Answering the Unexpected Questions: Exploring the Relationship Between Students' Creative Self-Efficacy and Teacher Ratings of Creativity

Two studies explored the relationship between elementary students' creative self-efficacy (CSE) beliefs (i.e., self-judgments of creative ability) and teachers' ratings of students' creativity. In Study 1, elementary students' (N = 595) CSE beliefs in science predicted teachers' ratings of students' creative expression in science, accounting for a significant, but small (3.4%), proportion of variation in teachers' ratings. Results of Study 1 also indicate that students' CSE beliefs tended to decline by grade level and teachers tended to rate females and White students as more creative. In Study 2, elementary students' (N = 306) CSE beliefs in science and math predicted teachers' ratings of creative expression in math and science, again accounting for a significant, but small (2.1% in science; 4.2% in math), proportion of variation in teachers' ratings. Also similar to Study 1, results indicate students' CSE beliefs declined by grade level. Results of Study 2 indicate that students tended to underestimate their creative ability and tended to differentiate between creative ability in science and math (whereas their teachers did not). Implications for creativity research are discussed.