Sources of Self‐Efficacy: Four Professional Development Formats and Their Relationship to Self‐Efficacy and Implementation of a New Teaching Strategy

This quasi‐experimental study tested the potency of different sources of self‐efficacy beliefs. Respondents were primary teachers (N= 93) in 9 schools who completed surveys of their self‐efficacy beliefs and level of implementation of a new teaching strategy for beginning readers before and after participating in 1 of 4 formats of professional development presenting the same teaching strategy with increasing levels of efficacy‐relevant input. Results indicated that the professional development format that supported mastery experiences through follow‐up coaching had the strongest effect on self‐efficacy beliefs for reading instruction as well as for implementation of the new strategy. A substantial proportion of the teachers who participated in formats that included a demonstration with local students and a planning and practice session, but no follow‐up coaching, experienced a decrease in their self‐efficacy for reading instruction.