Teachers' Sense of Efficacy and the Organizational Health of Schools

This study examined the relationships between 2 carefully specified dimensions of teacher efficacy (general and personal teaching efficacy) and aspects of a healthy school climate (institutional integrity, principal influence, consideration, resource support, morale, and academic emphasis). The sample was composed of 179 teachers, randomly selected from 37 elementary schools in New Jersey. A teacher efficacy scale and a version of the Organizational Health Inventory were administered to the teachers in their schools by a researcher. Correlation and regression analyses were used to examine relationships among variables. Our primary concern was with individual teacher efficacy; hence, individual teacher perception served as the unit of analysis. We found that a healthy school climate-one with a strong academic emphasis and a principal who has influence with superiors and is willing to use it on behalf of teachers-was conducive to the development of teachers' beliefs that they can influence student learning (personal teaching efficacy). Thus, teachers' confidence that they can reach students was supported by organizational factors that help teachers manage and teach students. Only institutional integrity (the ability of the school to protect faculty from un-reasonable outside demands) and teacher morale predicted general teaching efficacy. The data demonstrated that the constructs of general and personal teaching efficacy are separate sets of beliefs.