Analysis of Social Networks of Educators: Empirical Findings, Practical Applications, New Directions, and Theoretical Issues

Session Type: Invited Session

Abstract

This session features social network analysis as it is used to study intra and inter school knowledge production and school leadership arrangements. Talks will 1) review findings concerning how educators are influenced by network members and how they select with whom to interact; 2) present research concerning networks of central office administrators as they engage research on district-wide reform; 3) describe efforts to develop tools intended to help states and districts identify the location of expertise relevant to curriculum, assessment, and professional development needed to implement Next Generation Science Standards; 4) present new directions in network analysis including two-mode network data (e.g., students and the courses they take), dynamic network processes and agent based simulations to study the emergence of network properties; and 5) discuss some fundamental epistemological and methodological challenges in using SNA to study knowledge production and school leadership and management.

Sub Unit

• AERA Presidential Session

Chair

• Min Sun, University of Washington - Seattle

Papers

• What We Know About Teacher and Administrator Networks: Replicated Findings and Recent Extensions - Kenneth A. Frank, Michigan State University; Min Sun, University of Washington - Seattle

• Challenges, Changes, and Churn: A Longitudinal Social Network Perspective of Urban District Leadership - Alan J. Daly, University of California - San Diego; Kara S. Finnigan, University of Rochester

• Knowledge Production in Education Systems and Organizations: Intra- and Interschool Interactions About Instruction - James P. Spillane, Northwestern University; Megan Hopkins, The Pennsylvania State University

• Using Network Ideas to Plan for the Adoption and Implementation of New Standards - William R. Penuel, University of Colorado - Boulder

Discussant

• Cynthia E. Coburn, Northwestern University