Applying linear growth models to measure novice teachers' self-efficacy beliefs

Recent educational psychology research suggests that teacher self-efficacy beliefs are related to meaningful teacher and student outcomes. The majority of these studies examine teacher self-efficacy at one time point and most of these studies measure preservice or inservice teachers with a variety of experience. The purpose of this study was to examine the individual growth rates of novice teachers over the first year of teaching. The self-efficacy of first-year teachers from three demographically diverse school districts in the southwestern United States were measured at three separate intervals. Collective efficacy and teacher characteristics such as gender, age, grade taught, and educational background were also measured. The longitudinal design called for a linear growth model using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) software. An exploratory factor analysis revealed three separate teacher efficacy subscales that became the dependent measures in each of three linear growth models. On average, teachers' efficacy for instructional strategies increased during the first year, efficacy for classroom management remained constant over the year, and efficacy for student engagement significantly decreased from the beginning of the year to the end. There were significant differences in teachers' rate of decrease of efficacy for student engagement, so collective efficacy factors (group competence and task analysis) and teacher characteristics were added to examine their influence on the differing rates of decrease. Group competence and task analysis influenced the change in student engagement efficacy but teacher characteristics did not influence the rate of decrease. Conclusions, practical implications, and future research directions are discussed.