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...

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…