Teacher efficacy: capturing an elusive construct

Teacher efficacy has proved to be powerfully related to many meaningful edu cational outcomes such as teachers' persistence, enthusiasm, commitment and instructional behavior, as well as student outcomes such as achievement, m otivation, and self-efficacy beliefs. However, persistent measurement probl ems have plagued those who have sought to study teacher efficacy. We review many of the major measures that have been used to capture the construct, n oting problems that have arisen with each. We then propose a promising new measure of teacher efficacy along with validity and reliability data from t hree separate studies. Finally, new directions for research made possible b y this instrument are explored. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights r eserved.