Teachers’ Self-Efficacy with English Learners: Pre and Post a U. S. Statewide Initiative

The purpose of this study was to compare teachers’ self-reported efficacy in working with English Learners (ELs) before and after participating in state-wide professional development (PD) funded by the Arkansas Department of Education. A modified Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale-short form (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001) which has shown reliability and validity was utilized. This survey measured self-efficacy in three subscales of teaching (a) Instructional Strategies for ELs, (b) Classroom Management for ELs, and (c) Student Engagement for ELs. Participants in this study included 214 inservice PK-12 teachers, coordinators, and school leaders who did not have an English as a Second Language (ESL) endorsement on their teaching license and were currently employed by a public school or district in Arkansas at that time. Statistically significant differences between presurveys and post surveys on the paired-samples t-tests for the three subscales had effect sizes ranging from small to large, with the largest in instructional strategies. Additionally, two analyses of variance were performed to find out whether there was a statistically significant difference in self-efficacy between educators in terms of their years of experience. Overall, the findings of the study suggest the job-embedded PD provided by ADE had a positive influence on educators’ self-efficacy in working with ELs at all levels of work experience.