Student\u27s self efficacy in high school mathematics: A cross case analysis

This importance of mathematical skills cannot be denied. Particularly for students with learning disabilities that may not earn a college diploma, math skills applicable to jobs they may take are necessary to learn in high school (Patton, Cronin, Bassett, and Kopel 1997). Unfortunately, students that reach high school and have not yet mastered content from elementary or middle school, have very low self-efficacy. Self-efficacy impacts students\u27 motivation to learn and their persistence in learning difficult new concepts (Bandura 1994). This study examines the cases of four different students at a small, private boarding school that started the year with significantly below average content knowledge and self-efficacy. Throughout the year the students experienced changes in their self-efficacy, beliefs about mathematics, metacognition and content knowledge. Several authors provide suggestions for raising a student\u27s self efficacy and following these guidelines my courses were structured so students had the optimal environment for mathematical success and positive self-efficacy development. Each student\u27s changes in beliefs, self-efficacy, and content knowledge were also impacted by several outside factors that were beyond my control as a teacher. Examples of other influences include peer culture, ability to cross group boundaries and the way they read the data they received about their abilities in mathematics. While each student made changes, some changes were much more significant than others. Some changes accurately reflected a student\u27s abilities while other students continued to grossly under- or over-estimate their abilities which impacted their study habits and classroom practices. This case study was designed as teacher-research. As the classroom teacher I had an insider\u27s view of what happened on a daily basis in my classroom. In addition to analyzing the changes that my students underwent through the year I analyzed my own practice. Looking for ways that my students encountered my practice gave me new insights as to how my pedagogical decisions helped or hindered my student\u27s self-efficacy development over the course of one academic year. The final results of this study suggest areas for further research and implications for my practice