Affiliation:
1. Columbus State University, USA
Abstract
Teaching writing has historically been an ignored subject in elementary schools. Many undergraduate programs do not equip educators with the knowledge and skills necessary to be effective writing teachers. Over the past three decades, little has changed regarding the quality, amount, and educator understanding of best practices in writing instruction. A convenience sample of five intermediate elementary teachers from a rural, southern school participated in the present study to examine how teacher efficacy was affected by writing process-oriented professional development and related to student writing achievement. In this action research study, findings contribute to the existing body of research which suggests teacher efficacy is positively impacted by targeted writing professional development. Findings suggest student achievement is related to teacher efficacy. The results of this study provide evidence for school leaders to focus time, attention, and resources to develop teachers' writing ability, and their capacity to provide quality writing instruction.
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