The Effects of Middle School Teachers’ Beliefs on Classroom Practices

Abstract

The students in 21st-century public middle schools are increasingly diverse in terms of language proficiency, cultural and ethnic representation, and varied levels of poverty; and, yet, they are being educated in a political climate that encourages mainstreaming special education and gifted services in the regular classroom. Given this context, this study sought to examine 48 middle school content-area teachers' beliefs about teaching in diverse classrooms to determine how these beliefs affected theii willingness and capacity to differentiate their instruction and assessment. A qualitative study design incorporating grounded theory methodology (Glaser eu Strauss, 1967;Strauss et> Corbin, 1990) was employed. Four teacher beliefs emerged from interview, observation, and document data that conflict with the philosophy undergirding differentiation. Each belief is presented with supporting evidence from the data and discussed in terms of its relationship to effective differentiated classroom practices.

Teachers’ learning and sense-making processes in the context of an innovation: a two year follow-up study

“…Teachers' emotions play a role in the learning process, especially when it comes to teachers' own classroom practices (Schmidt and Datnow 2005, Van Veen and Lasky 2005, Ketelaar et al 2012. Also, their beliefs form the foundations of their interpretations of good teaching, how to achieve it and of a professional development program or educational innovation (Clarke and Hollingsworth 2002, Brighton 2003, Turner et al 2009, Shirrell et al 2019. It is therefore that in educational innovations, the influence of the teacher on how the innovation is enacted and how the teacher learns cannot be separated from each other (Author et al 2017).…”

“…Teachers who differentiate their instruction aim to proactively take their students' individual learning needs into account in the process, product, and content of their teaching (Tomlinson et al 2003, De Neve et al 2015, Deunk et al 2015. Much research has already been done into the effectiveness of DI on student learning (e.g., Deunk et al 2015), teachers' perceptions and practices of DI (e.g., Brighton 2003), and how they can incorporate it into their practice (e.g., Tomlinson et al 2008). DI appears to be beneficial for students' achievement, motivation, and engagement (Graham et al 2008, Deunk et al 2015, but many problems have been described in the literature regarding the incorporation of DI into practice (Tomlinson et al 2003, Hertberg-Davis and Brighton 2006, Smit and Humpert 2012, Janssen et al 2016.…”

Correlation between Self-Efficacy Perception and Teaching Performance: The Case of Mexican Preschool and Primary School Teachers

“…This phenomenon is underlined by the results of Woolfolk Hoy and Spero's (2005) study, indicating that once teachers established their efficacy beliefs, they were less likely to change. Similarly, Brighton (2003) suggests that the level of TSE may explain the extent to which teachers accept school reforms, as well as their willingness to change. Thus, in the light of the education changes established across Mexican public sector, diagnostic evaluations of TSE levels represent a necessary step before planning any training program.…”

Crenças docentes e implicações para o processo de ensino-aprendizagem

“…Embora literatura internacional venha demonstrando a influência das crenças educacionais sobre as ações dos professores em sala de aula e sobre a aprendizagem dos alunos nos últimos anos (Berry, 2006;Brighton, 2003;Calderhead, 1996;Errington, 2004;Warfield, Wood, & Lehman, 2005), alguns autores alertam para a relevância e a consequente necessidade de intensificação desses estudos no Brasil (Martini, 2003;Melchiori, Alves, Souza, & Bugliani, 2007;Sadalla, Saretta, & Escher 2002).…”