Teacher Efficacy Connecting Teacher Efficacy

Teacher Efficacy

Connecting Teacher Efficacy and Student Achievement in Higher Education Business Classes

Academic achievement is an important step in obtaining one's life goals. Education is a two-way street. It involves communication between the teacher and student. This research is based on the premise that academic achievement is not entirely the result of student effort. It proposes that teacher efficacy is closely tied to student education. This research will examine the connection between teacher efficacy and student achievement in higher education business classes.

Introduction and Aims Statement

Higher education is an important step in achieving one's life goals. Higher education provides students with the potential for higher salaries, career advancement opportunities and growth that they would not otherwise have. Student success in school is critical to the advancement of a society. This places education at the core of its socio-economic development (Caprara et al., 2003). A technologically advanced society depends on a steady supply of workers with the skills necessary to build and operate the technology that it desires. This places higher education at the top of its priority list.

Academic achievement, as measured by grades, is considered to be the key output of colleges and other higher education facilities. Colleges themselves are evaluated on student achievement through state and national accreditation institutions. Grade point averages are used as a sole means of measuring success. The faculty is the only administrator of these instruments. It is their opinion that will influence the success of the student and the success of the college itself. The faculty and the grades that they assign to student work, therefore, have a heavy impact on the success of society as a whole. Higher Education teachers determine whether society will have the supply of students that they need to achieve their technological goals.

Faculty often does not consider the importance of their role in determining the direction and success of the students, their institution, or society as a whole. If they do not provide enough passing grades, the students will fail, the college will be rated poorly, and society will not have enough skilled workers to fill its labor demands. If higher education faculty assign grades that are too high and do not accurately represent the skills of the student, they will cause society harm by falsely representing the future labor workforce. Faculty plays a critical role in the performance of a society and its ability to compete in the market place.

Faculty serves as the main instrument for fostering student achievement. In Maryland, community colleges have seen significant increases in enrollments and decreases in the full-time faculty presence in the classroom. An increased proportion of part-time faculty are teaching this immediate enrollment increase. Accreditation standards for the Maryland Community College system require a 50 to 50 ratio of full to part time faculty. Over the past three years Maryland's full to part-time average has decreased to a 46 to 54. During this same period of time, achievement has decreased in major programs by an average of 4% per year over the past three years. The effectiveness of the part-time faculty on student achievement is of critical concern during this period of increased enrollments and decreased full-time faculty.

As the proportion of full to part-time faculty decreases, the ability of the teacher to fulfill their role in providing the required steady supply of a highly skilled labor force becomes all the more important. Part-time staff must have the same skills and meet the same standards as full time faculty. They have the same pressures, but they must meet these demands with fewer hours dedicated to the task. Teacher efficiency refers to the ability of the teacher to deliver the material in a way that promotes maximum student potential and performance. Many factors have been found to be linked to teacher efficiency. They must have the proper educational background, use research-based teaching methods, and they must enjoy what they are doing. The focus of the teacher need to be on achieving maximum student outcomes.

Over the past 20 years, researchers have shown that teacher's perceptions of their self-capability to educate students are significantly and positively related to teacher behaviors that promote student achievement (Goddard & Goddard, 2001). Albert Bandura introduced the concept of "self-efficacy or beliefs in one's capacity to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments (Bandura, 1977). Teacher efficacy is a reliable precursor to and predictor of student achievement (C.D. Bruce et al., 2010). Further research has continually supported the concept of high teacher efficacy with high student achievement (Moran, Woolfolk and Hoy, 1998).

Teacher efficiency differs from teacher efficacy. Teacher efficiency refers to the actual output of teacher efforts. Teacher efficiency is traditionally measured by grades and directly reflects the achievements and abilities of the students that they teach. Teacher efficiency is measured by output, which is reflected in the grades of the student. On the other hand, teacher efficacy refers to the teacher's beliefs about their ability to teacher and to achieve positive student outputs through the skills of the students and the grades that they achieve. It is important to understand the differences between these two concept for the purposes of this study. This explanation is necessary, as this study involves the effect of teacher efficacy on teacher efficiency, as measured by differences in grades. Understanding the difference between these two definitions will be seminal in understanding how the results of this study can be applied to a real-world teaching experience.

