Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how Academic Childhood Experiences (ACEs) impact Emotionally Disturbed (ED) classified middle school students' academic self-efficacy, as perceived by teachers.Theoretical Framework. The concept of self-efficacy is a social learning theory based on Albert Bandura's (1977), a social cognitive psychologist. Self-efficacy, defined as one's belief in the ability to act in a certain manner or perform a certain task successfully, Bandura hypothesized that self-efficacy influences the activities one chooses, as well as the efforts, level of motivation and perseverance. Methodology. A qualitative case study approach was used to explore the following research question: How do Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) impact Emotionally Disturbed (ED) middle school students' academic self-efficacy, as perceived by teachers, in an educational setting? Data was collected through purposeful sampling by interviewing eight participants who had worked in a California public middle school for five years or more. The researcher employed Creswell's (2012) six steps in the process of analyzing and interpreting qualitative data. Findings and Conclusions. Through the analysis of this study's data, four themes emerged. The themes were Motivation Impact on Academic Performance; Building Rapport and Student-Teacher Relationships; Benefit of Trauma-Informed Practices in Schools; and Adverse Childhood Experiences Awareness. The findings suggest that motivation impacts academic performance and building rapport and student-teacher relationships can influence ED middle school special education students' overall abilities in the educational setting, as perceived by special education teachers. Special education teachers perceived a benefit of trauma-informed practices in schools for students exposed to a traumatic experience. This study found significance of the level of special education teacher awareness of ACEs and indicated the need to increase a level of knowledge on ACEs in the researched middle schools. Recommendations. Future studies could increase the sample size, expand variety of stakeholders, conduct replication studies in various districts, and consider quantitative or mixed methods research designs in order to strengthen current findings, provide additional findings, and support ACEs research.