year looping experience created a stronger sense of community among students, teachers, and parents. Based on the perceptions of parents, there were significant differences regarding looping students in terms of school related anxiety at the beginning of the second year of the looping experience. Parents also believed the self-efficacy of their children improved in relation to improved academic progress and student confidence about their own academic performance. These same parents believed the looping program created a strong sense of community among students, teachers, and parents.