The traits of teacher efficiency and teacher efficacy apply whether the faculty is part-time or full time. This research will investigate concerns over the falling full time to part-time faculty ratios at Maryland institutions of higher education. It is based on the premise that full time faculty achieve better outcomes, as they have more time dedicated to preparing their coursework, researching their topic and in providing students to meet one-on-one with the staff to resolve any issues that they might be having with the coursework.

Part-time staff might consist of some highly skilled and talented teachers, but they often have other obligations outside of the classroom that limit their time that they can dedicate to their course related activities. It is suspected that this lack of dedicated time will be reflected in the quality of their coursework, regardless of the talent and skill of the person as a teacher. This is one of the key concerns with the falling full time to part time teacher ratios in Maryland.

There is little that the state of Maryland can do to increase the number of full time faculty. They must find a way to compensate for the teachers that they can find. They have a responsibility to provide the best education possible for their students and the companies who will eventually employ them. Concerns over teacher efficiency between full and part-time faculty are the key reasons for this investigation. The state of Maryland must find a way to make the most of their part-time staff in order to produce the best outcomes for the students that they teach.

Concerns regarding quality in the classroom by Maryland Higher Education Administration officials and the Middlestates Accreditation Association regarding this trend towards part-time faculty has manifested a critical review of student classroom performance. Business programs are one of the top two programs in the state that are receiving a majority of the increased enrollments and that are being required to hire significantly more part-time faculty to accommodate the growth. Part time business faculty may possess strong business backgrounds and have many essential skills to teacher, but minimal teaching experience. Many part-time faculty have other obligations outside the classroom. While this provides them with real-world experience to share with the students, they often do not have the formal teaching education that is needed to get the message across, or to assess the abilities of their students to absorb and use the information.

This study will explore teacher efficacy among part-time Maryland business school teachers at higher education facilities. The premise of this research is based on the belief that a teacher's feelings about their ability to teacher have a significant impact on their actual ability to do so. It is expected that teachers with a higher self-efficacy will produce students with better student outcomes, as measured by student grades. This research will use several measures to assess both teacher feelings of self-efficacy and actual student performance. It will explore the link between teacher feelings of self-efficacy and actual student outcomes.

The result of this research will provide another criteria and source of measurement that colleges can used to increase the efficiency of their staff. They can use self-efficacy measurement as another hiring criteria for staff. This will help them to meet the demand of our high-tech society and to maintain the best staff possible, regardless of whether the teachers that they hire are part-time or full time staff.

Research Interest:

The aim of this research is to evaluate the relationship of student achievement and teacher efficacy, as reported by faculty in business programs in the Maryland Community College System. The ultimate goal is to increase student achievement by improving the hiring process by adding another layer of screening, namely teacher efficacy. The following aims will support the ability to achieve these goals.

Aim 1: To evaluate the association between full and part time faculty regarding the characteristic of teacher efficacy.

Hypothesis One: Part-time teachers sampled will report statistically lower teacher efficacy scores than will sampled full time faculty in business Programs at Maryland Community Colleges.

Aim 2: To evaluate the association of student performance and the efficacy scores of full and part-time faculty.

Hypothesis Two: Teachers with higher efficacy scores will result in higher averages grades than teachers with lower teacher efficacy scores.

Research Questions

These hypotheses will allow the researcher to fulfill the basis requirements of the research study. However, in order to provide more depth and useful information the research will also address the following research questions in the research instruments.

1. What factors play a role in teacher efficacy?

1. Which factors have the most weight in determining teacher efficacy?

2. What role does standardization of grading systems play in the evaluation of student performance?

3. What controls are in place to help assure that students receive a quality education, regardless of whether their teachers are full time or part-time status?

4. How are faculty evaluated once they enter the university system?

5. How are staff currently evaluated for hire?

These questions will add depth to the study and will help the researcher and those who use the final report in making their hiring decisions.

