Publication Date

2014

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Wilkins, Elizabeth A.

Degree Name

Ed.D. (Doctor of Education)

Legacy Department

Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations

LCSH

Special education teachers--Training of; Mentoring in education; Teacher education; Special education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a specific mentoring intervention on the teaching self-efficacy of pre-service special education teacher candidates. A Special Educators Efficacy Scale (SEES) was developed to measure self-efficacy for the initial skill set required for novice special educators. A two-group, pre-test/post-test design was used to compare the special education teaching self-efficacy scores between the intervention and comparison group.||The self-efficacy scores reported by 245 pre-service special education candidates from two universities were analyzed (intervention group, N = 43; comparison group, N = 202) before and after a 10-week mentoring intervention. ANCOVA findings indicated a statistically significant difference across all subscales between groups while controlling for the pre-test scores. The analysis of demographic characteristics such as age and grade level did not reveal any statistically significant differences between groups. This study posits that a specific mentoring intervention designed to meet the unique skill set of special educators has the potential to increase teaching self-efficacy among pre-service special education candidates.

Comments

Advisors: Elizabeth Wilkins; Thomas Smith.||Committee members: Lynette Chandler; Thomas Smith.

Extent

112 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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