Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Dropouts--Prevention; Teacher effectiveness; Academic theses;

Abstract

Researchers have studied potential reasons behind high school dropout for many years. This research has primarily focused on characteristics inherent to the student and has typically labeled them as being the main determinants for why students decide to drop out. Certainly student characteristics are important when looking at dropout, however there are other factors external to the student that may contribute to their leaving school. One such factor would be other individuals that students deal with on a daily basis while at school. Teachers may play a very important role in preventing school dropout. By interacting positively with students, especially those who are at risk for dropout, teachers may be able to positively influence whether or not a student stays in school. One construct that may affect a teachers' perceived role in dropout prevention is teacher efficacy. Teachers who have higher levels of efficacy may have a stronger belief regarding their ability to keep at risk students in school. This proposal will review past literature on dropout and teacher efficacy. Through the use of survey research, this study will aim to answer the following questions: (1) How are levels of teacher efficacy correlated with teachers' perceived role in dropout prevention? and (2) What factors do educators believe contribute to students' decisions to drop out of school?

Year of Submission

2012

Degree Name

Specialist in Education

Department

Department of Educational Psychology, Foundations, and Leadership Studies

Department

Department of Educational Psychology and Foundations

First Advisor

Barry J. Wilson

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

2012

Object Description

1 PDF file (61 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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