Rationale

Rationale for the conduct of this research is based on current Maryland policy that limits the number of part-time staff, as compared to full time staff that are allowed by institutions of higher education within the state. This policy is based on the belief that full time staff provide a higher quality education than part-time staff. This research will explore this issue and this policy in greater depth through the measurement in differences between full time and part-time faculty.

Self-efficacy has been shown to be a key factor in the success of people in many endeavors. The belief in a person's own ability to achieve a goal is a key determinant in their actual ability to achieve this goal. This research will explore the issue of self-efficacy in teachers in higher education and its affect on student outcomes. The rationale for this portion of the research study is based on previous research in the field of psychology and sociology on the effect of self-efficacy on actual outcomes.

Significance of the Study

This study will play a significant role in the advancement of knowledge in the area of teacher efficacy and student performance. Those in the academic community will be able to use the results of the study as a tool to aid future research in the field of higher education. It will also add to the existing knowledge regarding self-efficacy and how it relates to the field of higher education. This research will add to the existing body of research by filling in gaps that exist in the current body of literature regarding the importance of self=efficacy and how it translates to the teacher's ability to teach and to student outcomes.

Importance of the Study

This study will play an important role in the ability of higher educational facilities in developing their understanding of how they can use measures of teacher efficacy in their hiring process to improve student outcomes. They can use the instruments developed during this study to help measure the self-efficacy of teachers in their ability to teach, regardless of whether the teacher will be full time or part-time. Developing an understanding of the importance of self-efficacy and its role in the quality to education for business students will help facilities for higher education better meet the demands of the business community.

Improving the quality of higher education in institutions of higher education in Maryland will be a direct impact of the study. However, businesses have a stake in the outcome of the study as well, as they will reap the benefits of better qualified candidates in the future. This study will play a role in the ability of institutions of higher education to provide a steady pool of qualified job applicants who are ready to meet the challenges of the business community. Due to the connection between higher education and the advancement of society, this study will have an impact on the welfare of society by allowing it to produce the goods and services that it requires.

Stakeholders

Many stakeholders will reap the benefits of this research study. The two most important primary stakeholders that will receive a benefit from the study are the students and universities through the improvement of education. Students will reap the greatest benefit from this study, as they will be better prepared to meet the challenges that they will face when they complete their secondary education. They will benefit from better education that will provide them with greater opportunities in the job world and they will be more competitive in the job market place. Students are the focus of secondary educational institutions and the reason for their existence.

Secondary schools will be the second most important benefactor of the research study. The survival of the higher education facility depends on a reputation for producing positive student outcomes. Colleges that do not prepare students for the challenges that they will face when they enter the job market will not be the most attractive and will not be able to compete for students. Colleges have little control over the applicants from which they have to choose, or whether the applicants wish to obtain full or part-time work. Many times, they must simply work with what they have in this regard. Therefore, it is important for them to be able to provide the best quality education with the staff that they have. This research will provide them with an extra tool in the ability to do that.

Businesses, both in the local community and elsewhere will create the secondary level of stakeholders. As stated previously, they will directly reap the benefits of better qualified job candidates and a greater competitive advantage through these job candidates. Businesses closely watch the academic programs and success of colleges. They do not consider all facilities of higher education to be equal. Businesses have a tendency to prefer candidates from certain institutions of higher education over others. Therefore, colleges must compete in order to get businesses to hire their students by offering higher quality candidates. The success of businesses, colleges, and individual students are closely tied.

A tertiary level of stakeholders exists in this study. The community surrounding the college will benefit through having a prestigious institution of higher education in their community. This could have an impact on raising the standard of living or the entire community. The competitiveness of the community and society will benefit from the results of this study, although these effects would be difficult to reliably measure.

Conclusion

This research will focus on a problem that is currently being faced by many institutions of higher learning not only in Maryland, but in many other sections of the country. The business of higher education is currently facing a shortage of full time teachers. This factor, combined with necessary budget cuts is causing them to have to hire a greater number of part-time faculty. This in itself does not create a problem in coursework, as they are still able to offer the same coursework as before. However, recently, it has created concerns over the impact of more part-time faculty on the quality of education that the college is able to offer.

