Elementary school teachers' sense of efficacy for character education

In this study, the authors describe the efficacy beliefs of practicing elementary school teachers regarding character education. The Character Education Efficacy Belief Instrument, developed and validated by the authors, was completed by a sample of 254 elementary school teachers in a large midwestern suburban school district. The results suggest that elementary school teachers feel efficacious about most aspects of character education and that teachers who earned their undergraduate degrees from private, religiously affiliated universities have a greater sense of efficacy for character education. Further research into the nature and effectiveness of programs that exist in private, religiously affiliated institutions may suggest methods for developing teachers' abilities to provide character education in schools.