A Comparative Analysis of Collective Efficacy Measurement and the Effects Collective Efficady Beliefs have on Student Achievement in Select Texas Suburban Elementary Schools

The two part purpose of this study is to first test whether perceived collective efficacy is positively significantly related to student achievement in select Texas suburban elementary schools. The second part is to determine which of three collective efficacy belief measures has the greatest predictive validity. Collective efficacy beliefs are grounded in social cognitive theory which explains a group?s belief in its capability to attain desired effects. Collective efficacy beliefs can influence the effort a group puts forth to achieve desired effects. In the context of education, a highly efficacious faculty that collaborates and works hard on a daily basis is likely to overcome arduous obstacles and achieve high levels of student success.

Five districts participated and 100 schools were sampled in this study. However, due to missing data, only 97 schools were included in this study. Teacher respondents varied in age, ethnicity and experience within the five districts included in the sample. For test of predictive validity, student level data was also used, which included student level characteristics as well as 4th and 5th grade reading and math Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) scores representing student achievement.

Factor and reliability analyses were used to create the Collective Efficacy Scale Short Form (CES-Short Form) and the Collective Teacher Belief Scale (CTBS). Both measures have been utilized for over a decade and the results were aligned with past studies. The third measure of collective efficacy was developed by Bandura who pioneered the field of efficacy belief research. A partial correlation was conducted to find the unique variance in student achievement that was explained by each measure. Of the three measures, the CES-Short Form explained more variance in math and reading achievement when accounting for the other two measures while maintaining significant results (p = 0.01).

Further tests using multilevel analysis were consistent with these findings, specifically the CES-Short Form had the strongest relationship with achievement and the Bandura measure was not significantly related to reading and math achievement in multilevel models with controls for student and school characteristics.

The results confirmed that perceived collective efficacy was a positive predictor of student achievement in select Texas suburban elementary schools with the CES-Short Form having greater predictive validity than the other two measures. Implications of this study for future research are discussed on collective efficacy beliefs in schools.