This research will address the question of teacher efficacy and its impact on student outcomes. It will address levels of efficacy between full and part-time faculty. It will also address the question of what impact teacher efficacy has on student achievement. This ultimate goal of this research is to provide colleges with a new tool that they can use to assess candidates and to choose those that will be best qualified to offer the greatest potential student outcome, regardless of whether they are full time or part-time.

Another expected outcome of this research project will be to provide support for or to refute the supposition that part-time staff is less effective than full time staff in providing a quality education. Current educational policy in Maryland suggests that part-time teachers are not as effective in providing a quality education as full time teachers. However, little has been presented to support this position. This study will provide insight into this issue.

This research proposal will present a summary of current research on the topic of teacher efficacy and its impact on student outcomes. In Chapter 1, a basic outline and rationale for the research was presented. The following chapters will present an overview of the academic basis for the research and its implications. It will support the premise for the reasons for the research and will support the methodology to be used in conduct of the research. Chapter 2 will present a review of literature on this and related research topics. Chapter 3 will present a summary of the methodology that will be used to complete the research study.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Self-efficacy is a term that has been in academic literature for many years. The basic concept of self-efficacy is that when a person believes that a goal is obtainable and that they have the skills and capability to obtain it, then they will work harder and this leads to a better change that they will realize it. Those who do not have self-efficacy and believe that a goal is out of reach will not strive to achieve it. They will not be as likely to achieve it as the person who believes that they can accomplish what they set out to do. The following will explore key literature on the concept of self-efficacy as it relates to the current research study.

It might be noted that for the purposes of this literature review, some of the sources used were over 10 years old. Typically, older sources are not used in this type of research study. However, in some cases, older sources are necessary in order to establish the theoretical background of the study, or to show the development of the theories that are used in this research study. Several research studies will be included in this literature review when they represent key theoretical or pivotal works in the theory that is part of this literature review.

Types of Teacher Efficacy

Teacher efficacy can be divided into two dimensions. The first is personal efficacy. This is the feeling that an individual teacher can accomplish a goal. This type of efficacy is similar to self-confidence and self-efficacy. It relies on the individual's internal and external influences that affect their feeling of confidence in their ability to succeed. However, within the category of teacher efficacy is a concept called general efficacy, or collective efficacy. This is the feeling that teachers as a whole are able to perform their duty, or that teachers within a certain institution are able to perform their job efficiently.

Collective teacher efficacy is the belief that teachers within a certain school system make a difference in student outcomes. Goddard (2001) found that collective efficacy is a neglected construct in many schools and a concept that need to receive mainstream attention. Collective efficacy leads to many positive results including higher teacher morale and enthusiasm. Mood is contagious and attention to collective efficacy could pay off in many ways.

According to Tschannan-Moran and Barr (2004), the link between teacher efficacy and student achievement has been demonstrated by numerous studies in the past. It has been found that greater efficacy leads to greater effort and persistence, therefore greater success. Tschannan-Moran and Bar also found that teachers with lower teacher efficacy rely on extrinsic rewards and negative sanctions to motivate their students. They often portray lower energy and enthusiasm for teaching, which the students can pick up on. This has a trickle-down effect and leads to lower achievement for the students. Therefore, low teacher efficacy in itself sets the teacher and the students up for failure.

Teacher efficacy has also been closely tied to job satisfaction and student achievement. The effect of efficacy on the teacher is translated into better job performance and enthusiasm for the job. Teacher beliefs have been demonstrated to be a key determinant of student success (Capara, Barbaranelli, & Steca, 2006).

Improving Teacher Efficacy

Teacher efficacy results in improved academic achievement for students. Staff development can help to improve teacher efficacy by giving teachers the tools that they need to perform their job. Classroom-embedded teacher professional learning was found to improve both teacher efficacy and student achievement (Bruce, Esmonde, & Ross, et al. 2010). This research suggests that schools can take measures to improve teacher efficacy.

