Teacher Education
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11274/8862
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Browsing Teacher Education by Subject "Administration"
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Item The self-efficacy of special education directors in the state of Texas(2009-05-30) Hubbard, Catana; Kinnison, Lloyd R.; Weibe, Michael; Fritsch, Ron; Marshall, David, Ph. D.The purpose of this study was to examine the self-efficacy of special education directors serving in public schools in the state of Texas. Within the review of literature the following key components were identified: special education administration, self-efficacy - theoretical perspective and self-efficacy and outcomes-based research. A non-experimental design using survey methods was used. The survey was sent to 235 special education directors identified in the Texas Council for Administrators of Special Education 2007-2008 directory. The response rate was 23% of the surveys were completed and returned. Descriptive analysis provided means and standard deviations of the personal, professional and district characteristics of the respondents under study. Inferential analysis was performed to determine which variables significantly co-varied with each of the 8 items on the self-efficacy scale. The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) included multiple regressions to determine the magnitude of difference and significance for self-efficacy prediction among the variables. Regression analysis was performed to determine which combination of independent variables predicted self-efficacy. Even though this did not indicate significance in predicting self-efficacy among directors of special education it did allow for examination of demographic variables as predictors of self-efficacy among special education directors in the state of Texas. This examination did allow for some topics of discussion. The age, gender, and personal health of the special education directors in the study appeared to predict a high level of self-efficacy on the dependent variable, "I believe I can succeed at most any endeavor to which I set my mind." In addition, the district characteristics of size and NCLB student sub-populations (African American, Hispanic, Economically Disadvantaged, Special Education) did predict a high level of self-efficacy on the dependent variable, "Compared to other people, I can do most tasks very well." In addition, when examining the general self-efficacy of the special education directors in the study it was found that those directors with five to nine years of experience in the field indicated a higher level of self-efficacy than those directors with zero to five years of experience and those with 10 or more years of experience on two of the eight self-efficacy dependent variables. The two dependent variables noted were, "When facing difficult tasks, I am certain that I will accomplish them" and "In general, I think I can obtain outcomes that are important to me." Thus those special education directors with five to nine years of experience perceive themselves as possessing a high level of self-efficacy on dependent variables two and three of the New General Self-Efficacy Scale (Chen, Gully, & Eden, 2001). Implications and recommendations for future research were identified.Item A study of attitudes of school administrators and board of education members toward the vocational education programs in North Texas(1980-08-31) Roodssari, Mohammad Reza Hajiaghazadeh; Pittman, Mildred M.; Kelly, Henry; Nasman, Leonard; Stamper, Silas S.Purpose of the Study. (1) To determine attitudes of school administrators and board of education members toward vocational education programs at the secondary level in Denton County of North Texas. (2) To ascertain if any significant differences existed between the attitudes of the respondents. (3) To develop a model which could be utilized in attitudinal studies in an emerging industrial country. Procedure. A self-report questionnaire was developed and mailed to 66 school administrators and 77 board of education members of the eleven school districts in the Denton County of North Texas. Of the total sent 119 questionnaires (84 percent) were completed and returned. The information obtained from the respondents was examined and analyzed employing descriptive and inferential statistics. The data were submitted to statistical treatment under four specific categories: economic, evaluation, responsibility, and role and value factors. Differences between the attitudes of the respondents toward each categorical factor were statistically determined. Findings. The t test was used to determine the existence of significant attitudes of the respondents toward each category, and resulted in the following probabilities: .87 for economic factors, .39 for evaluation, .33 for responsibility, and .19 for role and value factors. All values were above the .05 level of probability, and thus were not considered significant. The chi-square performed for item analysis revealed significant differences of perception on only four out of forty items. Conclusions. School administrators and board of education members view the economic, evaluation, responsibility, and role and value factors related to vocational education at the secondary level in essentially the same manner. School administrators and board of education members strongly support vocational education programs at the secondary level specifically in regard to finances, evaluation, responsibility, and the role and value of such programs to society.