Date of Award
1-1-2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D. in Education
First Advisor
Michael Mott
Second Advisor
Lane Gauthier
Third Advisor
Jill Cabrera-Davis
Relational Format
dissertation/thesis
Abstract
Teaching reading has been an ongoing challenge for many educators across the United States. Numerous studies suggest that teachers feel they were not adequately prepared to teach reading and have low efficacy in delivering literacy instruction. Teaching reading requires educators to be knowledgeable about the alphabetic principle, decoding new words, and how the brain learns to read. This exploratory study aimed to investigate the relationship between AIM Pathways Professional Development on teachers’ literacy efficacy and knowledge compared to teachers who did not receive the professional development. A survey was administered to eighty-eight teachers in Mississippi Literacy Support Schools. Multidimensional scaling was used to identify similarities and dissimilarities among participants’ responses. To determine if a relationship existed, Pearson r correlation was used. Descriptive statistics were analyzed to provide further analysis of the responses.
Understanding teachers’ literacy efficacy play a vital role in how educators deliver instruction to their students. In addition, studies show that teachers with high sense of efficacy directly impact student achievement. The results of this study supported the hypotheses. Teachers who attended AIM Pathways Professional Development had a higher sense of efficacy for literacy instruction and knowledge than their counterparts. In addition, AIM participants had similar ratings on the literacy efficacy scale compared to participants who did not attend the professional development. These findings are related to previous research on self-efficacy. In addition, discussions and implications for future policy and research into literacy efficacy are presented. The study did uncover a specific need for further research on teachers’ sense of efficacy for literacy instruction and knowledge.
Recommended Citation
Bagwell, Shakita, "The Relationship Between Aim Pathways Professional Development, Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy for Literacy Instruction, and Literacy Knowledge, Among K-3 Teachers" (2024). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2787.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/2787