Organizational factors were found to have an impact on teacher's sense of efficacy, community and their expectations about both their personal performance and their organizational performance (Newman, Rutter, & Smith, 1989). Several of these organizational factors were outlined in the study. An appropriate curriculum was found to be a key factor in developing a sense of community and self-importance in teachers. Activities that promote a sense of cohesion and that prevent a sense of alienation among staff members was also found to be essential in promoting teacher efficacy. This study also found that several variables were important factors in teacher efficacy.

Among the variables found by Newman, Rutter, & Smith, (1989) were the size of the school, whether the school is urban or rural, the racial mix, the number of disadvantaged students, and the initial readiness for school. The organizational factors that affects teacher efficacy were the behavior of the students, administrator responsiveness, the decision-making influence of the teacher, the level of encouragement for innovation, and the teacher's knowledge of other teacher's courses. Other organizational factors included the level of help that teachers provide each other in improvement, principal leadership, the number of in-services that are specific to staff needs, time for collaboration, and the amount and quality of staff development time.

These factors were found to be important on the primary and high school levels. However, many of them do not apply on the secondary school level. For instance, the initial readiness for school is not appropriate, but the initial readiness for college would be an equivalent. Typically college students are not as disorderly as those in elementary or high school. Therefore, not as much emphasis would be expected to be needed on the collegiate level in these areas. However, factors such as time for staff development, cooperation with other team members, and the encouragement of innovation would still apply at this level. The list that was compiled by Newman, Rutter, & Smith is applicable on the collegiate level, but it must be modified to fit the atmosphere. Collective teacher efficacy was found to be positively associated with differences between schools and student achievement (Goddard, Hoy & Hoy, 2000). Therefore, the factors found by Newman, Rutter, & Smith are applicable to the case. The same scenario might be found in community colleges as well.

Every institution has a set of tacit knowledge that it can pass on to members to improve their ability to do their job. Tacit knowledge refers to knowledge that comes from experience. It is so thoroughly embedded that it cannot be expressed or communicated. It is knowledge that makes a person proficient at their job, but they might not know how it is that they are able to do it. Community colleges contain certain types of tacit teacher knowledge. The ability to recognize and pass on this knowledge to staff plays a role in the ability to develop teacher efficacy (Tschannen-Moran & Nestor-Baker, 2004).

Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk (2006) found that different antecedents affected teaching efficacy among teachers who had not been teaching long and experienced teachers. This adds another dimension to the study that will be undertaken as part of this research project. Teacher efficacy might be tied to tenure, rather than self-efficacy. Likewise, it would seem reasonable that the more experienced teacher would have a greater sense of self-efficacy than the teacher who is just starting out. The age and experience of the teacher might effect the results of this study.

Tschannan-Moran, Firestone, & Hoy et al. (2000) explored the differences between scholars who eventually were promoted to administration and those who were considered to be non-productive or "typical" scholars. Surprisingly, the researchers found few measurable differences between the two groups. However, when asked about publishing strategies, differences came out. It was found that "productive" scholars began their publishing career in refereed journals, while typical scholars began in another type of publication. This demonstrates an underlying feeling of self-efficacy in their ability to become published in journals that had more stringent criteria. "Productive" scholars and typical scholars. Productive scholars went for a higher level of journal, and felt that they could get published, while non-productive scholars did not attempt to become published in the most prestigious journals. Although it was not stated in the article, Self-efficacy was a determinant of whether scholars moved on to become administrators or whether they remained on the lower levels of the organization.

Uline, Tschannan-Moran, & Perez (2003) found that constructive conflict management contributed to improvement in schools. Constructive conflict breathes new life into the organization and rids it of stagnation. Constructive conflict can improve individual learning and growth. Growth improves self-efficacy within the organization.

Principals were found to be key motivators and determinants for the rest of the staff. When principals had a high level of efficacy, they transmit this feeling to the staff, which has the effect of raising the efficacy level of the staff (Tschannan-Moran & Gareis, 2004). This study found that like teachers, what principals do is a direct reflection of what they think. This was similar to the findings discussed earlier that teachers put more effort into their jobs when they feel that they can do it, as opposed to when they do not feel that they can accomplish the task.

