A comparative study of self-efficacy, outcome expectancy, and retention of beginning urban science teachers

The purpose of the multi-tiered study presented is to compare the effect of credentialing route on the self-efficacy, outcome expectancy, and retention of beginning urban science teachers serving students in a large urban school district in Southern California. Candidates from one traditional, university-based teacher education program and from two alternative programs, the Teach for America and District Intern Programs, were surveyed and interviewed during the second semester of their first year of teaching. To determine the potential of a difference in self-efficacy and outcome expectancy, the study gave teachers a modified version of the Science Teachers' Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI), developed and validated by Riggs and Enochs (1989). Two representative candidates from each program were then interviewed in order to probe for deeper understanding of possible sources of their efficacy and outcome expectancy. The final part of the study is an evaluation of retention data from the three programs, each to triangulate this information with data collected from the surveys, and comparing these retention rates with published data. The study provides data on unresearched questions about traditionally and alternatively credentialed science teachers in urban settings in California.