Practitioner Research in Schools: Revealing the Efficacy Agency Cycle

<p>Years of high stakes testing and managerial directives to improve student test scores created a trend of teachers’ declining sense of efficacy and agency. Researchers have yet to examine the perceptions of teachers following requirements to improve student engagement and school climate in an effort to improve academic performance following the authorization of local and national educational accountability reforms. The purpose of this study is to examine how teachers perceive their efficacy and agency in response to the addition of nonacademic measures and the requirement of documented input from teachers and other stakeholders into educational policy planning procedures. Veteran K-12 teachers’ responses to survey and interview questions were coded, analyzed, and organized into themes to generate an educational theory. Grounded Theory Methodologies (GTM), Culturally Responsive Methodologies (CRM) and Critical Pedagogy (CP) informed data collection methods and theoretical foundations for this study. The creation of a safe dialogical space between the practitioner researcher and participants developed a relationship for both to engage as co-researchers. Teachers discovered renewed senses of efficacy and agency while acknowledging their leadership potential in schools and the community. This study and further practitioner research with teachers in schools will inform pre-service education training programs and confirm teachers’ role as critical intellectuals in American society.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Year

2018

Author dc:creator

• Resnick, Edward

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kris De Pedro
• Whitney McIntyre Miller
• Jenifer Golden

• Teacher efficacy
• teacher agency
• grounded theory
• practicioner research
• Curriculum and Instruction
• Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research
• Educational Leadership
• Educational Methods
• Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration
• Elementary Education
• Elementary Education and Teaching
• Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching
• Other Education
• Secondary Education
• Secondary Education and Teaching
• Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education
• Teacher Education and Professional Development

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/ces_dissertations/16

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.chapman.edu:ces_dissertations-1016