Conclusion

Research on teacher efficacy and principal efficacy took place largely on the primary or high school level. Little was found on teacher efficacy on the secondary school level and those that were found were considered to be too old to be valid. Therefore, they were not considered in this literature review. This was a key gap in the research. It is assumed, but not known to what extent these same principles affect teachers in community colleges. It is expected that efficacy will affect them in the same manner as on the lower levels. Self-efficacy seems to have a universal affect on the ability of people to achieve their goals and dreams, regardless of the setting or the exact goal that they desire. Self-efficacy is a universal concept and can be applied to any motivational problem. If a person feels that they can accomplish a task, the higher the probability that they will be able to actually accomplish it. The need to study teacher efficacy in community colleges

This research will not only fill in needed information on the college level about effect of self-efficacy on the ability of teachers to perform on this level, it will provide insight into ways that community colleges can improve their teacher performance. By understanding which variables contribute the most to teacher efficacy and ways in which community colleges can contribute to the development of better teacher efficacy, this study will have an impact on how to improve teacher efficacy in the future.

This research will provide information that can be used not only by community colleges to improve the quality of their academic program, it will help state policymakers to know where their efforts should be in order to achieve their goals as well. This research is based on a long tradition of research into the power of self-efficacy to motivate people into achievement. We found that teachers are no exception to the rule, nor are administrators, or students. The research demonstrated that people who have a high degree of self-efficacy serve to motivate others. The mood is catching and can be used to create a positive environment in which everyone will thrive.

The following chapter will explore the rationale for the methodology that will be applied in the proposed research study. Information found in this literature review will provide strong support for the methods that have been chosen. It will also support the importance of teacher efficacy that was found in this literature review. Much has been written about self-efficacy and its application in various fields. It is not surprising that self-efficacy was found to play an important role in the success of teachers as well. This research will fill in the gap regarding teacher efficacy in community colleges and institutions of higher learning.

Chapter 3: Methodology

The methodology for this study must meet a separate criteria, one that resolves the question of whether full time or part-time faculty demonstrate a difference in teaching efficacy, as related to Hypothesis 1. The second is whether higher academic achievement is related to higher teacher efficacy, as related to Hypothesis 2. The results of these two research problems then need to be integrated so that the relationship between them will become clear. The purpose of the study is to resolve the "big picture" in relation to how the State of Maryland and other states can offer quality higher education in light of a current shortage of full time faculty. The following will examine the proposed methodology in relation to how to resolve these issues.

Design

This study will use a two-phase approach to the research problem. Both phases will require the administration of a self-efficacy scale that addresses the teaching abilities of the faculty members. In phase one, teachers will be divided into two groups. One will consist of full time teachers and the other will consist of part-time teaching staff. Data from the self-efficacy scales will be analyzed. The scores between full time and part time teachers will be analyzed and compared. In the second phase of the study, the self-efficacy scores of the teachers will be paired with academic scores of the students. These two measures will be compared to see if a correlation exists between teacher efficacy and academic achievement.

The study design depends on the interaction of two separate hypotheses. Testing of both hypotheses will employ a non-experimental design where the various factors involves will simply be measured, but not manipulated in any way. The factors that will determine the experimental results are already in existence and will only be measured through the course of the study. Both of the portions of the study and both of the hypotheses will use a quantitative study design. Both the first and second hypothesis will use the results of the survey, only they will be used and interpreted in two different ways.

Dependent and Independent Variables

The first hypothesis provides insight into the potential differences in teacher efficacy between full and part-time teaching staff in business programs at Maryland community colleges. It is expected that the results of the study will support the directional hypothesis that part-time teaching staff will demonstrate lower teacher efficacy than full time teachers. For this hypothesis, the independent variable will be whether the teacher is full time or part-time. Teacher efficacy, as measured by the survey instrument, will serve as the dependent variable.

