Date of Award
3-2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Education
First Advisor
Lynda Leavitt
Second Advisor
Tonya Thompson
Third Advisor
Jeffrey Deckelbaum
Abstract
Educational research identified teacher efficacy as a primary driver for student learning and building a positive school culture (Hattie, 2018). However, understanding how to build and support the self and collective efficacy of teachers remained unclear and an elusive process for in-service teachers. The following research study used a design thinking mixed-methods study to explore how professional development rooted in a criteria of deliberate practice worked to build professional capacity of teachers and increase teacher efficacy (Ericsson, 2020). The research project initially began embedded at an independent school in a Midwestern city before expanding to include 15 in-service teachers representing five different public and private schools, and teaching kindergarten through 12th grade across subject matters. Teacher participants engaged in an eight-week professional development intervention embedded with specific qualitative deliberate practice elements including professional goal setting, deliberate practice planning, and goal reflection and evaluation. The Teachers' Sense of Self-Efficacy Survey (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001) measured pre and post intervention teacher efficacy in three constructs: instructional strategies, classroom management, and student engagement. The results from the study indicated teacher use of deliberate practice consistently resulted in increased teacher efficacy. Over 71% of teachers reported progress on individual goals related to content expertise and student-teacher relationships. Additionally, the post intervention teacher efficacy survey noted substantial increases in teacher efficacy in instructional strategies and student engagement, especially for teachers who completed all deliberate practice elements. The study provided a synthesized framework for future professional development models supported by deliberate practice as a standard of care.
Recommended Citation
Elder, Brian, "A Design Thinking Mixed-Methods Study on Deliberate Practice and Building Collective Efficacy for Teachers in the Midwestern United States" (2024). Dissertations. 771.
https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/dissertations/771
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