This transcendental phenomenological dissertation is a study that examined culturally responsive teaching perceptions and self-efficacy among elementary school teachers and whether or not teacher race impacted those individual perceptions and beliefs of self-efficacy. Data were gathered through a qualitative approach with the use of one-to-one…

This quantitative study sought to define the relationship between collective teacher efficacy and organizational commitment in elementary schools in Alabama. The basis of this study examined collective teacher efficacy as defined by Tschannen-Moran and Barr (2004) and organizational commitment as defined by Porter et al. (1974) and Steers (1977)…

This qualitative, phenomenological study aimed to explore how teachers perceive the influence of experienced principals who are new to a school, specifically as it relates to how their actions and behaviors impact a school's culture. Kouzes and Posner's Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership were used to create the interview questions and analyze…

This qualitative descriptive case study focused on elementary school teachers' perspectives on their principals' demonstrated leadership behaviors and how these behaviors affect their teacher self-efficacy. Limited studies revealed a relationship between teacher efficacy and principal leadership behavior when examining each factor separately.…

Instructional coaching has come to the forefront as a means to build instructional capacity through shared collaborative experiences. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the relationship between instructional coaches and teachers. This study investigated three questions: (a) What qualities of the relationship between…

The aim of this applied dissertation was to develop a better understanding of how elementary principals in a large school district in the southeastern United States perceive their self-efficacy as instructional leaders and administrators. The pressures of high accountability play an impactful role in how principals view their roles and their…

This sequential mixed-methods study aimed to understand Belizean primary school principals' level of self-efficacy as a crucial component in their abilities to lead schools toward education recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In phase one, the researcher used the total population sampling method and emailed surveys to Belizean primary…

Teachers' engagement in school leadership is one of the most effective means of improving teaching and student learning. Given the complexities of facilitating instructional leadership tasks, school leaders can no longer fully streamline such tasks with fidelity. Therefore, including teachers' knowledge base and skillsets in school-based…

Schools increasingly use educational technology, such as laptop computers, as tools to enhance learning. However, the introduction of educational technology in the classroom can also interfere with the learning process by distracting students through multitasking. Multitasking, or switching back and forth between two different tasks, distracts the…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore the self-efficacy of novice teachers in urban elementary schools from November to February and document a set of challenges that influenced their self-efficacy. Three elementary first-year teachers in a Midwestern urban school district participated in four research segments that each included…

This research investigated the impact of teacher certification pathways (traditional vs. alternative) on teacher self-efficacy levels; it explicitly focused on elementary teachers in Title I and non-Title I schools. The research context addressed the prevalent issue of teacher shortages in U.S. school districts, which often led to reliance on…

The purpose of this current explanatory sequential mixed methods study was to explore the perceived abilities of teaching critical thinking as reported by teachers and the actual lived experiences of classroom teachers within the elementary classroom. Kindergarten through fourth grade elementary teachers completed the Critical Thinking in the…

The purpose of this study was to analyze what factors contribute to the self-efficacy/teacher efficacy (TE) of pre-service teachers (PSTs) as they instruct physical education (PE) to students with disabilities (SWDs). Self-efficacy theory, SET, (Bandura, 1977; Maddux, 2013) was used to make meaning of what SET tenets the PSTs found valuable as it…

Nearly one-fifth of U.S. children attend rural schools; however, these students have fewer opportunities for high-quality STEM learning. Rural students are also less likely to attend college and less likely to enroll in STEM majors than their urban and suburban peers. In conjunction with these factors, female students are also less likely to…

This sequential explanatory mixed methods study explores elementary mathematics teachers' perceptions regarding their mathematical self-efficacy, how teachers describe their perceptions about their prior mathematical learning experiences and their impact on their instructional practice in the elementary mathematics classroom. In support of this…