The influence of school social composition on teachers\u27 collective efficacy beliefs

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine how school social composition is related to perceived collective efficacy. Several hypotheses tested in this research were derived from social cognitive theory and based on the extant literature. Participants: Data were drawn from 1,981 teachers in 41 K-8 schools in a diverse urban school district in the southwestern United States. Findings: The results of two-level hierarchical linear models indicated that a school’s past academic achievement, rate of special program placement for gifted children, and faculty ethnic composition explained 46% of the variation among schools in perceived collective efficacy. The article also reports a much smaller but statistically significant relationship between collective efficacy beliefs and teacher race and experience. Teachers of color and those with more than 10 years experience reported slightly higher levels of perceived collective efficacy. Conclusions: The article concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of these findings