Parent Efficacy for Helping the Child
Succeed in School (Helping My Child Learn)
Last Updated: May, 2005
The scale was developed during a study of relationships among teacher efficacy,
parent efficacy, and parent involvement in elementary schools (Hoover-Dempsey,
Bassler & Brissie, 1992), drawing on literature on personal efficacy and
teacher self-efficacy (Ashton, Webb & Doda, 1983; Bandura 1977, 1984,
1986; Dembo & Gibson, 1985). It assesses parents’ beliefs about their
efficacy for helping their children succeed in school.
The original scale reported in Hoover-Dempsey et al. (1992) included 12
items and employed a 5-point Likert-type response scale: 1 = Disagree strongly;
2 = Disagree; 3 = Neither agree or disagree; 4 = Agree; 5 = Agree strongly.
Administered to 390 public elementary students’ parents, alpha reliability
for the scale was .81.
Participants were asked to respond to the following prompt:
“We would like you to think about your child __________, in Ms./Mr.’s _________
class. Please circle the number that most closely matches your response to
each question. (There are no 'right' or 'wrong' answers here; we just want
to know what you think.)”
1.
|
I know how to help my
child do well in school.
|
2.
|
My child is so complex
I never know if I'm getting through to him/her. (reverse score)
|
3.
|
I don't know how to help
my child make good grades in school. (reverse score)
|
4.
|
A student's motivation
to do well in school depends on the parents.
|
5.
|
I feel successful about
my efforts to help my child learn.
|
6.
|
Other children have more
influence on my child's grades than I do. (reverse score)
|
7.
|
Most of a student's success
in school depends on the classroom teacher, so I have only limited
influence. (reverse score)
|
8.
|
I don't know how to help
my child learn. (reverse score)
|
9.
|
If I try hard, I can
get through to my child even when he or she has difficulty understanding
something.
|
10.
|
I make a significant
difference in my child's school performance.
|
11.
|
Other children have more
influence on my child's motivation to do well in school than I do.
(reverse score)
|
12.
|
My efforts to help my
child learn are successful.
|
We subsequently adapted the measure in
a series of studies by reducing the number of items to allow its inclusion
in a broader set of measures for parents (see
Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 2005; Walker,
Wilkins, Dallaire, Sandler, & Hoover-Dempsey, 2005),
The adapted measure used a 6-point Likert-type response scale: 1 = Disagree
very strongly; 2 = Disagree; 3 = Disagree just a little; 4 = Agree just a
little; 5 = Agree; 6 = Agree very strongly.
Alpha reliability for the 7-item measure reported by Walker et al. (2005;
see also Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 2005) was .78.
Participants were asked to respond to the following prompt:
“Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with each of the following
statements. Please think about the current school year as you consider
each statement.”
1.
|
I know how to help my
child do well in school.
|
2.
|
I don’t know if
I’m getting through to my child. (reverse score)
|
3.
|
I don’t know how to help
my child make good grades in school. (reverse score)
|
4.
|
I feel successful about
my efforts to help my child learn.
|
5.
|
Other children have more
influence on my child’s grades than I do. (reverse score)
|
6.
|
I don’t know how to help
my child learn. (reverse score)
|
7.
|
I make a significant
difference in my child’s school performance.
|
References
Ashton, P. T., Webb, R. B., &
Doda, N. (1983). A study of teacher sense of efficacy. Final
Report. Gainesville: University of Florida. ERIC EDRS# ED231833.
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy:
Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change.
Psychological Review,
34, 191-215.
Bandura, A. (1984). Recycling misconceptions of perceived self-efficacy.
Cognitive Therapy and Research, 8, 231-255.
Bandura, A. (1986). The explanatory and predictive scope of
self-efficacy theory.
Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology,
4, 359-373.
Dembo, M. H., & Gibson, S. (1985). Teachers’ sense of efficacy:
An important factor in school improvement.
The Elementary School
Journal, 86,(2), 173-184.
Hoover-Dempsey, K.V., Bassler, O.C., & Brissie, J.S. (1992).
Explorations in parent-school relations.
Journal of Educational
Research, 85, 287-294.
Hoover-Dempsey, K.V., & Sandler, H.M. (2005).
Final Performance
Report for
OERI Grant # R305T010673: The Social Context of Parental Involvement:
A
Path to Enhanced Achievement. Presented to Project Monitor,
Institute of
Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, March 22, 2005.
Walker, J. M. T., Wilkins, A. S., Dallaire, J. P., Sandler, H.
M., &
Hoover-Dempsey, K. V. (2005). Parental involvement: Model
revision through scale development.
Elementary School Journal, 106(2);
85-104.
