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Although teaching efficacy has been noted as an attribute of successful teachers of students from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds, special educators have not been represented in this research, nor have the influence of personal and professional factors on teacher efficacy been examined for this population. This descriptive, correlational survey research was conducted to investigate the influence of selected personal and professional variables on special educators’ culturally responsive teaching efficacy for serving exceptional CLD students. Participants ( n = 344) from three urban school districts in the Southwest responded to an online survey. Statistically significant differences were found in respondents’ perceptions of self-efficacy as well as outcome expectancy by the perceived effectiveness of their teacher preparation in addressing diversity. Teachers’ language characteristics, instructional setting, certification in bilingual education/English as a second language, and perceived quality of professional preparation also emerged as significant predictors. Implications for future research are discussed.
Chu et al. (Mon,) studied this question.