Yijie Zhao

Why is the Bucket Leaking?: Influential Factors on the Self-efficacy, Persistence and Institutional Commitment of Urban School Teachers Yijie Zhao

Urban school teacher turnover in the United States has been a critical issue receiving increasing attention of teacher educators, school administrators and policy makers nationwide. To meet the demand of highly qualified urban school teachers, an urban immersion teacher preparation (UITP) program has emerged that employs the Professional Development School model and is designed to prepare prospective urban school teachers through an alternative teacher certification route. This book, using Bandura's social cognitive theory of self-efficacy as the conceptual framework in the process of data analysis, explores urban school teachers' understanding of the ways in which their experiences in the UITP program and in urban school workplace influence their perceived self-efficacy, persistence and institutional commitment as urban school teachers. The work should be useful for teacher educators, school administrators, policy makers and anyone else who are concerned about urban school teacher preparation, recruitment and retention.