The second hypothesis will examine the connections between academic scores and teacher efficacy. For this portion of the study, teacher efficacy scores from the first portion of the study will be compared to student grades in the coursework. The hypothesis states that teachers with higher efficacy scores will produce students with higher grades than those with lower efficacy scores. This is a directional hypothesis and will use a one-tailed test for analysis. For this hypothesis, efficacy scores obtained via the survey will serve as the independent variable. Average student grades obtained from academic records will serve as the dependent variable.

The purpose of this study is to either support or refute Maryland's policy on limited use of part-time teachers. The study design will allow the research to determine if a true difference in teacher efficacy exists between full part-time teachers. It will then address the question of whether these differences, if found to exist, have an impact on student grade outcomes. As this study uses a non-experimental design, it will not address the issue of causality, it will simply measure whether differences do exist and what effect they have on average student grades.

Due to the nature of the subject, the particular question that it wishes to answer and the design chosen, this study will be descriptive in nature. It will describe the conditions that exist within the groups, but will not have the ability to assign causality to them. Non-experimental designs do not have the capability to assign causality to the conditions being tested. They do not attempt to isolate independent and dependent variable. Therefore, they can only determine is a particular condition exists, but not what caused it. It is expected that several factors will be found that provide deeper insight into the reasons for the results, but this cannot be substituted for a true experimental design in which controls are instituted for the purpose of determining if a certain factor or factors are the cause of the condition being examined.

Each survey will be assigned a unique number and a sheet will be provided to each administrator who will assist with the test. The administrator will assign each participant a test number. This will allow the administrator to align the grades associated with each participant with the correct test number. The administrator will record the grade average for each participant on this sheet. This will allow the researcher to determine which efficacy score matches with each grade average.

This research design will either support or refute the Maryland policy regarding full time vs. part-time teachers. Within this policy is the underlying assumption that full time teachers are better at delivering quality education than part-time teachers. This assumption is unspoken, but it is none the less present in the wording and administration of the policy. The assumption upon which the policy is based has a stereotypical tone about it. It might be that part-time teaches are every bit as capable of delivering quality education as full time teachers. If this is found to be the case, then the policy of limiting part-time teachers is counterproductive, considering the current lack of full time teachers in Maryland and other states in the U.S. This policy represents a bias that the experimenter must be careful not to integrate into the study design. The purpose of this study is to determine if differences do exist between full time and part-time teachers, and if these differences are found, what effect, if any they have on academic achievement. This research design will support or disprove the biases that are present in Maryland's current educational policy.

Sampling Procedure

Due to the potential stereotypes already present in Maryland's policy regarding full time and part-time teachers, it will be important to make certain that the sampling procedures do not reflect these potential biases, or introduce any new ones. Sampling Selection is important for non-experimental measures and could cause skewed results (McKenzie, Gibson, & Stillman, 2006). If sample is not truly random, it could contain bias for high or low efficacy, which could affect the results. According to the authors, random sampling is the only way to moderate the effects of stereotyping in the sample population.

In this study, stereotyping and bias might mean the expectation that part-time educators will have lower self-efficacy scores and lower academic performance among their students. However, this might not be the case, therefore, the researcher must be aware of this factor throughout all phases of this study. Measures must be taken to reduce or eliminate the effects of this bias on the study.

The sampling frame for the study will consist of 16 community colleges in Maryland. The participants will be chosen from staff in business programs at these colleges. The final sample will consist of 160 participants distributed among the 16 colleges. Participation in the study will be voluntary. Recruitment for the study will involve the department heads of the colleges and their administrative staff.

An equal number of surveys will be distributed to each of the community colleges. Administrative staff in the business education department will send out a memo or email, according to their customary communication style, to all of the faculty within business and business related departments. Faculty who wish to participate will be asked to fill out a survey who will collect them, place them in a manilla envelope and keep them until they are picked up by the researcher. It will be difficult to keep the number of full time and part-time staff equal, as the full time to part-time rations will be different in every college. Uneven sample groups will be considered in the statistical technique that is chosen.

