The relationship between the levels of teacher collective efficacy and district collective efficacy in ascension parish

Having all students master rigorous learning standards is a challenge for schools and school districts. A review of the literature suggested that collective teacher efficacy, a faculty's collective belief in its capacity to positively impact student outcomes (Goddard, Hoy, & Woolfolk Hoy, 2000), has been identified as a factor that has a significant impact on student achievement (Bandura, 1993, 1997b; Cybulski et al., 2005; Goddard, 2001; Goddard et al., 2000; Goddard et al., 2004; Protheroe, 2008; Tschannen-Moran & Barr, 2004). While collective efficacy has been studied extensively at the school level, there are only a few studies that look at collective efficacy as a district construct (Eck & Goodwin, 2010; Leithwood, 2008) and literally no evidence of it being measured at the district level. This study explored collective teacher efficacy at both the school and the district level.;The purpose of this correlational study was to determine the levels of collective teacher efficacy in 27 schools in Ascension Parish and the levels of district collective efficacy across the school system. Furthermore, the study explored the extent of the relationship between the collective teacher efficacy of the faculty and the district collective efficacy of the school's leadership team. Finally, the study also explored the relationship between collective teacher efficacy and student achievement.;The Teacher Efficacy Belief Scale (TEBS-C), (Olivier, 2001) was administered to teachers in each of the schools. The researcher adapted the scale to create a district measure, the District Efficacy Belief Scale (DEBS-C). The DEBS-C was administered to district office administrators and the leadership teams in each of the schools.;The results indicated that there was a moderately positive correlation between the collective teacher efficacy of a faculty and the district collective efficacy of the school's leadership team. Furthermore, the results showed a moderately positive correlation between the collective teacher efficacy of a faculty and student achievement as measured by the assessment index portion of the school performance score.