ADVANCING RESEARCH, IMPROVING EDUCATION                               

The National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools

Supporting School, Family, and Community Connections to Increase School Success

About the Center

Connection Collection

Annotation from the Connection Collection

You are viewing a record from the Connection Collection, a searchable annotated bibliography database. It links you with research-based information that you can use to connect schools, families, and communities.

Title:Exploring connections between the construct of teacher efficacy and family involvement practices: Implications for urban teacher preparation
Author:Garcia, D. C.
Year:2004
Resource Type:Journal Article
Publication
Information:
Urban Education, 39(3)

pp. 290-315
Connection:School-Family
Education Level:Elementary
Literature type:Research and Evaluation

Annotation:
This study investigates the relationship between teachers' self-efficacy and the family involvement practices of these teachers. It was predicted that teachers with higher levels of self-efficacy (for family involvement) will report a greater number of practices designed to involve families in their children's education. Results suggested that teacher self efficacy was significantly correlated to and was a predictor of family involvement practices. In this study, teachers who perceived themselves as more efficacious in their ability to work with families made more attempts to involve families in the education of their children. The results also suggested that teacher efficacy should be measured in context and for task-specific domains (such as family involvement self-efficacy) rather than broader measures of self-efficacy. The sample included 110 elementary school teachers from 59 schools in south Florida. All the teachers were enrolled in a graduate program. Teachers completed questionnaires including 1) a demographic questionnaire; 2) the Teacher Efficacy Scale (Gibson & Dembo, 1984); 3) the Family Involvement Teach Efficacy Scale (Garcia, 2000); and 4) the Teacher Family Involvement Practices Survey (developed for the current study). Analyses included correlations and regressions on the above variables and the primary dependent variable-family involvement practices. The authors suggest that teacher education programs should include courses and requirements that promote experience with families. They also recommend that teachers observe others engaged in efforts to involve families, and that school leaders build greater home-school relations. While this study does not test a particular intervention, it does further understanding about why teachers make choices to include or not include meaningful family involvement practices.

Suggested Citation Style:

Free Webinar Series
The U.S. Department of Education and its partners invite you to view the archive for the webinar, Bringing it All Together: Family and Community Engagement Policies in Action, which took place on November 16, 2011.

This is the ninth and final webinar in the series, Achieving Excellence and Innovation in Family, School, and Community Engagement.