The sampling technique will be random, but from within a specific frame that is related to the research questions. The researcher will have little input into the participants that are chosen, other than that they will be full and part-time faculty from within the chosen sampling frame. They will have different demographic characteristics and different backgrounds, experience levels, ages and teaching qualifications.

Participants

Study participants will consist of 160 faculty member from among 16 Maryland community colleges. They will be a mixed demographic groups and will not consider race, age, gender, or other demographic characteristics. They will be of mixed teaching experience and qualifications. They will teach a number of business and business-relate courses at the chosen colleges.

Business courses at the community colleges will vary and the curriculum will differ according to their structure and program. The faculty will generally include teachers of business, management, marketing, accounting, finance, human resources, and other courses that are related to the financing and operation of a business. In addition to these variations, the number of full time and part-time staff in these programs will vary as well. Some colleges might have internal policies that limit the number of full or part-time staff at the college. The researcher will have no control over these factors.

Research Instruments

The primary factor that will be assessed in this research study is teacher efficacy. Teacher efficacy is the self-efficacy of the teacher in relation to their ability to teach their assigned coursework. It reflects a teacher's personal feelings about their ability to teach the subject matter, and does not measure their actual ability to do so.

The research instrument to be used in self-rated scale. The self-rated scale has been criticized in its ability to accurately measure a variable. However, in many cases, this is the only method available, particularly in the area of psychology and the social sciences. The quality and structure of the scale are important in the ability to accurately measure the intended variable. Psychological factors are often complex and cannot be answered accurately with a single yes or no answer (Ray, 1987). The predictive nature of these measures is limited, but they can provide valuable clues as to trends within the research group. These issues are often complex and depend on circumstances surrounding the factor. Many advances have been made in the construction of self-rated scales. However, the instrument must be considered carefully for its relevancy to the question and various biases or variables that could affect its appropriateness for a particular research situation.

Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale

The instrument that will be used for this research study is the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale, developed by Megan Tschannen-Moran and Anita Hoy. The reliability and suitability of the scale is largely dependent upon extensive use and testing by the creators. Little information is available on this scale from other sources. However, the creators have used it extensively. When compared to other scales available in this area of research this scale has superior construct validity. In lieu of extensive reliability testing, this was the key reason for the choice of this scale.

The scale was developed based on current research on teacher efficacy and beliefs about their ability to deliver the material and manage the classroom. The scale takes into consideration the teacher's locus of control concerning their input into student performance. The third key consideration in the instrument was the teacher's sense of responsibility for student achievement (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001). It also utilized Bandura's social cognitive theory and other works regarding self-efficacy and its relationship to one's belief that they could accomplish a task. Teacher efficacy, as measured by the scale, is a specific application of self-efficacy applied to the field of education.

Tschannen-Moran and Hoy found that research into teacher efficacy often finds two separate dimensions, and they struggle to clarify their meaning. The first factor is called the personal teaching efficacy factor. This factor involves one's own personal feeling of competence as a teacher. The meaning of the second factor is less clear than the first. This factor has been referred to as the general teaching efficacy factor. This factor involves the outcome that the teacher expects to achieve from their efforts. This factor can be influenced by many external factors, such as student ability, college policies, and other factors that might have an effect on the overall results, other than the teacher's own ability and belief in their own success. General efficacy is a judgment of the actual outcomes of the teacher's efforts (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001).

Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2001) based their scale on several standards scales that had been developed in the past including Rand, Teacher Locus of Control Scale, teacher efficacy scale, efficacy vignettes, Webb efficacy scale, Affect for teaching, and Teaching self-concept. The developers of the Teacher's Sense of Efficacy Scale combined elements that represented the best qualities of these previous efforts to measure teacher efficacy. Personal efficacy scale items often related to "I" the teacher. General efficacy scale items often use "they" to refer to teachers in general.

The Teacher's Sense of Efficacy Scale is available in a 24 item (long form) and a 12 item (short form) version. For this study the 24 item (long version) was used. This choice will help the researcher to explore several individual factors that are related to the research questions. Using the long form will allow the researcher to gain greater insight into the individual areas that influence teacher efficacy.