Teacher Efficacy: How Teachers Rate Themselves and How Students Rate Their Teachers

The purpose of this investigation was to compare how teachers rate themselves with how students rate their teachers on the Teacher Efficacy the External Influences Scale, a scale designed to assess teachers' efficacy in the area of classroom organization and discipline. The participants in this study were seventh- and eighth-grade teachers and their students in a middle school located in a metropolitan area of a midsized, midwestern community in the United States. There were 710 students and 18 teachers participating in this study. The researchers found five of the 13 scale items were statistically significant. The results show that teachers have a positive influence on students' behavior, teachers may relate to most difficult students, teachers might compensate for students' home experiences through good teaching, some students may not respond to any teacher intervention, and students who report being disciplined at home were unlikely to accept discipline at school. This study suggests how the results might improve the collaborative relationships between teachers and students.