Teacher efficacy has been identified as a variable accounting for individual differences in teaching effectiveness. The purpose of the present study was to develop an instrument to measure teacher efficacy, provide construct validation support for the variable, and examine the relationship between teacher efficacy and observable teacher behaviors. Factor analysis of responses from elementary school teachers to a 30-item Teacher Efficacy Scale yielded two substantial factors that corresponded to Bandura's two-factor theoretical model of self-efficacy. A multitrait-multimethod analysis that supported both convergent and discriminant validity analyzed data from teachers on three traits (teacher efficacy, verbal ability, and flexibility) across two methods of measurement. Finally, classroom observation data related to academic focus and teacher feedback behaviors indicated differences between high-and low-efficacy teachers in time spent in whole class versus small group instruction, teacher use of criticism, and teacher lack of persistence in failure situations.

This study reviewed the distance education and self-regulation literatures to identify learner selfregulation skills predictive of academic success in a blended education context. Five selfregulatory attributes were judged likely to be predictive of academic performance: intrinsic goal orientation, self-efficacy for learning and performance, time and study environment management, help seeking, and Internet self-efficacy. Verbal ability was used as a control measure. Performance was operationalized as final course grades. Data were collected from 94 students in a blended undergraduate marketing course at a west coast American research university (tier one). Regression analysis revealed that verbal ability and self-efficacy related significantly to performance, together explaining 12 percent of the variance in course grades. Self-efficacy for learning and performance alone accounted for 7 percent of the variance.

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This investigation explored differences in motivational beliefs of 154 Asian American and 372 non-Asian 9th graders. Students completed surveys indicating their academic beliefs and later responded to a novel task to assess their achievement behavior. The difference in type of beliefs between the two groups explained, in part, their achievement behavior. Asian American students' fear of the consequence of academic failure best explained their performance. However, this variable least explained the results for non-Asian students. Asian American students reported lower levels of self-efficacy beliefs, yet significantly outperformed their non-Asian counterparts on the task. The fear of academic failure better explained achievement motivation for Asian Americans than did self-efficacy beliefs. A major implication of this investigation is that motivational beliefs elicit different responses in different cultural-ethnic groups.

Many students are reluctant to seek needed help. In this chapter, we review research on help seeking as a self‐regulated learning strategy and describe a set of interventions designed to promote effective use of help seeking.