Teacher efficacy: A research synthesis

This inquiry synthesized the available research on teacher efficacy. A 14 stage model was implemented to identify and analyze study characteristics found in the synthesis population of 89 primary studies addressing teacher efficacy and providing sufficient information for quantitative synthesis.; The 89 primary studies yielded: (1) 789 distinct and 973 total research hypotheses. (2) 25 distinct and 973 total teacher efficacy constructs. (3) 425 distinct and 973 total predictor constructs.; Using the statistical test as the unit of analysis yielded these conclusions: (1) 973 statistical tests were investigated. (2) 973 correlational effect sizes were reported in or derived from the 89 primary studies. (3) 270 (27.7%) effect sizes ranged in absolute value from .00 to .09. (4) 453 (46.5%) effect sizes ranged in absolute value from .10 to .29. (5) 178 (18.3%) effect sizes ranged in absolute value from .30 to .49. (6) 72 (7.4%) effect sizes ranged in absolute value greater than or equal to .50.; Meta-analyses revealed that the mean correlation corrected for sampling error between: (1) Personal teaching efficacy and general teaching efficacy was --.1723. (2) Personal teaching efficacy and years of teaching experience was --.03121. (3) General teaching efficacy (Rand 1) and personal teaching efficacy (Rand 2) was .02841. (4) Personal teaching efficacy and gender was .16286. (5) General teaching efficacy and years of teaching experience was --.09346. (6) Overall teaching efficacy and years of teaching experience was --.09995. (7) General teaching efficacy and gender was --.159.; These recommendations were made for research measurement standards: (1) More dearly defined operationalization of constructs is necessary. (2) Data reporting standards should be more thorough and consistent in order to allow for quantitative synthesis. (3) Practical significance of findings should be specified in research studies. (4) More uniformity in measures employed to measure teacher efficacy should occur.; These recommendations were made for future research: (1) Comparing the design of this inquiry to other models of quantitative synthesis. (2) Time series analysis of the results from this synthesis and future syntheses. (3) Future studies should include careful study of the relationship between teacher efficacy and non-demographic variables.