No abstract

No abstract

The purpose of the research was to investigate the effect of selected personal, school, and district factors on K-3 teachers' confidence in their ability to implement computer-based instruction in two conditions: before (N = 128 teachers) and after an infusion of Information Technology (IT) (N = 135 teachers). Increased IT resources changed the strength and structure of teachers' confidence: Confidence in teaching various student uses of the computer increased and the sources of information that teachers used to determine their expectations changed as teachers used the technology. The strongest predictors of teaching confidence were teacher cognitions, especially confidence in personal computing skills. Other personal variables (frequency of personal computer use, gender, teaching experience, and computer ownership) dropped out of the regression equations when teacher cognitions were introduced. After the IT infusion, but not before, self-reported instructional practice and contextual factors (shared sense of purpose of the school with its community and experience with district amalgamation) also contributed to variance in confidence about teaching with computers.purpose of this article is to examine the effect of selected factors (personal, school, and district) on teacher's confidence in their ability to implement computer-based instruction in two conditions: before and after an infusion of (IT). LITERATURE REVIEWRelatively little research has been conducted on teachers' confidence in their personal computer use or their confidence in teaching with computers. MacMillan, Liu, and Timmons [1] found that teachers were reluctant to reveal their lack of computer skill to students and were unwilling to use computers in the classroom until they felt comfortable with the technology, a finding also reported by others [2,3]. Teachers with more experience with computers have greater confidence in their ability to use them effectively [4].Previous studies of teachers' expectations about their ability to bring about student learning (reviewed in [5,6]) found that these beliefs (labeled teacher efficacy) predicted teacher willingness to adopt new instructional ideas and to enact teaching strategies in which teachers share control of the instructional agenda with students. Many of the teaching practices shared by teachers with high self-efficacy beliefs involve instructional practices associated with IT implementation (e.g., cooperative learning, student centered activities, interdisciplinary teaching). In addition there is extensive evidence that teachers' with stronger beliefs about their abilities are more likely to set higher goals for students and themselves, persist through obstacles, and be more successful, for example, in obtaining student achievement. Most of this research has treated teacher confidence as a unitary trait, linking global teacher dispositions to global outcomes (such as ratings by supervisors). More recently, researchers have found consistent evidence of within-teacher variation in expectations. Teach...

In this article, we examine the elements influencing the change processes experienced over the last 3 years in eight Ontario (Canada) secondary schools. The school staffs were empowered to develop new organizational structures that differed from a subject departmental organization and that met their contextual needs. The process was supported through collaboration between the school district and the teachers' union. The data illuminated the dynamic elements involved in secondary school change: restructuring (form of organizational model, use of new structure, and role of school administrator), reculturing (common school direction, culture of inquiry, and images of secondary school education), and retiming. These elements provide a glimpse into whether the schools successfully or unsuccessfully dealt with the process of change. We conclude that some degree of restructuring might be necessary before reculturing can occur, but this is only possible if the school staffs themselves develop the new structures and it is not mandated by an external agent.

Previous studies have treated teacher efficacy as a unitary trait without considering how teachers' expectations of their ability to produce student learning varies within teaching assignments. In this study, teachers in nine restructuring secondary schools in one district estimated their ability to perform common teaching tasks in four of the courses they expected to teach in the coming school year. Although the portion of the variance explained was small, the study found that teacher efficacy was lower for courses outside the teacher's subject. The effects of teaching outside one's area were greater than the effects of track and grade, two course characteristics that have been linked to teacher efficacy in previous research. This study also found that teacher efficacy was influenced by teacher leadership roles. Teachers who were expected to promote student learning across subjects had lower teacher efficacy than teachers in traditional positions of added responsibility (department heads) and teachers who were not in leadership positions.