Date of Award

9-2017

Rights

© 2017 Mary Dawson Jacques

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education

First Advisor

Grania Holman

Second Advisor

Corinna Crafton

Third Advisor

Carla Zils

Abstract

This ecological study identifies and tests research based constructs of distributive leadership and teacher self-efficacy on the 2012 and 2014 TELL survey using ecological methodology. This includes a confirmatory factor analysis of survey items that best measure distributive leadership and teacher self-efficacy. The overall population mean for participants who agreed or strongly agreed with the survey items was calculated and analyzed. The research focuses on a microsystem analysis, but includes a reflection on the exosystem and an analysis of variance with the macrosystem.

Analyses revealed three major findings. First by calculating the overall population mean of participants who agreed or strongly agreed with the survey items measuring distributive leadership and teacher self-efficacy it was found that in both years the percentages were in the high range according to the organization who publishes the survey. This concludes that the teachers at the research site agree that the school utilizes distributive leadership and that teachers have a strong sense of self-efficacy. When compared to distributive leadership and teacher self-efficacy percentages of the overall district a less than 4% variance was noted. It can be determined that these findings are consistent across the district: when the school environment includes distributive leadership and cultivates teacher self-efficacy the conditions are present for students to make learning gains.

Findings from this study are of interest to education policy makers, education leadership preparation program leaders, and school district leaders, as they provide additional evidence regarding the importance of cultivating the environmental conditions needed for effective learning outcomes in schools. Findings from this study should also be considered in the design of future research studies in this area, as the use of individual student-level data that could be linked to individual teacher level data would allow for additional analysis.

Comments

Ed.D. Dissertation

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